NEW YORK — As Supervalu reorganizes the way it thinks about its business in geographic terms rather than by banner, it plans to offer assistance to facilitate the ability of its independent customers to grow, Craig Herkert, president and chief executive officer of the Minneapolis-based company, said here yesterday.

Speaking at the annual Global Consumer & Retail Conference sponsored by Morgan Stanley, Herkert said Supervalu still has to go through “a learning period” to determine exactly how it can help its independents, though it does intend to offer assistance in such areas as store design and equipment procurement. It won't be investing capital in them at this point, he said.

While some independents understand the company's new way of thinking, “there are some cases where they will have to figure out how to deal with cannibalization [from other Supervalu banners within their markets], and they will have to grow with that.”

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