SPARTAN PLANS TO CLOSE CAPISTAR

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Spartan Stores here said last week it plans to close Capistar, its Holt, Mich.-based subsidiary, by the beginning of 1996. Spartan officials said they will begin closing Capistar's operations about Nov. 20 and expect to completely shut down the facility by the end of January. Capistar is a full-service distribution company that serves approximately 200 grocery retail customers in Michigan and Ohio. Spartan said those retailers will now be supplied by either Spartan; L&L Jiroch Distributing Co., a local subsidiary that supplies more than 2,000 convenience store accounts in Michigan, Indiana and northern Ohio, or other supply sources. Spartan acquired Capistar in October 1989, when the company was known as Associated Grocers of Michigan. Last year, Capistar had a loss of $1.3 million on sales of $106.6 million.