Latest news with #AssociatedWholesaleGrocers
Daily Mail
21-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Iconic supermarket set to close stores in two states: Full list of locations
Homeland has become the latest grocer to announce widespread closures, confirming it will shutter several underperforming locations this summer. The company says four stores in Oklahoma — operating as Homeland, United Supermarkets, and Discount Foods banners — will close by August 16. A Piggly Wiggly in Gordon, Georgia — also run by Homeland — is also set to shut down. Christin King, director of marketing and public relations for Homeland, said the Oklahoma closures were based on 'financial performance', 'It is very unfortunate that we had to make these tough decisions, but our goal is doing the best thing for our company and our employee owners,' King told The Oklahoman. 'By closing these stores, we are able to focus on the greatest opportunities that strengthen other communities, grow communities and to really strengthen our organization by focusing resources in those areas.' These supermarkets are some of the forecast 15,000 store closures that will occur this year following inflation, tariffs and the retail apocalypse's turn for the worse. Homeland traces its roots back to a United Supermarket founded in Sayre, Oklahoma in 1916. The parent company of Homeland, Homeland Acquisition Corp. Inc., was originally linked to the Safeway grocery store chain. It officially adopted the Homeland name for its stores after becoming an independent company in 1987. The company hit a bump in the road in 2002 when it filed for bankruptcy and was acquired by Associated Wholesale Grocers. The Kansas-based firm was credited for reviving the chains owned by Homeland. While at its prime, Associate Wholesale Grocers opted to sell Homeland Acquisition Corp. Inc. to employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in 2011. The company has been 100 percent employee-owned since 2012, and currently operates around 80 stores in Georgia, Oklahoma, and Texas. Homeland and Associate Wholesale Grocers' business deals may have been what Albertsons and Kroger hoped would happen when planning to merge their stores. However the merger was a bust, and Kroger has been busy shuttering over 60 underperforming stores since shutting down its shipping services. However, some chains have continued to thrive and expand. Aldi, the fastest-growing supermarket, is opening more than 225 US locations this year, part of the 800 locations the chain plans to operate by the end of 2028. Trader Joe's fans were excited this year to discover the company planned to open a dozen stores across 10 states. That number has since moved up to more than 30. Wegmans joined in by announcing its plans to open four new stores after receiving 'thousands of requests' from customers. Other brands that are set to open stores this year include Walmart and the discount retailer Five Below.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Associated Wholesale Grocers hit with lawsuit over data breach
You can find original article here Supermarketnews. Subscribe to our free daily Supermarketnews newsletter. A former employee of Associated Wholesale Grocers has filed a class-action suit against the company alleging that it should have taken more precautions to protect employees' personal data. The Kansas City, Kansas-based grocery distributor suffered a data breach in October of 2023 in which hackers stole names, Social Security numbers, and other personal employee information, according to the suit, which was filed by attorneys on behalf of Toriana Patterson, a former employee of one of AWG's manufacturing companies. The suit claims that Patterson's stolen personal information was used by thieves to take out loans in her name. Patterson realized she was the victim of identity theft when she began receiving calls from loan officers and creditors informing her that she owed money on loans that she did not authorize or take out herself, according to the suit. The suit alleges that AWG did not store the data in an encrypted format and that personal information about the company's employees might still be vulnerable to hackers. In addition, the suit alleges, the company did not inform employees about the full extent of the breach until April of last year—about six months after it discovered the breach. The suit claims that 26,579 individuals had their personal information exposed. 'Due to the defendant's negligence, cybercriminals obtained everything they needed to commit identity theft and wreak havoc on the financial and personal lives of thousands of individuals,' the lawsuit states. A spokesperson for AWG told Supermarket News that the company does not comment on pending litigation. AWG has publicly denied the allegations that the employee data on its servers remains at risk, according to the lawsuit. In addition to seeking class-action status, the suit seeks an injunction against AWG to force it to take steps to safeguard the employee data on its servers. It is also seeking unspecified monetary damages. The lawsuit is among several class-action suits that retailers have faced in recent years alleging damages from the theft of personal data. These cases, which have involved the theft of both customer and employee data, include: Rite Aid settled a data breach lawsuit involving the theft of customer data for $6.8 million Albertsons was hit with a class-action suit alleging the theft of employee data Dollar Tree was alleged to have exposed the personal information of both employees and customer when it shared that data with a third-party vendor
