Ukrop’s finally ready to talk *UPDATED*
After a meeting with managers earlier today, the big-ups at Ukrop’s will be holding a press conference at 4pm at the Sheraton West Hotel…
After a meeting with managers earlier today, the big-ups at Ukrop’s will be holding a press conference at 4pm at the Sheraton Richmond West Hotel.
Meanwhile, Ahold (an international group of supermarkets in Europe in the US) announced on their site today that Giant-Carlisle (a division of their company) “will expand its presence in Virginia by acquiring 25 stores from Ukrop’s Super Markets, Inc.”
Stay tuned for more.
Update
Just got an email from Tracy Pawelski, Director of Public and Community Relations for
Giant Food Stores and Martin’s Food Markets. She sent along a press release giving specifics on the sale of Ukrop’s to Ahold/Giant-Carlisle:
- Purchase price: $140 million (give or take)
- The transaction includes stores, inventory, and equipment, lease agreements, and one new store location.
- They will be hiring Ukrop’s store associates.
The sale is expected to be final in the first quarter of 2010.
And this also just in from Ms. Pawelski in response to questions over selling alcohol and being open on Sundays:
For the time being, stores will continue to operate as they have in the past. As we learn more about the Ukrop’s business, we’ll make changes that we believe will add value for customers. We intend to build on the Ukrop’s heritage and strengths and introduce, over time, characteristics for which GIANT and MARTIN’S are well-known. We expect to make those decisions later in 2010.
More from today’s press conference
- Stores will retain the Ukrop’s name for the time being.
- First Market will stay open and in their current locations.
- Bakery and prepared foods will be another company/division led by Bobby Ukrop as CEO. Giant-Carlisle will be their main customer.
- They will continue to use local vendors, including their seafood providers, farmers, and florists.
- They will stay involved with the Monument Avenue 10k through the Ukrop’s Foundation. Other community efforts led and supported by Ukrop’s won’t be left hanging, but how Ukrop’s will be involved is yet to be determined.
- The acquisition includes 24 Richmond stores and one location in Williamsburg. Joe’s Market is not included in this purchase.
-
Recommend this
on Facebook -
Report an error
-
Subscribe to our
Weekly Digest
Valerie Catrow
Valerie Catrow is editor of RVAFamily, mother to a mop-topped first grader, and always really excited to go to bed.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Almost five months to the day since your first announcement here of the potential sale . . .
I gasped when I read this. I can’t believe how much a grocery store matters in my life. Am I . . . in love with Ukrops? Maybe!
I am all of a sudden craving the Ukrops salad bar and rainbow cookies and whitehouse rolls. AHH!
This is a sad day for Richmonders. We are losing one of our community icons. This is so wrong!!
A trade publication,Mass Marekt Retailing,claims Ahold itself is a take over target of Tesco,a huge British grocery business.
Wow. Ukrops now = Stop & Shop. A sad day indeed.
Please start selling alcohol.
Let’s all be honest – Ukrops has plenty of issues (outdated stores, living on past reputation, strange views on sunday and beer – but think tobacco is totally cool, the strange way in which “natives” relate to it, that awful organic section in the carytown store, etc), but at the end of the day they were an above average option (albeit not one for me) for shopping. Giant is not above average – they are the definition of average. The shopping experiance is bland, the store uninteresting the the product selection limited. RIC is going to continue to be a third world option for shopping. Boo.
I had to do a little research, but apparently there are two Giant’s owned by Ahold: Giant-Landover and Giant-Carlisle.
I know nothing about Giant-Carlisle, but I grew up with Giant-Landover (but who calls it that?). Giant-Landover’s newer model of stores has been above average, in my opinion. Sure, they once were average; any of the Giant’s that I grew up with still had the 70s wood paneling until 2005 or so. I see Kroger as an equivalent to the old Giant in terms of selection, service, and ambiance. But recently Giant-Landover got a new image, started gutting them out and renovating the stores, and they have actually begun looking quite nice. One of the newest ones that I’ve been to is in Lorton and has a pretty good organic selection, fantastic service, and it’s huge. It has a lot in common with Safeway, I think. Ukrops is a unique store, but Giant isn’t SO bad.
That said, Giant-Carlisle is completely foreign to me and I do not approve of their nasty logo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant-Carlisle
It is so sad to see yet another successful, locally grown company disappear. Let’s hope that employees will be treated well in the transition: that job offers and severance packages will be in keeping with the Ukrop’s tradition of using the Golden Rule as a primary guideline for business decision making…
Boo hiss. Kroppers, we’ll miss you.
Ukrops blows. Im so glad they are making the switch. I loathed going into that store. All the people that shop there are jerk offs. I always got stared at in check out. By the customers and employees. And I dont really look that strange. Over priced goods wirh an over blown reputation. NO I dont need you to carry my bag to my car. Leave me alone dude. Please. I aint paying extra to have help to my ride. Hope Giant gets a clue and starts selling alcohol and opens on Sunday. I mean who the F is closed on sunday. Thats retarded. Thank god I dont have to deal with Ukrop people anymore! Glorious Day. Long live Kroger.
Uh oh–In the U.K., Tesco’s are kinda nasty. Low-end Food Lion nasty. Hope that rumor isn’t true, dhg.
Dean, that’s some good research. I too grew up with Giant-Landover, and agree with your assessment that they’ve updated nicely over the last few years. Giant-Carlisle, on the other hand, I only know because I had family in Pennsylvania who went there.
When I would visit PA as a kid, I was always confused why the Giant logo was different up there than it was in Northern Virginia. It wasn’t till I was older that I realized that they are two completely different companies.
Now, Giant-Landover will essentially be geographically surrounded by Giant-Carlisle. Talk about confusing…
Hopefully, they will be an above average addition to RIC.
If Ukrops felt they were such a part of Richmond/VA why sell it? Why not just close a few locations? Is it due to bad economy and competition? Is Ukrops making a few million dollars less this year as opposed to previous years? Why else does anyone sell? If Ukrops feels as big a part of the community as these people upset by their leaving, then money wouldn’t ve the deciding factor…but here we are Ukrops sold.
@Joe Sribani or whatever:
I believe that Ukrops was making fine money, the owners just decided they had other interests and wanted to pour their attentions into that. I’m fine with that. Most Richmonders will miss the stores, but from things I’ve read the Ukrop’s family still wants to remain active in the community.
Good for them. They should, just like anyone else, follow their personal dreams.
Good luck Ukrop Family!
Giant of Landover is the store of my youth. When I lived in South Arlington, I used to love shopping at the Giant in Baileys Crossroads, which was about the size of a department store, and which had a ton of ethnic food you couldn’t find anywhere else, even at the specialty markets. Also, GoL has always been pretty good about investing in city neighborhoods instead of sticking to strip malls in Outer Suburbia.
On the other hand, I’ve been to a few Giant of Carlisle stores in western and northwestern PA, and they were all somewhere between forgettable and crappy. Food Lion is a good comparison. Or Farmer Jack, for anyone who remembers it. Or Piggly Wiggly.
Giant of Landover killed itself with the “Super G” department store chain–which you’ve probably never heard of. After that disaster they sold the company to recoup the losses. The Royal Aholes (internal pet name) killed “My Giant”. Maybe it modernized the chain, but Giant was friendly and familiar. Since the merge with Stop and Shop, Giant has no soul. Morale tanked with the employees, benefits disappeared, and they sold off all the local product lines. SuperG/Giant Brand was the best around once.
Everyone in the stores (except Joe’s Market and Fredericksburg) will still have jobs. Giant will even offer those employees transfers to other jobs. Manufacturing associates will still have jobs. But employees at the Support Center were told we have jobs through February, and maybe a few months after in transition. Additionally, many folks at SuperValu (Ukrop’s supplier) will be let go.
I cook and bake a ton. Ukrop’s has terrible selection and is expensive. I’m sure we will find a way to soldier on.
I think it’s a sad, sad day for Richmond. Love them or hate them the fact is that Ukrops is Richmond-based business that employs hundreds of people and gives millions to area charities. They will be sorely missed. I am very disappointed that we are not getting a Harris Teeter or Wegmans in their place. Giant stores are horrid. I will shop at Kroger from now on. (Side note – build a Trader Joes and/or Whole Foods in Midlothian PLEASE!!!!)
I am going to buy a deep freezer so I can start hoarding White House rolls, Rainbow cookies and Coconut Cake.
So does this mean we’ll be receiving snarky comments from Latrell Giant now?
But seriously, I’m bummed on this. I always loved bringing visitors (i.e. my parents) to Ukrop’s and showing off how awesome Richmond is (that sort of stuff matters to parents more then monuments and graveyards).
you’ll be missed Ukrop’s. You were the only straight edge/vegetarian (ok, Southern Baptist) grocery store I ever knew.
Let’s not forget that they sponsor a stage at the Richmond Folk Festival.
Hope that doesn’t go by the wayside.
I personally detest Ukrop’s stores…they are for the hooty-snooty crowd of people who have more money than they know what to do with.
I can’t WAIT to see Giant move in and off us “middle class” people some decent food at a decent price!!!
Good riddance UFlops.
Really hated seeing all of the negative comments about Ukrops. I have shopped Ukrops since they only had one store. They put their money where their mouth was. They stood by their values of not being open on the Lord’s day and not selling alcohol. Those who did not like that were always free to go elsewhere. Brace yourself. My wife’s company was bought by a Dutch company and it not take long for the blood-letting to begin. You’ll get your beer and cheap prices on Sunday, but the “associates” will pay the price.
ukrops will still run its prepared foods manufacturing place. I quit shopping there when krogers came to town, krogers has better prices, selection and quality and customer service in my experience
I, too, am one of the sad ones to see Ukrops pull out. As a child, I accompanied my mother on her weekly Ukrops shopping trips and have wonderful memories of those Saturday mornings.
I can remember the Wonder Bread man that would stand at his display in the front of the store and cheerfully dole out the tiny loaves of packaged bread with a smile and a warm greeting!
I naturally became a Ukrops shopper as I got older and admit that, out of convenience, I have tried other markets and none of them could ever compare to Ukrops on any level.
Ukrops employees go the extra mile to give impeccable service on all levels. This is the standard that Ukrops has set and they have consistantly raised the bar.
Other markets, such as Kroger, Food Lion, etc., are fine for those who are willing, for whatever reason, to settle for mediocre service, cleanliness, selection and the list just goes on.
I, however, prefer to shop at the best market in town and that was and is Ukrops.
First Miller & Rhodes, then Thalhimers, then the local banks and now Ukrops…..I’m not a native,but have been here since 1971 and grew to appreciate the uniqueness of Richmond-based businesses…..Ukrops is a first class operation with excellent customer service, clean stores and quality products – yes their in-house produced foods are pricey and worth it! I do shop Krogers, too, and will probably go there more often now. I recall Giant and it was a schlocky operation – perhaps they will have improved. Glad to hear that Ukrops will stay in the food production business, at least for a while. Sad that the 3rd generation couldn’t figure out how to become a niche operation and stay in business.
My family and I have shopped there for over 30 years! Impressed mostly with their values as a business. We will miss them. We wish them well!
I can’t believe Ukrop’s sold out to a bunch of Dutch Aholes!
I don’t get the lame f**ks on here pissing and moaning about their hatred of Ukrops. You didn’t have to shop there and you wouldn’t have been missed if you hadn’t so stfu and go away.
i will most definitly miss Ukrops and it’s coustomers because they are my friends and because i LOOOOOOOOOOOVE Beth Davis and Ginnie Stevens and along with Jean that i need to communicate alot better with. And i also will NEVER EVER change anything because i LOOOOOOOOVE IT THERE ALOT and Coustomer Service is always SOOOOOOOOOO FRENDLY! And last but not least i hope i can accept the change that’s going to happen because I’m the only one that does NOT like change. Anne Meacham
i went to ucrops in the chesterfield town shoping center for some food and it was closed. they told me martins food was buying them out. i was like “ok! so give me an application for work” they dont have any they said go to martins food .com so i went there and there is no listing for this ucrops on line to apply to.just like every other busness just suppose you dont have a coputer you cant get a job any where ! its soooo impersonable and cold in the old days you used to be able to walk into a place ,fill out an application and get a call the next day. now you have to go through a level 1 security check just to get a job pushing a broom!!!!!! its not fair and it is totaly unecesary.every one who is employed does not care about anyone who is not!i will go to the news about this