WEIS TO CONSTRUCT 10 NEW STORES

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH

SUNBURY, Pa. -- Weis Markets here plans to build 10 new stores -- increasing its existing store base by 7% -- and remodel or enlarge 20 other units over the next 18 months.

The added stores and improvements are part of the company's capital expenditure program, according to the chain's annual report. If the new-store and remodeling plans are completed as scheduled, Weis said it will spend about $76 million in the 18-month period.

Weis operates 141 stores in the six-state Mid-Atlantic region, primarily in Pennsylvania. New stores opening over the next 18 months will be in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey.

In its annual report, Weis said two of its planned 10 new stores are under construction. The other eight are in the planning or approval stages.

Sigfried Weis, president, said financing for the capital expenditures will come from company funds and Weis Markets "will continue to have no debt."

The company spent $64.4 million on capital expenditures and acquisitions during 1993, when it opened four new stores, remodeled or enlarged 13 others and built a warehouse addition.

The four new stores built in 1993 included the chain's first unit in New Jersey and its first warehouse store, called Scot's Lo-Cost Supermarket, Montoursville, Pa. Early in 1993, Weis Markets acquired 14 Mr. Z's Markets in northeastern Pennsylvania. One new Mr. Z's store has opened since the acquisition.

Construction on the 184,000-square-foot addition to the company's full-line distribution center in Milton, Pa., was completed shortly after the fiscal year ended. The addition opened in February.

Part of the extra space will accommodate Shamrock Wholesale Distributing Co., a new wholly owned organization developed by the chain to buy, sell and distribute nonfood and health and beauty care, the annual report said.

The warehouse addition also will provide space for private-label bread, snacks and grocery items.

At the end of 1993, the company acquired 80% ownership of SuperPetz, a three-unit pet-supply chain based in Dayton, Ohio. A fourth SuperPetz unit is scheduled to open in mid-May.

"It is anticipated that the number of these stores will grow into a successful chain in many areas of the country," Sigfried Weis said.

According to the report, the company installed Checkout Coupon, a targeted coupon-dispensing system, at more than two-thirds of its 141 stores last year.