Dive Brief:
- SpartanNash has agreed to acquire Michigan convenience store operator Markham Enterprises, the grocery retailer and wholesaler announced Tuesday.
- The transaction includes Markham’s three c-stores and its fuel distribution business. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in December, were not disclosed.
- SpartanNash’s pending purchase of Markham continues the grocer’s efforts to expand its retail operations through acquisitions of small and regional players.
Dive Insight:
SpartanNash has lately devoted considerable attention to bulking up its retail operations, which currently represent less than a third of its sales.
The grocer’s disclosure that it intends to absorb Markham follows its announcement earlier in October that it is acquiring regional supermarket chain Fresh Encounter, which runs 49 locations in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. In April, SpartanNash bought Metcalfe’s Market, a three-store grocery chain based in Wisconsin.
SpartanNash currently operates 36 convenience stores, all of which include fuel stations, Ryan Speakes, vice president of c-stores and gas stations for the company, said in a statement provided by a company spokesperson.
Speakes said SpartanNash plans to continue expanding its retail operations — which also encompass 147 supermarkets, primarily under the Family Fare, Martin's Super Markets and D&W Fresh Market banners — through both acquisitions and organic growth.
The company said it plans to retain the 42 employees who work for Markham, which has stores in the Michigan communities of Howell, Perry and Lansing.
“Our plan is to continue operating these locations as they do today for the most part, while leveraging our extensive shopper data and consumer insights from our own Retail operations,” Speakes said, adding that the c-stores SpartanNash is bringing on each span between 4,000 and 8,000 square feet.
SpartanNash noted in the Tuesday announcement that it is working to upgrade its c-store fleet as well as add new locations.
“Markham Enterprises fits well in our current retail portfolio, as we look to expand our fuel center and convenience store footprint,” Masiar Tayebi, the company's chief strategy and information officer, said in a statement. “We are in the process of refreshing many of our existing fuel centers, so this acquisition is another exciting milestone in our investment in this part of our business — and in our strategic growth plans overall.”
