WiseWay Supermarkets Selling Seven Grocery Stores to Strack & Van Til
WiseWay Supermarkets, headquartered in Merrillville, IN announced plans today to sell seven grocery stores to Strack & Van Til which has its corporate offices in Highland, IN.
WiseWay Supermarkets currently operates eight stores under the names of WiseWay and PayLow in Northwest Indiana. It will continue to operate its store located in Winfield, IN under the WiseWay banner. Strack & Van Til currently operates 30 stores in the Chicago metro and Northwest Indiana market.
Don Weiss, President of WiseWay Supermarkets, stated “I am pleased that Strack & Van Til is acquiring the stores. Strack’s corporate culture parallels the way we do business. They are a local company that has a commitment to the communities we serve in Northwest Indiana. A major concern of our family was for our associates who have been very loyal to us over the years. Strack and Van Til will be able to provide our associates with greater employment opportunities, job security and potential for advancement within their larger organization.”
On behalf of the entire Weiss family Don said, “It has been our joy and privilege to serve Northwest Indiana for three generations over 72 years. We will continue to serve the community with increased investment in our real estate projects, WiseGuys Discount Liquors chain and our remaining WiseWay in Winfield. We want to thank our many associates, vendors and customers for the support given to us since my late father, Marvin “Mickey” Weiss, opened a small store in Gary in 1940.”
David Wilkinson, President of Strack and Van Til said, “We are excited about this acquisition and having the WiseWay associates join our family. WiseWay is a locally owned company that has been an integral part of the communities they serve. We will be temporarily closing the PayLow store located at 6001 Broadway Avenue in Merrillville, IN for remodeling to better serve the community. We will also be completing the major renovation of the WiseWay store located at 2800 Calumet Avenue, Valparaiso, IN that is currently in process. Our intent is to convert the three PayLow stores to our Ultra banner and the remaining four stores to the Strack & Van Til banner.”
Both companies are supplied by Central Grocers, Inc. located in Joliet, IL.
The transaction is expected to close in December.
The Food Partners, LLC represented WiseWay Supermarkets as its exclusive strategic and financial advisor.