Upside of Albertsons Remodels Greater than Expected
March 1st, 2007

     
NEW YORK — Supervalu is seeing more upside from remodeling activity at its Albertsons stores in Southern California than it anticipated at the time it acquired them, Jeff Noddle, chairman and chief executive officer, said yesterday in a presentation at the 13th Annual Retail, Restaurant and Consumer Conference sponsored by Bear Stearns here. “Most of those stores had not been touched in 10 years,” he said. “Albertsons had put money into technology and systems but not much against consumers. But from the early results we’ve seen [after remodeling some of the stores], there are greater opportunities than we thought.” Noddle said the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets that Tesco will begin opening later this year will probably not have much impact on Supervalu for a couple of years. He also said Supervalu has launched a new advertising campaign for its Albertsons, Acme and Shaw’s banners that focuses on the role food plays every day.