Saker ShopRites acquires fellow Wakefern member Perlmart

Wakefern Food Corp. member Saker ShopRites Inc. has purchased fellow New Jersey ShopRite supermarket operator Perlmart Inc.

Financial terms of the transaction, reported by Keasbey, N.J.-based grocery cooperative Wakefern, weren’t disclosed. Under the deal, Saker purchased Perlmart’s seven ShopRite locations in Ocean County. 

Owned and operated by the Saker family, Saker ShopRites has 32 ShopRite supermarkets, including Monmouth and Ocean counties in New Jersey. The Perlmart acquisition expands Saker’s ShopRite store count to 39. The retailer’s locations also include 30 in-store pharmacies, two liquor stores and Dearborn Market and Garden Center. The company employs more than 8,000 associates.

“Perlmart has been dedicated to customer and community service since they first opened their doors, and we are proud to continue those traditions as we welcome their stores and associates into our family of supermarkets,” Richard Saker, president and CEO of Saker ShopRites, said in a statement. “Both the Saker and Perlmutter families share a love of the supermarket business, and we think this is a great way to pass the baton from one local, family-owned business to another.” 

From left to right: Saker ShopRites senior vice presidents Tom, Joe and Rick Saker with President and CEO Richard Saker.

Perlmart’s ShopRite stores, owned and operated by Michael Perlmutter, are located in Manahawkin, Lacey, Fischer Bay (Toms River), Manchester, Jackson, Bayville and Waretown, N.J. All of the supermarkets house pharmacies. The sale of the stores to Saker was completed Dec. 13.
 
Both the Saker and Perlmutter families were early members of the retailer-owned cooperative Wakefern, which in 2021 marked its 75th anniversary. Wakerfern noted that Richard Saker’s father Joseph joined the new cooperative in 1947, the year before Michael Perlmutter’s father Julius Perlmutter joined Wakefern and opened a store in downtown Toms River, N.J.
 
“We are proud to have been part of the Ocean County community for more than seven decades, and we are so grateful for the loyalty we’ve experienced from our customers and the dedication and friendship from our associates through the years,” commented Perlmart’s Michael Perlmutter. “As a family-operated business, we have viewed our associates as extended family members and our relationship with some go back 35, 40 and more years.”

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Overall, Wakefern comprises nearly 50 members that independently own and operate 361 supermarkets under the ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market, Gourmet Garage and Fairway Market banners in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. The retail network includes about 280 ShopRite stores in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland.

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