Sweetbay Supermarket

Infobox_Company
company_name = Sweetbay Supermarket
company_
company_type = Subsidiary of Delhaize Group
company_slogan =
foundation = 1947
location = Tampa, Florida
key_people = Shelley Broader, President and CEO
num_employees = 9,000
industry = Retail
products = Grocery
homepage = [http://www.sweetbaysupermarket.com www.sweetbaysupermarket.com]

Sweetbay Supermarket is a chain of American supermarkets located entirely in Florida. The first Sweetbay Supermarket to open was in Seminole, Florida in November 2004. As of July 2008, there are 107 Sweetbay stores. [ [http://www.delhaizegroup.com/divclassdg_MenuText_YellowMEDIAdiv/PressReleases/2007/tabid/192/ctl/ViewPressRelease/mid/758/PressReleaseID/789/language/en-US/Default.aspx Delhaize Group Reports 9.6% Operating Profit Increase in Second Quarter] , "Delhaize Group", August 9, 2007.] The company is headquartered in Tampa, Florida and is a part of the Belgium-based Delhaize Group.

Supermarket News ranked Delhaize America No. 10 in the 2007 "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" based on 2006 fiscal year estimated sales of $17.3 billion. [http://www.supermarketnews.com/sns-top-75/ 2007 Top 75 North American Food Retailers] , "Supermarket News", Last accessed February 24, 2007.]

Kash n' Karry history

Salvatore Greco, an Italian immigrant, sold fruits and vegetables in the streets of Tampa beginning in 1914. In 1922, he and his wife Giuseppina opened a storefront at their home. The Greco family built a proper store in 1947 under the name Big Barn in Tampa. The business expanded and they had opened nine stores by 1960 with the name of Tampa Wholesale. In 1962 the name changed again to Kash n' Karry, based on the cash and carry program of World War II. People would bring in their "cash" and "carry" out their own groceries. They left out nonessential parts of supermarkets like contests, customer service representatives, and samples. [ [http://www.kashnkarry.com/aboutus/history.htm Kash n' Karry History] , Kash n' Karry, Retrieved May 20, 2007.]

In December 1996, Kash n' Karry became a wholly owned subsidiary of Food Lion. In July 2000, after Food Lion's acquisition of Hannaford, the holding company Delhaize America, Inc. was created. As a result, Kash n' Karry became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delhaize America.

In 2002 Kash n' Karry pulled out of the competitive Orlando market with only one store remaining in Clermont, Florida. Two of three stores were closed in Gainesville, Florida.

On Wednesday, August 29, 2007, news reports said that the last Kash n' Karry store in Crystal River, Florida closed, marking the end of the Kash n' Karry brand and the full conversion to Sweetbay Supermarket. [ [http://www.sptimes.com/2007/08/28/Business/Talk_of_the_bay__Last.shtml Talk of the bay: Last remaining Kash n' Karry to check out] , St. Petersburg Times, Retrieved August 29, 2007.] However, as late as November 2007, Stores 1881 at 6015 26th Street West in Bradenton, Florida, and Columbus Plaza location in Hillsborough County at North 50th Street and 14thAvenue in Tampa, Florida were still open with Kash n' Karry signage and had Kash n' Karry ads. They will, however, become Sweetbays in November 2008.

weetbay history

In January 2004, after years of slumping sales growth, Kash n' Karry announced the creation and roll out of a new supermarket concept called Sweetbay Supermarket in its core markets on the West Coast of Florida. By September 2007 all Kash n' Karry stores were redesigned as Sweetbay Supermarket. The first of the new Sweetbay Supermarkets opened in Seminole, Florida on November 6, 2004 and in Fort Myers in December 2004.

Relationship to Hannaford

In 2002, management and supply chain at Kash n' Karry was transferred to sister chain Hannaford in hopes of repairing Kash n' Karry's performance, which ultimately led to the creation of Sweetbay [ [http://www.delhaize.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=pq5OhvjOTH8%3d&tabid=156&mid=598 Delhaize Group Annual Report 2003] , PDF Delhaize Group, 2003.] . When Sweetbay was created, it was modeled after Hannaford, incorporating store design, logo/branding elements, and pricing strategy from its northeastern sister company [ [http://www.privatelabelmag.com/pdf/nov2004/1c.cfm How Sweet Is Sweetbay?] , "Private Label Magazine", November/December 2004.] . Additionally, Sweetbay stocks Hannaford-branded products as its generic store brand.

On March 17, 2008, Hannaford Supermarkets announced a data intrusion that resulted in the theft of customer credit and debit card numbers. No personal information, such as names or addresses, was accessed. The intrusion affected Hannaford stores, Sweetbay stores in Florida and certain independently-owned retail locations in the Northeast that carry Hannaford products. They say they are aware of about 1,800 cases of fraud related to the data intrusion and about 4.2 million unique account numbers were exposed. Concerned customers should call the Customer Information Center at 866-591-4580. [ [http://www.sweetbaysupermarket.com/Contents/News_Events/News/News.shtml SweetBay News Alert] , 'www.sweetbaysupermarket.com' , March 17,2008.] .

References

External links

* [http://www.sweetbaysupermarket.com/ Sweetbay Official site]