The Shop ‘n Save grocery store in Collinsville closed at the end of August, leaving 60 employees without a job.
Some of those employees, Shop ‘n Save executives said, were transferred to jobs with other nearby locations. Officials with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 88, which represented a portion of the employees affected, declined to comment. Leaders of UFCW Local 881, which represents another portion, did not return requests for comment.
It’s the third Shop ‘n Save to close within the last 12 months, following closures of locations in south St. Louis and Maplewood. The south St. Louis store, in the Gravois Plaza at 3865 Gravois Avenue, will soon reopen as an Aldi. The Maplewood store has been turned into a Schnucks, which opened in late August.
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Kirkwood-based Shop 'n Save is owned by Minneapolis-based Supervalu, Inc., which eariler this year agreed to be acquired by United Natural Foods for $2.9 billion. Prior to that deal, Supervalu had sought to divest its retail operations, including the Shop ‘n Save brand.
The Shop ‘n Save business remains for sale, though no buyer has emerged.
Shop ’n Save, which has approximately 30 grocery stores in the St. Louis region, has about 3,300 employees locally.
Grocers are operating in an increasingly competitive market, with new concepts and technology disrupting the industry.
Walmart has opened its small-format neighborhood grocery centers. Aldi has expanded with new and upgraded locations. And new stores such as Whole Foods or Fresh Thyme are now firmly entrenched in the local market. Meanwhile, local players like Schnucks and Dierberg’s have maintained market share.
Each has slowly chipped away at Shop ’n Save’s sales.