Dive Brief:
- Retailer-owned cooperative Associated Wholesale Grocers teamed with 11 other bidders to take control of the Belle Foods stores.
- AWG and its partners will keep 30 of Belle's 43 remaining stores open. The fate of the other 13 stores has not been determined.
- Belle Foods, a family-owned grocery store chain based in Birmingham, Ala., filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.
Dive Insight:
Taking control of Belle Foods is a bit of a double-win for AWG. When Belle filed for bankruptcy it's single largest creditor was C&S Wholesale Grocers, a competitor to AIG. C&S says that Belle owed it more than $40 million when it went under. Given what AWG is paying for the stores, it looks like C&S will take a considerable loss.
