SN'S TOP 75 1997

Many companies changed positions on SN's list of the Top 75 retailers and wholesalers in 1994, and many of the moves were fueled by mergers and acquisitions.

sly No. 13) moved the new Fleming to the second-largest company, behind only Kroger Co. Fleming also edged ahead of the nation's other giant wholesaler, Supervalu. Looking further down SN's list of the Top 75 food distributors, it was another wholesaler -- Richfood -- that made the biggest jump upward during the year, moving from No. 61 to No. 50 through the acquisition of the civilian division of B. Green and aggressive growth by some of its larger retail customers, including Farm Fresh. Richfood's upward mobility propelled it past three fellow wholesalers: Grocers Supply Co., Super Food Services and Twin County Grocers. On the retail side: · Albertson's rose two notches to the No. 6 spot, moving past Winn-Dixie Stores, whose sales were flat, and A&P, whose sales were down. · Penn Traffic Co. moved up five notches to 22nd, reflecting its acquisition of Insalaco Markets and consolidation of its distribution operations. · Dominick's Finer Foods went from 39th to 30th place on the strength of its Omni format. · Harris Teeter moved from 49th to 40th on the strength of its aggressive remodeling program. · Jitney Jungle went from 65th to 55th to move past several companies that struggled financially, including Eagle Food Centers and Kash n' Karry Food Stores. Among chains going the other way: · Two Canadian companies moved down slightly because of problems in their U.S. divisions: Loblaw from ninth to 12th place, reflecting the impact of an extended strike in its New Orleans operation early in the year; and Provigo from 15th to 16th because of problems in its California operations, which were sold late in the year. · Grand Union Co. fell from 26th to 31st place as it struggled to shore up its operations in upstate New York and New England. Joining the list in 1994 was Associated Food Stores, Salt Lake City.

RANK COMPANY TOP EXECUTIVE SALES IN

BILLIONS

1. Kroger Co. Joseph A. Pichler $22.4

Cincinnati chairman, CEO

2. Fleming Cos. Robert E. Stauth $19.1 (A)

Oklahoma City chairman, president,

CEO

3. American Stores Co. Victor L. Lund $18.8 (B)

Salt Lake City president, CEO

4. Supervalu Michael W. Wright $15.9

Minneapolis chairman, president, (25% retail)

CEO

5. Safeway Steven Burd $15.2

Oakland, Calif. president, CEO

6. Albertson's Gary G. Michael $11.3

Boise, Idaho chairman, CEO

7. Winn-Dixie Stores A. Dano Davis $11.1

Jacksonville, Fla. chairman

8. A&P James Wood $10.4

Montvale, N.J. chairman, CEO

9. Food Lion Tom E. Smith $7.6

Salisbury, N.C. chairman, president,

CEO

10. Publix Super Market Howard Jenkins $7.5

Lakeland, Fla. chairman, CEO

11. Ahold USA Robert Zwartendijk $7.2 (C)

Parsippany, N.J. president, CEO

12. Loblaw Cos. Richard J. Currie $6.8**

Toronto president (71% retail)

13. Vons Cos. Larry Del Santo $5.1

Arcadia, Calif. vice chairman, CEO

14. H-E-B Grocery Co. Charles C. Butt $4.9*

San Antonio chairman, president

15. Meijer Doug Miejer, Hank $4.5*

Grand Rapids, Mich. Miejer, co-chairmen

16. Provigo Pierre L. Mignault $4.5** Montreal president, CEO (37% retail)

17. Pathmark Stores Jack Futterman $4.2

Woodbridge, N.J. chairman, CEO

18. Oshawa Group Allister P. Graham $4.1**

Etobicoke, Ontario chairman, CEO (18.4% retail)

19. Wakefern Food Corp. Thomas Infusino $3.7

Elizabeth, N.J. chairman (10% retail)

20. Stop & Shop Cos. Lewis G. Schaeneman Jr $3.6

Boston chairman, CEO

21. Giant Food Israel Cohen $3.57

Landover, Md. chairman, president,

CEO

22. Penn Traffic Co. Gary D. Hirsch $3.2

Syracuse, N.Y. chairman

23. Fred Meyer Inc. Robert G. Miller $3.0

Portland, Ore. chairman, CEO (37.5% food, 62.5% nonfood)

24. Bruno's Ronald G. Bruno $2.83

Birmingham, Ala. chairman, CEO

25. Smith's Food & Jeffrey P. Smith $2.81

Drug Centers chairman, CEO

Salt Lake City

26. Ralph's Grocery Co. Byron Allumbaugh $2.73

Compton, Calif.(D) chairman, CEO

27. Nash Finch Co. Alfred N. Flaten $2.7

Minneapolis president, CEO (31% retail)

28. Associated Whole- Michael DeFabias $2.61

sale Grocers president, CEO

Kansas City, Kan.

29. Food 4 Less Ron Burkle $2.59

Supermarkets (D) chairman, CEO

La Habra, Calif.

30. Dominick's Finer Daniel Josephs $2.5*

Foods president

Northlake, Ill. CEO

31. Grand Union Co. Gary D. Hirsch $2.48

Wayne, N.J. chairman

32. Hy-Vee Food Stores Ronald Pearson $2.48

Chariton, Iowa chairman, president,

CEO

33. Roundy's John R. Dickson $2.48

Pewaukee, Wis. chairman, president,

CEO

34. Randalls Food Ronald Onstead $2.3*

Market chairman, CEO

Houston

35 Spartan Stores Patrick M. Quinn $2.2

Grand Rapids, Mich. president, CEO

36. Metro-Richelieu Pierre Lessard $2.1**

Montreal president, CEO

37. Hannaford Bros. James L. Moody Jr. $2.05

Scarborough, Maine chairman

38. Giant Eagle David Shapira $1.99*

Pittsburgh CEO

39. Shaw's Supermarkets Phil Francis $1.97

East Bridgewater, president, CEO

Mass.

40. Harris Teeter Edward S. Dunn Jr. $1.9

Charlotte, N.C. president

41. Certified Grocers Al Plamann $1.87

of California president, CEO

42. C&S Wholesale Rick Cohen $1.84

Grocers chairman, CEO

Brattleboro, Vt.

43. Raley's Chuck Collings $1.8

West Sacramento, president, CEO

Calif.

44. Wegmans Food Market Robert Wegman $1.8

Rochester, N.Y. chairman, CEO

45. Stater Bros. Market Jack Brown $1.6

Colton, Calif. chairman, president

CEO

46. Aldi Phillip R. Neally $1.5*

Batavia, Ill. chairman, president

47. Weis markets Sigfried Weis $1.4

Sunbury, Pa. president

48. DeMoulas Super- T.A. DeMoulas $1.4*

markets president, CEO

Tewksbury, Mass.

49. Super Rite Corp. Alex Grass $1.3 Harrisburg, Pa. chairman, CEO (20% retail)

50. Richfood Donald C. Bennett $1.275

Mechanicsville, Va. president, CEO

51. Marsh Supermarkets Don E. Marsh $1.26

Indianapolis chairman, president,

CEO

52. Pueblo Xtra Gustavo Cisneros $1.2

International chairman

Pompano Beach, Fla.

53. Schnuck Markets Craig D. Schunck $1.2

St. Louis chairman, CEO

54. Alex Lee (E) Boyd George $1.16

Hickory, N.C. chairman, president, (25% retail)

CEO

55. Jitney Jungle Store W.H. Holman Jr. $1.15

Jackson, Miss. chairman, president

56. Save Mart Super- Robert M. Piccinini $1.15

markets chairman, CEO

Modesto, Ca.

57. Twin County Grocers James A. Burke $1.15

Edison, N.J. president

58. Ingles Markets Robert P. Ingle $1.14

Black Mountain, chairman, CEO

N.C.

59. Price Chopper Lewis Golub $1.14*

Supermarkets chairman, CEO

Schenectady, N.Y.

60. Super Food Services Jack Twyman $1.13

Miamisburg, Ohio chairman, CEO

61. Riser Foods Anthony C. Rego $1.12

Bedford Heights, chairman, CEO (50% retail)

Ohio

62. Associated Grocers Donald W. Benson $1.1

Seattle president, CEO

63. Grocers Supply Co. Max Levit, Milton $1.1*

Houston Levit, co-CEO's

64. Kash n' Karry Tony Petrillo $1.09

Food Stores acting chairman

Tampa, Fla.

65. Hughes Family Roger K. Hughes $1.08

Markets chairman

Irwindale, Calif.

66. Delchamps Randy Delchamps $1.07

Mobile, Ala. chairman, CEO

67. Eagle Food Centers Pat Petitti $1.06

Milan, Ill. president, CEO

68. Foodland Distribu- Gregory Gallus $.96

ters chairman

Livonia, Mich.

69. United Grocers Alan C. Jones $.954

Portland, Ore. president, CEO

70. White Rose Foods Stephan Bokser $.95

Somerset, N.J. president, CEO

71. Furr's Supermarkets Jan Friederich $.95*

Albuquerque, N.M. chairman

72. Farm Fresh Michael E. Julian $.89

Norfolk, Va. president, CEO

73. Purity Supermarkets Peter Sodini $.88

North Billerica, chairman, president,

Mass. CEO

74. Associated Food Richard Parkinson $.81

Stores president, CEO

Salt Lake City

75. Homeland Stores Max Raydon $.81

Oklahoma City president

* Denotes industry estimate for fiscal 1994.

** Volume for all Canadian companies is listed in U.S. dollars.

(A) Includes sales of $6.2 billion from Scrivner Inc., Oklahoma City, which Fleming acquired in July 1994

(B) Includes sales of $840 million from Star Market Co., Cambridge, Mass., which American sold in September 1994.

(C) Includes sales of $550 million from Red Food Stores, Chattanooga, Tenn., which Ahold USA acquired in 1994.

(D) Ralphs and Food 4 Less are scheduled to merge sometime in January.

(E) Alex Lee is a holding company for Merchants Distributers, Hickory, N.C., and Lewis Food Stores, Winston-Salem, N.C.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

IGA, the Chicago-based network of independent operators, accounts for domestic volume of $10.6 billion. Virtually all of that volume is included in the sales numbers for the IGA stores' 21 wholesale suppliers.