A majority of Shoppers Food & Pharmacy stores are facing closures as the parent company of the chain is moving out of the retail business, according to a report by the Washington Business Journal dated March 20.
Another company, Giant, has already taken over some of the Shoppers stores, while the rest is likely to be sold to other grocery outlets. According to Shoppers’ parent company United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), it is finalizing the sale of the Shoppers stores in the next few months based on its recent earnings call.
“We’re making great progress on divesting our retail assets. I’d say that we’re well down the path on selling Shoppers and I’m confident we’ll get that done in the coming months,” UNFI CEO Steve Spinner told the Washington Business Journal.
The closures come as part of the company’s extensive efforts to sell locations across the D.C. region. However, not all the Shoppers stores seem to be closing soon, since UNFI has not been able to find buyers for all of them.
Currently, Shoppers runs 12 locations in Prince George’s County, including 10 in Northern Virginia, three in Montgomery County, aside from 13 in the city of Baltimore.
In October, UNFI acquired Shoppers’ former parent company, SuperValu, which shifted its focus to wholesale before it was bought by UNFI.
There are 36 stores owned by Shoppers across Greater Washington and Baltimore. It is the fifth largest grocer in the D.C. region in terms of its market share.