Milwaukee-based Roundy’s Inc. has closed on its sale of 18 Rainbow grocery stores in the Minneapolis/St. Paul market.
The stores were sold to a group of Twin Cities retailers, including Eden Prairie, Minn.-based SUPERVALU Inc., for about $65 million in cash, plus proceeds of existing inventory. The group will assume lease obligations and certain “multi-employer pension liabilities” for the stores.
The Rainbow stores will transition to new ownership over the next two weeks.
The sale leaves Roundy’s with nine remaining Rainbow stores, which it plans to sell or close and then exit the Minneapolis/St. Paul market. Roundy’s will use the proceeds to pay down debt.
The company decided to exit the market because of increased competition and the economic downturn, plus an emphasis on growing its Mariano’s stores in Illinois and Pick n’ Save and Metro Market stores in Wisconsin.
