New owners intend to launch fresh marketing for Jacksonville’s four Save A Lot discount grocery stores, starting with the weekly circulars.
“Under New Ownership,” say the sales flyers in the store.
Orlando-based Ascend Grocery LLC bought the four Save A Lot stores effective Oct. 1, increasing its Florida ownership to 40 stores.
Ascend will also increase its digital presence with updated Facebook pages, social media advertising and targeted customer marketing.
It also will introduce a mobile app and later start a loyalty program.
“Our priority today is to take these four stores and bring them to operational excellence and provide great opportunity to employees,” Ascend CEO Chris Sherrell said Nov. 3.
The four Jacksonville stores sold to Ascend are:
• 762 Edgewood Ave. N. in West Jacksonville.
• 5276 Blanding Blvd. in West Jacksonville.
• 8000 Lem Turner Road in Northwest Jacksonville.
• 5995 University Blvd. W. in the Englewood area of South Jacksonville.
Sherrell said the first step was cutting prices storewide by 20% to 30% effective Oct. 16 and next up are marketing to the community and improving the stores.
He said the new marketing campaign will introduce new ownership to “show our community what we are going to give them from a pricing and value standpoint.”
“We believe that Save A Lot can have a major impact and serve communities that are looking for great value and which means low prices and quality food, and we intend to give back and be involved in the community and include great opportunities for employees,” Sherrell said.
“My passion is creating a sustainable business that will serve the community but at the same time create opportunities for our employees and our team members.”
He declined to disclose the Save A Lot purchase price.
Ascend is operating as a Save A Lot retail partner and operating under a license agreement.
“We are going to take all of our team and talents and skills and operate them the best possible way, filling shelves, offering great customer service, building that community where it needs to be and continue to evolve and serve the community,” said Sherrell, whose background includes creating and operating natural and organic grocery chains in the Midwest.
He said Ascend intends to invest into improving the stores’ interiors and exteriors, expanding the assortment of food and merchandise to serve the neighborhood demographics, and bringing in more locally sourced food.
Changes announced for Orlando stores included remodeling to reflect Save A Lot’s updated brand image, including new décor, upgraded flooring and lighting as well as updated produce and meat cases.
Sherrell said there are about 60 employees among the four Jacksonville stores and he said he believes Ascend will increase that 20% to 30%. That works out to each store having 15 employees and adding at least three.
Sherrell said Ascend wants to retain employees “and give every single employee in the network an opportunity to grow.”
“One of our missions is to create a safe environment and succession planning,” he said.
“We do believe that happy employees create happy customers.”
‘A growth opportunity’
Save A Lot, founded in 1977, is based in St. Louis, Missouri. It has been shifting to a wholesale business model and divesting its stores to retail partners.
Save A Lot has closed stores in the Jacksonville area since late 2019, including in Southgate Plaza, Beauclerc Village, Edgewood Avenue Shopping Center and Tuesday Morning Plaza in Orange Park. It also had operated in Lake Lucina Shopping Center in Arlington.
Save A Lot released its strategy to transition to a wholesale business model in December 2020.
It said it intended to divest more than 300 corporate-operated stores to current and new local retail partners and refocus on distribution and support services, including private label, for independent Save A Lot operators.
Save A Lot said it would retain 21 corporate-operated stores in St. Louis to serve as testing sites for retail partners.
In November 2021, Save A Lot announced the sale of four stores in Jacksonville and several in Dallas to Yellow Banana LLC, which previously had acquired 32 Save A Lots in the Cleveland, Chicago and Milwaukee markets, giving the independent operator a total of 38 Save A Lot stores in Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Florida and Texas.
Yellow Banana LLC is owned by Cleveland-based investment company 127 Wall Holdings LLC.
Sherrell said Ascend bought the Jacksonville stores from Yellow Banana in a sale facilitated by Save A Lot.
Along with Yellow Banana, Ascend Grocery is now one of Save A Lot’s largest independent store owners.
Sherrell said Ascend is a strong retail partner of corporate Save A Lot, and it might add more area stores.
“We believe that Jacksonville is a growth opportunity for us and we are constantly looking for opportunities to open more stores,” Sherrell said.
He said Ascend also is looking outside the Florida market to grow the Save A Lot network.
“Ascend is positioned within the Florida market to create and continue to build the Save A Lot banner,” Sherrell said.
Sherrell said he had not previously worked with Save A Lot.
‘A seasoned team of leaders’
State corporate records show Ascend was formed in October 2021.
Save A Lot announced in January 2022 it sold 33 company-owned stores in December 2021 in the Orlando area to Ascend as part of the discount grocer’s ongoing efforts to convert corporate-owned stores to local ownership.
It said Ascend would retain the 400 associates at the stores.
Ascend has since bought three more stores in Southwest Florida.
The Save A Lot release in January 2022 said Ascend was founded by a team of experienced grocery and investment executives to acquire and open new Save A Lot Hometown Grocer locations in established and new markets.
The release said Ascend Grocery was co-founded and is led by Sherrell, who was a founder and former CEO of Fresh Thyme Farmers Market in Downers Grove, Illinois, and former CEO of Sunflower Farmers Market in Phoenix.
Winsightgrocerybusiness.com said in October 2019 that Sherrell was departing Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, which he founded in 2012 and built to 77 stores in 11 states after opening its first units in 2014.
It said Sherrell, who began his career in the natural foods business as a teenager, founded Fresh Thyme after a previous retail startup, Sunflower Markets, was acquired by Sprouts Farmers Markets. That deal was completed in 2012.
His LinkedIn profile shows he was CEO of CSS Consulting in Downers Grove starting in May 2020 and founded Ascend in 2021.
The Save A Lot release said Sherrell has built “a seasoned team of leaders to drive the business, with a focus on elevating the employee experience and building long-term community partnerships.”
Ascend co-founder, President and COO Dean Little is the former COO of Fresh Thyme.
Sherrell said Ascend now owns 36 stores in the Orlando area.
“We took on the Save A Lot mission statement about two years ago and we continue to believe this is a great banner that is offering low-cost great food to the current communities in need and there continues to be great opportunity for growth in the Save A Lot network,” Sherrell said.
Sherrell calls himself a “passionate grocer.”
“I train, develop, grow, inspire and create opportunity,” he said.
“The banner doesn’t really matter. The product doesn’t matter, the demographic doesn’t matter,” he said.
“It’s creating value in the community, giving back to the community and creating a sustainable business model, employment opportunities and a great shopping opportunity.”
He said Save A Lot was an opportunity “where it was a great banner and something we could stand behind and be proud of.”