Dive Brief:

• Three Save A Lot grocery stores owned by Madison Foods in the Boston area are leaving the discount food retailing chain to join Price Rite Marketplace, a banner run by supermarket cooperative Wakefern Food, according to a press release.
• The locations transitioning to Price Rite are located in Brockton, Roslindale and Roxbury, Massachusetts. Madison Foods also plans to open a new Price Rite store in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in January.
• ​The conversion will give the supermarkets access to products carrying private labels that are distributed by the cooperative, including the recently refreshed Wholesome Pantry line.

Dive Insight:

Madison Foods’ decision to embrace the Price Rite brand will allow the longtime Boston-area grocer to take advantage of Wakefern’s hefty marketing and distribution capabilities, which stem from its position as the largest supermarket cooperative in the United States.

The more than 350 supermarkets operating under the Wakefern umbrella span nine East Coast states and carry banners including ShopRite, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market, Gourmet Garage and Fairway Market in addition to Price Rite. That breadth gives the cooperative considerable buying power and has helped it establish brand recognition with consumers that Madison Foods will now be able to tap.

Madison Foods will carry products under Wakefern’s private labels, including Bowl & Basket, Paperbird, Wholesome Pantry and Wholesome Pantry Organic. The grocer, run by the Slawsby family, which has been in the grocery business in the Boston region since the 1940s, also plans to retain features it is known for, such as its butchers, a range of ethnic foods and discounted merchandise, as it renovates and rebrands the stores.

The addition of Wakefern’s private labels to Madison Foods’ decades-long presence in the communities where its existing stores are located could lay the foundation for a potent combination. Private brands, which serve as differentiators for grocers, have emerged as especially important to food retailers as shoppers look to conserve money in the face of the pandemic-induced economic downturn.

Wakefern announced in October that it would be expanding and rebranding the Wholesome Pantry and Wholesome Pantry Organic lines — a move designed to help it keep pace with competing grocers like Target and Whole Foods Market, which have also been investing in their private labels.