Product Code Database
Cub is an American supermarket chain. It operates stores in Minnesota and Illinois. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Natural Foods, based in Providence, Rhode Island.
The chain also had locations operated by Delhaize Group in parts of the Southern United States, namely in the metro Atlanta and metro Nashville areas in the 1980s and 1990s. The distinctively curved aqua-green tin roof on the front of a red brick façade can still be seen on many of these buildings, including the Big Lots in Woodstock, Georgia and the East Cobb YMCA.
Cub Foods once had multiple locations in Illinois, including stores in the Peoria metropolitan area. In 2009, a Peoria-area store closing drew controversy, as the city was liable for a portion of the initial project. A single location remains in Freeport.
Three Springfield, Illinois, stores independently owned by Niemann Foods (two of which are former Jewel-Osco stores acquired from the Cerberus-led group) had a franchise to use the Cub Foods name as part of the stores' branding. These stores also carried selected Cub Foods-branded products under the same agreement. As of recently, these three stores no longer use the Cub Foods name; instead, they are now called County Market (another trademark owned by SuperValu but franchised to independent grocers). A Niemann-owned store in Bloomington, Illinois, used the Cub Foods name under license from SuperValu until closing in 2015.
In 2018, the word "Foods" was dropped from the name. The signs and ads now simply say “Cub,” and the remodeled stores reflect the broader assortment of goods needed to compete not just with Hy-Vee but Target, Walmart, Aldi, and even Amazon. Cub is the biggest chain in Supervalu's retail portfolio. Its sale of the Save-A-Lot discount chain for $1.3 billion “fundamentally changed our leverage,” Chief Executive Mark Gross said this year. Some of that is going toward updating Cub. As of 2017, new stores have opened in Blaine and Oakdale, while 18 Twin Cities locations have been remodeled. Nearly all of Cub's remodels are in areas where Hy-Vee opened stores nearby, including Maple Grove, Plymouth, and Brooklyn Park. Cub brought elements to the remodeled stores that customers liked — more grab-and-go foods, a larger produce section, and a drive-up pharmacy — but those were reactions to Hy-Vee. Stillwater is an exception. The new 88,500-square-foot store includes ideas that Cub executives are trying out before adding to other stores.
On July 26, 2018, it was announced that parent company Supervalu would be purchased by United Natural Foods for $2.9 billion. As a result of this purchase, Cub and other Supervalu retail properties will be divested from the company. In January 2022, United Natural Foods announced that Cub would no longer be divested.
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