Roundy's
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Roundy's Supermarkets | |
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| Type | Private |
| Founded | 1872 |
| Headquarters | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Key people | Robert A. Mariano, Chairman & CEO |
| Industry | Retail (Grocery) |
| Products | Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks |
| Revenue | USD 3.9 billion (2006) |
| Employees | 22,000 |
| Website | www.roundys.com |
Roundy's Supermarkets (Roundy's) is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based supermarket chain with 152 stores in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Roundy's recently announced the closing of a Copps location in Oshkosh which will reduce the store count from 153 to 152. [1] Based on 2006 fiscal year estimated sales of $3.9 billion, Roundy's is ranked as number 33 among "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" for the 2007[2] and as the seventy-eighth largest retailer in the United States.[3]
Roundy's operates under the names Rainbow Foods in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region (acquired in 2003)[1], Copps Food Center in Wisconsin (acquired in 2001)[2], Pick 'n Save in Wisconsin (founded in 1975)[3], and Metro Market (a pilot concept store in downtown Milwaukee, opened in 2004)[4].
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[edit] History
The company was founded in 1872 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as Smith, Roundy & Co. by William E. Smith, Judson Roundy and Sidney Hauxhurst. Over the years it has also operated as the Roundy, Peckham & Co. and Roundy, Peckham & Dexter Co.
Roundy's was also a major warehouse distributor to non-company supermarkets, including IGA, but it has moved out of the wholesale market to focus on retail.
Roundy's had revenues of over $4.77 billion in 2004. It dropped out of the Fortune 500 list in 2006.
The Pick 'n Save chain which was the backbone and propellant for growth and sale of the company in 2002 was the prodigy of two Kroger educated supermarketing genius'. Vincent R. Little and Michael D. McGee, the fathers of Pick 'n Save, came up through the ranks at The Kroger Company.
Roundy's saw rapid growth during the John Dickson years. Dickson became sick and handed the reins to Greald F. Lestina. On Lestina's watch the company built only one corporate store at the fairgounds in Oshkosh, Wisconsin over a period of 7 years. That store was then sold years later to a director, George Prescott, for approximately USD 2.1 million although the board of directors had been told the price was USD 3 million.
In 2002, Roundy's was taken private thru a purchase by the Chicago private-equity firm Willis Stein & Partners. A strong effort was made in 2007 to sell Roundy's but due to the softness in the credit markets there were no takers. Rumors have swirled from time to time regarding a possible sale of Roundy's to Cincinnati-based Kroger in conjunction with some or all of Safeway-owned and Chicago-based Dominick's stores.
The current leadership team is led by CEO Robert Mariano. Mariano is the former CEO of Dominick's (prior to Dominick's sale to Safeway in 1998). Most of Mariano's senior staff at Roundy's also held the same positions with Mariano at Dominick's.
In March 2007 Roundy's announced intentions of entering the Chicago market sometime in 2008. They reiterated this intention thru conversations with Chicago media outlets in February 2008 by saying they planned to build 15-25 stores. Letters of intent were created for several locations but no plans for construction have been announced. In March 2008, Roundy's announced its intentions to build a Metro Market type store in Minneapolis as part of a new shopping area.
[edit] Competition
Roundy's has seen a slow but sure decline in sales and market share during 2007 and this has continued in 2008. New competitors in the Milwaukee market in 2008 include Woodman's Food Market in the suburb of Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Woodman's is a large hyper-style store focused on variety and price. The opening of this store has impacted at least six nearby Roundy's locations. Roundy's implemented a highly publicized price reduction on some 5,000 items in the stores impacted by the Woodman's opening. Also there are plans for more Wal-Mart Supercenters near Roundy's stores as well including Sunset Drive in Waukesha. Costco Wholesale recently entered the market with a store on the northside of Milwaukee that has impacted several nearby Roundy's as well. Woodman's has also announced intentions to build a store in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin between two Roundy's locations and has expressed interest in sites in Waukesha as well as Menominee Falls, both Milwaukee suburbs. Sendicks has already taken away a great deal of the high end shoppers from the Pick N Save stores and coupled with the fact that HyVee Foods out of Des Moines, IA is also planning an entry in the market in 2009, Roundys can count on another year of declining market share in 2009.
In the Minneapolis market, Roundy's owned Rainbow Foods is a distant second in the marketplace to Cub Foods. SuperTarget, Costco, and Wal-Mart Supercenters continue to gain ground against Rainbow.
In northern Wisconsin, independents such as Festival Foods along with Wal-Mart Supercenters have seriously impacted Roundy's stores throughout the Fox Valley region.
[edit] References
- ^ About Roundy's, Roundy's Supermarkets. Last accessed February 24, 2007.
- ^ 2007 Top 75 North American Food Retailers, Supermarket News, Last accessed February 20, 2008.
- ^ Top 100 Retailers, STORES’ annual report on the nation’s retail Power Players, Stores, July 2007. Last accessed February 20, 2008
