C&S Wins Bruno’s Bid; 31 Stores Will Remain Open

JON SPRINGER

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — C&S Wholesale Grocers was the winning bidder in last week’s auction of Bruno’s stores, agreeing to purchase all 56 locations from the retailer it supplies for $48.5 million.

C&S intends to operate 31 of the stores under its Southern Family Markets division and will liquidate the remaining 25, sources told SN.

“I am pleased that we were able to come to an agreement with Southern Family that not only preserves jobs at our store locations but also delivers more value to our creditors than other potential outcomes would,” Jim Grady, chief restructuring officer for Bruno’s, said in a statement. “We are grateful to all of our teammates for their hard work, our customers for their loyalty and our communities for their support to Bruno’s throughout this process.”

A list of stores C&S initially intends to keep obtained by SN includes eight Bruno’s and 23 Food World stores located mainly south of Birmingham and in the Florida panhandle. The list of closing stores includes 13 in the Birmingham metro area.

C&S founded Southern Family Markets as a result of taking over 104 former Bruno’s, FoodWorld and Bi-Lo stores, as well as Bruno’s Birmingham warehouse, when those chains were purchased by Lone Star Funds from Ahold in 2005. Dozens of those stores have since closed while other locations have been flipped to the Piggly Wiggly banner.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court here plans a hearing to confirm the sale Monday.

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