NASH FINCH SET TO SHUT DEPOT FOR CONVERSION

MINNEAPOLIS -- Nash Finch Co. here said it will close its 173,000-square-foot distribution center in Sioux Falls, S.D., while it converts it from a full-line grocery warehouse to a more specialized function.

o disruption of service to stores now being supplied out of Sioux Falls, the company said.

The Sioux Falls facility will be converted to a specialized warehouse for handling health and beauty care products, general merchandise and slow-moving grocery items, Nash Finch said.

The converted facility will support operations of the company's other distribution centers in the Midwest. Once the conversion is completed -- which the company projects to be by the end of 1995 -- a smaller, leased HBC/general merchandise warehouse in Sioux Falls will be closed.

"These steps are being taken to improve operating efficiency and productivity, and reduce costs of wholesale operations in the company's Upper Midwest trade areas," said Al Flaten, president and chief executive officer of Nash Finch. "Our distribution centers in Fargo, St. Cloud, Lincoln and Rapid City have the capacity to absorb the business being transferred from Sioux Falls, without any capital improvements being required."

Nash Finch supplies products to over 700 affiliated and independent supermarkets and some 5,000 other independent retailers and military bases in 31 states. The company also owns and operates approximately 120 supermarkets, warehouse stores and mass merchandise stores in 16 states and produce marketing subsidiaries in California.