Albertsons Acquires Stake in El Rancho Supermercado

Albertsons Cos. has acquired an equity stake in Garland, Texas-based Latino grocery chain El Rancho Supermercado, which will continue to operate as an independent company.

The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, will help fuel El Rancho’s growth plans to open stores in new markets within the state, said Salah Nafal, president at El Rancho.

"El Rancho has built a great business with its 16 Texas stores, and we're confident that we'll be able to leverage our combined expertise to better serve customers across the existing Albertsons Companies' and El Rancho store bases," said Bob Miller, chairman and CEO of Albertsons Cos. "With El Rancho's own distribution and manufacturing facilities serving their Texas stores, we can share best practices that will reduce costs and benefit our customers."

The move provides Albertsons an opportunity to invest in the fast-growing Latino grocery sector. The company currently operates a number of store banners in predominantly Latino areas.

“Trying new things and being innovative isn’t limited to our stores and products; it can also apply to our investment strategies,” Dennis McCoy, senior director of communication at Albertsons, told Winsight Grocery Business. “El Rancho understands the Latino consumer and has developed an extremely successful grocery model that we can leverage into our existing stores.”

Albertsons Cos. is based in Boise, Idaho, and operates stores under 20 banners across 35 states and the District of Columbia.