The Idaho Statesman reports that "one year after SuperValu bought most of Boise-based Albertsons, the Minneapolis company seems to have accomplished what Albertsons' former leaders couldn't accomplish in five.. SuperValu's stock has more than doubled. Same-store sales have climbed. The fear in the community that this would be the end of Albertsons has subsided. And to hear at least one Boise store director tell it, employees have calmed down."
According to the store director, Steve Oldenburg, "employees appreciate how SuperValu executives have communicated with them and made clear what the company is doing. Because many employees are shareholders in the company, it's been nice that SuperValu's stock price has nearly doubled since the acquisition."
The Statesman notes that while Albertsons former CEO Larry Johnston – who came to the company after a career at GE and was largely described as "that toaster salesman" by an unhappy workforce – was able to boost the stock price when he started at the company, it was largely through cuts in people and stores; same store sales remained pretty much stagnant.
According to Supervalu CEO Jeff Noddle, the transition is still under way. Noddle tells the paper that more Boise employees are moving to the company's Minneapolis headquarters this summer now that school is out, and that employees who don't move are receiving severance packages.
"We've got off to a very good start, but we've said from the beginning that the transition of bringing these companies together is a three-year journey," Noddle says. "I'm very pleased with the reception Boise has given us, and the talent and competency of the Boise-based people has been exceptional."
According to the store director, Steve Oldenburg, "employees appreciate how SuperValu executives have communicated with them and made clear what the company is doing. Because many employees are shareholders in the company, it's been nice that SuperValu's stock price has nearly doubled since the acquisition."
The Statesman notes that while Albertsons former CEO Larry Johnston – who came to the company after a career at GE and was largely described as "that toaster salesman" by an unhappy workforce – was able to boost the stock price when he started at the company, it was largely through cuts in people and stores; same store sales remained pretty much stagnant.
According to Supervalu CEO Jeff Noddle, the transition is still under way. Noddle tells the paper that more Boise employees are moving to the company's Minneapolis headquarters this summer now that school is out, and that employees who don't move are receiving severance packages.
"We've got off to a very good start, but we've said from the beginning that the transition of bringing these companies together is a three-year journey," Noddle says. "I'm very pleased with the reception Boise has given us, and the talent and competency of the Boise-based people has been exceptional."
- KC's View:
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There's only been one downside in the Supervalu acquisition of most of Albertsons.
Larry Johnston used to be such a great and frequent target for us, and with his disappearance from the retail scene, we can't make fun of him the way we used to.
And there's nothing funny about Supervalu's calm and competent approach to doing business.
So we're stuck saying nice things about Supervalu and Noddle, and waiting for some other juicy target to emerge.
(Thank goodness for people like Fast Eddie Lampert and Julie "When In" Roehm…though we use these nicknames at the risk of sounding like Chris Berman…)
