Grocers seek competitive edge with Supervalu

Supervalu welcomed nearly 4,000 independent grocery retailers to St. Paul, Minn., this week for the grocery distributor’s inaugural national sales expo and trade show.



The three day event began August 12 at the RiverCentre convention center in downtown St. Paul and featured more than 20 educational sessions and more than 330 exhibitors. The objective was to present the independent grocery retailers representing more than 1,250 stores served by Supervalu the opportunity to gain valuable insights, innovative merchandising ideas and best-in-class grocery retail solutions from industry experts.



“We are thrilled to invite many of the grocery retail industry’s finest to our inaugural national sales expo,” said Janel Haugarth, Supervalu’s EVP and president of independent business and supply chain services. “Along with unprecedented opportunities to network and share best practices with their peers, the expo will offer our retailers a one-stop resource to drive sales, build loyalty and grow their businesses.”



With a theme of, “Sales 4 All Seasons,” Supervalu said the event was the company’s largest, most comprehensive selling expo to date. Exhibits featured category experts on everything from fresh produce, meat and seafood to center store, frozen, bakery and deli. Seasonal merchandise offerings, consumer packaged goods suppliers and service providers from across the country also attended to showcase solutions for Supervalu’s independent retailer base.



Supervalu is one of the nation’s largest grocery wholesalers and retailers with annual sales of roughly $17 billion. The company serves the market through a network of 3,320 stores composed of 1,805 independent stores serviced primarily by the Supervalu’s food distribution business, 1,325 Save-A-Lot stores, of which 931 are operated by licensee owners, and 190 traditional retail grocery stores.