Ukrop's Sold to Netherlands Supermarket Giant

By WYDaily Staff Friday, December 18, 2009

In mid-July, Bobby Ukrop responded to reports that his family-owned grocery chain was seeking a buyer with a tart message. Ukrop told employees and customers the chatter was based on anonymous blog postings, and to comment would only add fuel to the fire and leave him no time to do "real work."

Apparently that "real work" included finding a buyer for Ukrop's, which announced late Thursday it had been acquired by Giant-Carlisle, a subsidiary of Royal Ahold, an Netherlands-based group of supermarket companies throughout Europe and the U.S.

The price tag: around $140 million.

The Dutch food retailer is known on the East Coast with its Stop & Shop, Giant Carlisle and Giant Landover stores.

Rumor of a sale picked up steam this summer, first with blog postings and then a story published in mid-July by the online trade magazine Food World. That story said multiple industry sources had confirmed that Ukrop's had offered a prospectus detailing "vital" company information to at least three companies that could be potential buyers.

Three potential suitors were named, including Ahold. But the edge was given to North Carolina-based Harris Teeter, which expanded their presence on the Peninsula this fall with the opening of a store on Quarterpath Road in Williamsburg.

How this will affect local store operations is not yet known.

Union Bankshares Corporations and First Market Bank - the company operates branches inside 23 Ukrop's stores, including the one at Monticello Marketplace - said late Thursday that Ukrop's had informed them there would be no impact on their in-store branches.

Ukrop's was counting on its well-known customer service and growth in upper York and James City counties to carry the opening of a store on Mooretown Road in 2006. A slowed economy put a stop to growth, and the company closed the store Feb. 1. Because the company owns the building, some loyal customers held out hope the store would one day reopen.