RPCS Inc. buys 12 stores near Tulsa

RPCS will take possession of the first site when it finalizes the sale July 23, according to a company news release. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. RPCS should have full possession of the Oklahoma stores within two weeks of closing, which will bring the grocery company’s holdings to 46 stores.

“We felt the Tulsa market was a great market with the potential for growth,” said RPCS executive Rob Marsh. “We’re currently in the process of interviewing all Albertsons employees who are interested in working with us.”

RPCS employs about 1,800 and expects to add about 1,000 employees with the new locations.

Officials with employee-owned RPCS say they’ll talk to each Albertsons employee about staying on with the stores, and those employees would be eligible to join RPCS’ employee stock-ownership program. To join, employees must have one year and at least 1,000 hours of service.

Marsh said the company had not yet decided what name the stores would carry or if they’ll have Starbucks kiosks. Starbucks operates in 10 RPCS stores, including seven in the Springfield area.

The purchase is the first expansion into Oklahoma for RPCS, which operates 33 grocery stores in southwest Missouri and one in northwest Arkansas. The deal is not, however, RPCS’ first purchase of stores with the Albertsons brand; in 2002, the company purchased eight Albertsons in Springfield, Joplin, Nixa and Waynesville. Those stores, originally Smitty’s grocery stores, were owned by the Trottier family, which now owns and operates Summer Fresh Supermarkets, including one in Springfield.

RPCS has added nearly half of its stores via acquisitions in the last five years.

Albertsons is selling a total of 23 stores in Oklahoma to independent chains that are members of the Associated Wholesale Grocers cooperative. Albertsons also is joining Kansas City, Kan.-based AWG; the co-op will supply all of Albertsons’ Texas division stores.

AWG also has purchased Albertsons’ Fort Worth, Texas, distribution center, from which it will supply the Texas division stores.

Albertsons officials did not return calls seeking comment on the sale.[[In-content Ad]]