SHEBOYGAN, Wis. -- Schultz Sav-O Stores here said last week it has reached an agreement with Piggly Wiggly Co., Memphis, Tenn., to expand the area in which Schultz will have exclusive rights to franchise or operate Piggly Wiggly stores.
erating area, 18 counties in eastern Iowa and five counties in southeastern Minnesota, and expand into parts of northern Illinois and the upper peninsula of Michigan.
The wholesaler originally purchased the rights from Memphis-based Piggly Wiggly Co. to operate and franchise stores under the Piggly Wiggly name about 15 years ago, said Mike Houser, executive vice president of marketing and merchandising for Schultz Sav-O. It expanded the franchise area to its three-state area about seven years ago, he added. "With this new agreement, our goal is to lure retailers away from other wholesale programs or to build additional stores ourselves," Houser told SN. "We want to expand our banner and marketing program to a broader geographic area, and with this agreement we can do that.
"We have had some conversations with retailers in the new areas who want to open under our banner approach because they see that others have been successful in our program, and we expect to convert additional stores to the Piggly Wiggly program as soon as we can reach agreement with those retailers."
According to James H. Dickelman, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Schultz Sav-O Stores, "We are very excited about gaining this additional area to expand our successful Piggly Wiggly program. We believe this will afford us many opportunities to expand our store base through a combination of new-store construction, acquisition of existing stores or conversion of stores from other wholesale programs."
