SAVE-A-LOT TO OPEN UPSTATE NEW YORK DEPOT

Elizabeth Morrow

ALDERLAND, N.Y. (FNS) -- Save-A-Lot, St. Louis, last week announced plans to open a 220,000-square-foot distribution center and warehouse in Northeastern Industrial Park here in early 1998.

Company officials also said Save-A-Lot plans to open approximately 40 new stores in the New England region in the next two years.

Save-A-Lot has more than 700 stores nationally, 550 of which are owned and operated by licensees. The company said it expects to double in size over the next five years, spokeswoman Deborah Scott told SN.

A corporate store opened last week in New Britain, Conn. Another unit is planned for Hartford. In Massachusetts, the company plans to operate stores in New Bedford, Lowell, Fall River and Indian Orchard, a suburb of Springfield. The company also plans to open a corporate store in Pawtucket, R.I.

In addition, Save-A-Lot said licensed, independent stores will open in Roslindale, Bellingham, Southbridge, Lynn and Brockton, Mass., and in Lewiston, Maine.

The company currently operates two stores located in New York state. One in Yorkshire and the other in Bath, both of which are served by the company's warehouse in Williamsport, Md.

Save-A-Lot offers a limited assortment, 90% of which is private-label frozen, canned goods and meats as well as fresh fruits and vegetables.

Save-A-Lot, a division of Supervalu, Minneapolis, generated sales of more than $2.25 billion in 1996, according to president and chief executive officer William M. Moran Jr.

Moran said that Save-A-Lot would hire about 50 new workers immediately at the new distribution center to service stores in New England.

He said total employment would increase to 150 or more as the new distribution center supplies a growing network of new stores throughout the Northeast.