Jim Pattison Group acquires Save Mart

The Jim Pattison Group, a Canadian conglomerate operating multiple businesses in Canada and the U.S., has acquired Save Mart Cos. from the private equity firm that has owned the retailer since 2022.

The current management team of Save Mart, including Executive Chairman Shane Sampson, will remain in place, a spokesperson for Save Mart told Supermarket News. The spokesperson said further information about the sale has not yet been disclosed. A spokesperson for The Jim Pattison Group could not be reached for comment.

Modesto, Calif.-based Save Mart operates nearly 200 supermarkets under the Save Mart, Lucky, FoodMaxx, and Maxx Value banners in California and Nevada. The retailer had been owned by private equity firm Kingswood Capital Management since 2022.

According to an online post by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 8-Golden State, which represents 6,000 union workers at Save Mart, the acquisition also includes Save Mart’s Yosemite Wholesale and Save Mart office divisions. Save Mart indicated that it intends to continue normal operations, the union said.

Save Mart was founded by Nick Tocco and Mike Piccinini in 1952 and operated by the Piccinini family as California’s largest family-owned grocer up until its acquisition by Kingswood Capital Management.

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The Pattison Food Group division of the Jim Pattison Group, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, is one of the largest grocery wholesalers in Canada, serving more than 2,000 independent retailers. It also operates several retail banners in Canada, including Save-On Foods, which is one of the largest food retailers in Western Canada, as well as Quality Foods, Choices Markets, and others.

In 2021 the Pattison Food Group expanded into the U.S. with the acquisition of Salem, Ore.-based Roth’s Fresh Markets, a nine-store retailer serving Oregon’s mid-Willamette Valley, about 380 miles north of Save Mart’s northernmost locations.