Save A Lot operator Yellow Banana wraps up Chicagoland store investment

Save A Lot owner and operator Yellow Banana LLC has closed $26.5 million in financing for five store upgrades and one store reopening in food deserts on the South and West Sides of Chicago, the grocery operator announced Monday.

Plans call for Yellow Banana, which operates eight Save A Lot discount grocery locations in the Chicagoland area, to acquire the real estate at six of those stores, including the property for the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood store that closed in 2020. Remodels for the stores—to bring new flooring, lighting, equipment, HVAC, dairy and meat cases, interior and exterior paint, decor, fixtures and signage—are slated to begin this spring and finish over the next 12 months, Cleveland-based Yellow Banana said. During that time, the company also will reopen the store at 7908 S. Halsted in Auburn Gresham.

“We are excited about Yellow Banana’s commitment to reshape the in-store experience for Save A Lot customers throughout the city's South and West Sides,” Save A Lot CEO Leon Bergmann said in a statement. “The enhancements under way will ensure Chicagoans can continue to access fresh foods and quality brands at affordable prices for many years to come.”

Yellow Banana had announced the Chicago project in July with the receipt of a $13.5 million Community Development Grant from Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the City of Chicago. The grant combined with other financing and funding from Yellow Banana to raise the investment to over $26 million for the six stores in underserved communities. Besides the planned reopening at the shuttered Auburn-Gresham store, the other locations being remodeled are in West Garfield Park, Morgan Park, South Chicago, South Shore and West Lawn.

A retail grocery-focused subsidiary of minority-owned holding company 127 Wall Holdings LLC, Yellow Banana owns and operates 38 stores in Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Jacksonville and Dallas. 127 Wall Holdings was co-founded by Walker Brumskine, Ademola Adewale-Sadik and Michael Nance, who are joined by veteran retail operator and co-founder Joseph Canfield, who serves as Yellow Banana’s CEO.

Through an everyday-low-pricing strategy, Save A Lot stores offer savings of up to 40% over conventional supermarkets on private- and national-brand products plus fresh foods and nonfood items. / Photo courtesy of Save A Lot

“Yellow Banana has been brainstorming ways in which to breathe new life into the Save A Lot brand in Chicago ever since we first purchased the stores in 2021,” Canfield commented. “Countless professionals from dozens of organizations worked tirelessly to secure this investment and help deliver the shopping experience that hard-working Chicagoans deserve. This collaboration demonstrates our company’s commitment to providing quality, affordable, healthy groceries to the communities in which we operate.”

Yellow Banana has become one of Save A Lot’s largest retail partners. The company acquired 32 Save A Lot supermarkets in the Cleveland, Chicago and Milwaukee areas in September 2021 and then in November 2021 purchased four Save A Lots in Jacksonville, Florida, and two in Dallas, bringing its total to 38 stores in Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Florida and Texas.

In announcing the closing of the Chicagoland investment, Yellow Banana noted that it aims to be the partner of choice for municipalities working to find solutions to food insecurity.

“Where people grow up or live should not determine their access to healthy, affordable food options,” Nance stated. “We look forward to providing residents on Chicago’s South and West Sides with a repositioned, quality grocery experience, and we are eager to engage with them as we determine the appropriate offerings for these locations. We understand that local engagement and collaboration will make these stores a success.”

Yellow Banana’s latest move in bringing underserved communities access to affordable groceries comes about two weeks after Walmart announced the closing four of its longstanding locations on Chicago’s South and West Sides. Save A Lot competitor and fellow discount grocer Aldi, meanwhile, plans another Chicago-area store as part of expansion already under way in the metropolitan area.  

Earlier this year, Yellow Banana also assumed the lease of a closed Whole Foods Market at 832 W. 63rd Street on Chicago’s South Side.

“Yellow Banana’s triple commercial mandate is to deliver food access, job creation and economic development to our customers, colleagues and communities,” according to Adewale-Sadik. “Transforming these six sites into the community anchor tenants that these neighborhoods deserve will attract much-needed commercial activity over both the short and long terms, and this doubling down of our commitment to Chicago is in keeping with our mandate.”

Overall, St. Ann, Missouri-based Save A Lot operates 13 distribution centers and serves more than 800 stores in 32 states. Since December 2021, the company has operated under a wholesale business model in which independent grocers own and operate Save A Lot supermarkets via a relicensing program and receive marketing and other support services, including private label. In its hometown area of St. Louis, Save A Lot owns and operates 18 stores as a test market for innovations and new programs.