The Schnuck family’s acquisition of Wisconsin-based Festival Foods is not a one-off move but likely “the first of many more” in a round of consolidation for regional grocers, renowned retail analyst Burt Flickinger says.
Flickinger, the Managing Director of consulting firm Strategic Resource Group, calls Schnucks “the proverbial last of the Mohicans.”
He lays out to KMOX how the deal, which keeps the family in full ownership, positions the St. Louis-based holding company the 1939 Group to potentially snap up other independent grocers.
Flickinger says the stability of Schnucks’ multi-generational family leadership is its key advantage against the “Walmarts of the world.” He contrasts their four generations of management with other family-owned chains that have sold out. He says those chains often tended to be left with “a founder, a number of ‘country club kids,’ and some cousins who weren’t working.”…