Coborn's Acquires SimonDelivers

JON SPRINGER

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — SimonDelivers, the online grocer that abruptly went out of business last month, has been acquired by retailer Coborn's Inc. here.

Coborn's last week said it would rebrand the service as CobornsDelivers and resume service in October.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Steve Gottwalt, a spokesman for Coborn's, told SN the purchase includes trucks, equipment and computer hardware and software. He said job offers have been made to several former SimonDelivers employees, including members of its executive team.

The St. Cloud company has renewed the lease on SimonDelivers' headquarters in New Hope, Minn., but it's unclear whether it plans to keep SimonDelivers' distribution centers in the Twin Cities, Gottwalt said.

SimonDelivers, founded in 1999, offered Internet grocery ordering and next-day delivery throughout the Twin Cities region, with estimated sales of $55 million and more than 19,000 customers. But pressured by rising gasoline prices and declining sales, and unable to find a buyer or new investment capital, the service went out of business in July.

Gottwalt said Coborn's believes it can make a “hybrid” business profitable by combining the retailer's expertise in food and customer service with SimonDelivers' logistics and technological know-how.

“We are combining the strengths of both organizations: Coborn's outstanding dedication to quality and customer service, along with its expertise in grocery operations and its buying power,” Gottwalt said. “Those capabilities join the former SimonDelivers industry-leading online shopping, marketing and home-delivery expertise. Suffice it to say we believe the combination will deliver a very compelling set of products and services to Twin Cities customers, and a strong bottom line.”

Coborn's, an employee-owned company, operates 34 Coborn's and Cash Wise Foods stores in the Upper Midwest and currently offers online ordering and home delivery at seven of those locations. Coborn's also operates a central bakery, central dry cleaning facility, central commissary and its own grocery distribution center.

Coborn's said customers who previously used SimonDelivers will be able to reactivate their accounts and access their past order histories.