Schnuck's to purchase 12 Seessel's stores in Memphis

Drug Store News,  May 20, 2002  by James Frederick

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ST. LOUIS -- Schnuck Markets, this city's hometown combo store retailer, has agreed to buy 12 Seessel's stores in the Memphis metropolitan area from Albertson's. No purchase price was given.

Albertson's agreed to sell 10 stores in Shelby County in Tennessee and two in Mississippi's Desoto County. The transaction should be finalized by June 3, according to Schnuck's chairman and chief executive officer Craig Schnuck.

Six of the Seessel's supermarkets are less than three years old, and nine have in-store pharmacies. Six of the stores also include gas stations, a new business venture for Schnuck's.

"Our growth in Memphis will improve our business efficiency, which ultimately benefits all of our customers," said Schnuck. The Seessel's stores range in size from 26,000 square feet to 68,000 square feet.

Schnuck said his company first looked at Seessel's in 1992. "This is the third time we have expressed interest and our second attempt to buy the stores. The fact that we keep coming back signals how much we want to be [in] the Memphis community."

When it is completed, the deal will give Schnuck's a total of 102 supermarkets, including 90 with in-store pharmacies.

Prescription dispensing generate d $180 million in sales for the chain last year, according to Schnuck's Curtis Hartin, director of professional services.

In another move, the 63-year-old supermarket chain reported that it will enter Wisconsin for the first time with the opening this month of a new store in Janesville under its Logli Supermarkets banner.

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