Richter's Joins AFM Cooperative

TWIN LAKES, Wis. — Richter's Marketplace, a two-store operator based here, said it will become a member of Affiliated Foods Midwest, Norfolk, Neb., effective on Monday.

Richter's has been supplied by Minneapolis-based Supervalu as part of the Sentry Foods group. It operates a store here and one in Burlington, Wis.

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AFM is a member-owned cooperative serving more than 800 stores in 16 Midwestern states from three distribution centers.

Norm Richter, co-owner of Richter's, said the company anticipates benefits from being a member of a cooperative, "We'll have a tremendous amount of freedom, which is a big advantage," he said. "As an independent grocer that's part of a cooperative, we'll be able to have better buying power, which lowers costs and lowers prices for customers. We'll also have more flexibility with our ads, with the independence to create and customize them to our likeness, and we'll have the ability to adjust pricing and advertise our own label."

He said Richter's will maintain its own line of Richters-label products in addition to offering the Shurfine private-label line.