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Associated Wholesale Grocers And Affiliated Foods Midwest Consolidate

Last updated on August 1st, 2016 at 08:04 am

Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) and Affiliated Foods Midwest (AFM) are combining the two cooperatives’ distribution businesses, the companies said today.

“This exciting endeavor is exactly what we need to allow our retailers to compete, grow and be profitable,” said AFM President and CEO Martin Arter. “The synergies between our joint cooperatives will help our retailers thrive. Our members benefit with a substantially lower cost of goods. Much credit is due to the vision of both AWG’s and AFM’s board of directors to see the possibilities of what we could become.”

David Smith, president and CEO of AWG, said the consolidation makes sense.

“We are excited about joining forces and combining the two cooperatives. Expanding our collective distribution areas into several new adjoining states and adding over 800 new member stores will make our unified cooperatives stronger together, leveraging not only the additional scale and buying power but also employing and implementing the best practices of each that have been developed over the 80 to 90 years that our respective cooperatives have been in business,” Smith said. “Combining our distribution center networks and support infrastructure will allow us to more effectively serve our growing numbers of independent member-retailers.

“This unified business will further strengthen our relationship with the vendor community, reduce operating expenses and subsequent cost of goods, and enhance our ability to support and serve our growing membership,” Smith added.

As proposed, the members of both cooperatives going forward would be members of a larger AWG. AWG is a retailer-owned cooperative supplying members who operate more than 3,000 stores in 30 states. AFM is a retailer-owned cooperative supplying members that operate more than 800 stores in 15 states.

The boards of directors of each company unanimously approved the alliance and while it is still subject to certain conditions, including the approval by AFM shareholders, it is expected to close later this year.

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