ST. LOUIS — Save-A-Lot Food Stores here said Thursday that it had consolidated its corporate procurement functions under its marketing/merchandising group in a structure the company said would strengthen communications and better serve customers.

The changes, effective yesterday, coincide with the retirement of Steve Harris, senior vice president of procurement, who served the company for 31 years, the company said.

The procurement team, including David McDaniel and Mike Kemp, vice presidents of procurement, will now report to Bill Gillispie, senior vice president, marketing/merchandising, Save-A-Lot said. Also reporting to Gillispie is Andrea Wagner, vice president of consumer segments and brand strategy; and Larry Tyler, vice president, sales planning, analytics and in-store execution.

"We appreciate Steve's more than 30 years of service with Save-A-Lot. His retirement gives us the opportunity to look at our current structure and determine how we can leverage other strong leaders to meet our company goals," Bill Shaner, president and chief executive officer of Save-A-Lot, said in a statement.

Save-A-Lot is an independently run division of Supervalu, Minneapolis.

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