As retailers in all channels adapt to the evolving new normal (including fewer shopping trips, heavier emphasis on core items and huge online shopping growth), it almost seems as though the world as we knew it stopped around March 1 and we’re all focused on what’s taken place in the last 120 days and what further changes retailers and suppliers are going to have to make going forward.
In reality, the fundamentals of retailing still apply – if you’ve got well-stocked, clean stores and properly trained associates you’ll likely remain relevant. If you’re also strong in perishables, offer superior pricing or can clearly differentiate yourself from the competition, you’ll likely be successful.
Clearly, those retailers that had built an e-commerce infrastructure have fared well over the past four months and are poised to take advantage of additional online business ahead.
Amazon (Whole Foods) with its heavy reliance on e-commerce (especially delivery), Walmart with a more balanced approach between its growing online presence and its powerful store fleet have expanded their overall business model during the pandemic. Additionally, traditional supermarket chains Ahold Delhaize USA and Kroger (Harris Teeter) have benefited from having invested early on in an omni-channel approach, while others like Albertsons and Costco, who were a bit late to the e-commerce game, are making progress.
To be successful in food retailing, you also need a bit of luck. We all know that Publix is a first-tier merchant and also the most profitable retailer in America. But what if most of Publix’s store weren’t in Florida and they were judged by their results in other states where competition is much more fierce? Of course, it could be argued Publix’s skill and acumen are the reasons that the landscape of the Sunshine State looks like it does.
Conversely, look at ShopRite – also successful by any measure (number one in Metro New York and the Delaware Valley). But could its member-owners be even more profitable if they didn’t face the intense competition of operating in New York and Philly, where infrastructure costs are higher because of real estate, associate compensation and unionization?
And then there’s Wegmans, perhaps the one retailer that over the last 25 years has arguably outshined all others. And here’s where luck comes into play. Nobody has built finer shopping arenas than the Wegman family. Nobody has provided the variety of in-store shopping options than the Rochester-based uber-retailer. And no other retailer can claim the level of customer service – training, knowledge and direct contact – than the highest per-store volume supermarket retailer in the U.S.
Yet, because of the changes that have become part of the new normal, a lot of Wegmans’ stellar work has to be reimagined. Yes, the privately-held firm was late to get into the full e-commerce portal (it is now fully integrated). In hindsight, you may question that decision. But when your focus is almost entirely on enticing the customer to visit your “theater of food” and can substantiate that with also the highest basket “ring” among all supermarkets, you’ve got a formula that’s clearly been uber-successful.
It took a highly contagious virus that created the need for social distancing and face masks to shut down the service departments at all retail outlets. If you’re Food Lion, the impact wasn’t horrible; if you’re Wegmans, the effect was consequential.
It’s difficult to imagine that most of Wegmans’ vaunted hot and cold bars, soup stations and customized bakery departments can return to anything resembling their previous form. And even if the regional chain can modify those departments to make them less service reliant, will enough customers feel safe to make them even financially viable?
Sure, those areas can be repurposed (there’s certainly some space flexibility when you’re dealing with footprints as large as 120,000 square feet) but what can replace what essentially is the main draw that Wegmans offers?
And for all retailers on a broader plane, there are some other realities on the horizon that are going to be challenges. When schools are back in a few months (assuming there won’t be a second COVID wave), retailers will be ceding some gains they’ve had since March. And while restaurants will take longer to fully reopen (what a nightmare the foodservice sector has experienced), that’ll be more ground that retailers will sacrifice.
Underlying all of this is the jobs outlook. If unemployment remains above 10 percent (it was 13.3 percent in May) for a prolonged period of time, then all businesses are in trouble. Yes, people will still have to eat (and probably overwhelmingly at home), but the unprecedented days of March, where for a two-week period comp store sales jumped more than 100 percent, will be so far back in the rear-view mirror that those gains will seem invisible. I pray that doesn’t happen.
So, now back to reality. As I’ve done for 41 previous years, here’s my take on the market leaders in the core Baltimore-Washington market.
Giant Food – It was a big year for the perennial B-W market leader. The division of Ahold Delhaize USA (ADUSA) experienced strong pre-COVID comps and like many other retailers had robust sales in March. For the first time in nearly a decade, Giant actually had a net gain to its store count. It also settled new four-year labor contracts with its clerks and meatcutters. Internally, the work of former president Gordon Reid (now leading sister firm Stop & Shop) and current leader Ira Kress (former SVP-operations) has paid off. The company’s culture is the best it’s been since Ahold acquired Giant more than 20 years ago. And one more change that was made in 2018 has really helped the Landover, MD-based merchant as well: the decentralization of all ADUSA brands has helped Giant be a better merchant by restoring local identity to a company that been the market leader for more than 40 years.
Safeway – A relatively flat year (except for the month of March) for the Lanham, MD-based unit of Albertsons. Despite the fine work of eastern division president Tom Lofland, who has helped vastly improve morale at the 108-store division, Safeway simply needs more capital from parent company Albertsons if it wants to become more competitive in a very overcrowded, rivalrous marketplace. The company only has one new store on its books (a replacement supermarket in Washington DC) and the need to replace and remodel other older units, despite excellent locations is needed. Perhaps if Albertsons does complete its IPO more cap-ex will become available. Internally, like Giant, the company and its two UFCW Locals inked new four-year labor deals. And last month it began shifting merchandise from its distribution center in Upper Marlboro, MD to another Albertsons facility in Denver, PA where it will share services with sister merchant Acme Markets.
Walmart – As the Behemoth continues to focus on building its e-commerce business, the role of its bricks and mortar units hasn’t really been diminished in any area other than store growth. Day-to-day at its 63 stores in the $29.2 billion market (most of them SuperCenters), the focus remains the same: price, price, price. Walmart had strong comps for the first 11 months of our measuring period, and like many other retailers had an outstanding March, despite surprising higher than expected out-of-stocks (when compared to others in the B-W market). Don’t expect any new store movement over the next few years either, but the planet’s largest merchant proved that investment in upgrading its e-commerce platform coupled with a strong physical store base has yielded big benefits.
Harris Teeter – Another steady year for the upscale division of Kroger. For the first time in more than a decade, no new stores opened, but Harris Teeter had solid comps, both pre-COVID and in March (especially the last three weeks). The Matthews, NC-based regional chain does have new stores slated for Washington, DC (Howard University); Arlington, VA; Stafford, VA; and Kent Island, MD. It’s been 22 years since HT entered the B-W market (ostensibly to offer shoppers a more customer-service oriented experience after Giant was sold to Ahold) and it has created a solid and loyal customer base, particularly in DC and Northern Virginia. But Harris Teeter has already learned how difficult it can be when competing with the Goliath of upscale oriented customer service in Wegmans, and now Giant, with superior locations, is ready to take back some of those customers it lost earlier this decade.
Wegmans – Wegmans’ future challenges have been documented earlier in this story. As for the past 12 months, it was an excellent campaign for the Rochester, NY-based uber-retailer. Although no new stores opened in the Baltimore-Washington market, Wegmans continued to dominate all supermarket retailers in sales on a per store average basis. And the new store pipeline remains very active in the market with mega-stores planned for DC (Wisconsin Avenue NW); Rockville, MD; Alexandria, VA; Arcola, VA; Reston, VA; and Tysons Corner, VA. Additionally, Wegmans is building its third distribution center near Richmond, which will improve efficiency to its stores in Old Dominion as well as its North Carolina expansion where six stores are planned (one opened last year). Never bet against these guys.
Shoppers – It’s almost like the associates who work at Shoppers’ remaining 24 stores are being held hostage by their own parent firm (reverse Stockholm Syndrome?) UNFI, which has been openly attempting to sell the once-proud regional chain for nearly two years. But wait, that probably won’t happen for another 12-18 months, because company CEO Steve “Senor Spinmeister” Spinner said it would be “immoral” to sell and potentially create a food desert during this high time of demand. Shortly after that announcement, UNFI decided it would spin-off both Shoppers and its larger retail entity, Cub Foods, into a separate operating unit (likely so they won’t blemish future earnings). The false altruism of the Spinmeister is disingenuous enough, but how difficult must it be for the thousands of clerks and meatcutters who still work at the company’s stores to know that being a lame duck is almost an endless journey into no-man’s land. Almost endless – until they receive their WARN notices.
At Ahold Delhaize USA: A New Acquisition, AnUncoupling And More Vendor Relations Issues
First there’s this: earlier this month, Food Lion, a division of Ahold Delhaize USA (ADUSA), announced that it has reached an agreement with Southeastern Grocers (SEG) to purchase 62 Bi-Lo/Harveys supermarkets (46 Bi-Los and 16 Harveys units) in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The stores will remain open as Bi-Lo and Harveys Supermarkets until the transaction is complete, which is expected to take place over a staggered period from January to April 2021, pending regulatory approval and customary closing requirements. The deal also includes Bi-Lo’s primary distribution center in Mauldin, SC which will supply the acquired stores. Food Lion said it hopes to hire approximately 4,650 associates when the acquisition is completed. Financial terms of the transaction were not released.
When the deal is completed, parent company SEG will operate 61 Bi-Lo units in Georgia, North Carolina and Florida and 30 Harveys Supermarkets in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.
“We are so excited to add these new locations to our more than 630 stores across Georgia and the Carolinas,” said Food Lion president Meg Ham. “We’ve been serving customers in these larger regions for almost 60 years. We’re thrilled to add these locations and serve even more towns and cities across these three states with fresh, quality products at affordable prices every day with the caring, friendly service customers expect from their local Food Lion.”
With the acquisition, Food Lion will operate nearly 1,100 stores from Pennsylvania to Florida which will employ more than 80,000 associates.
For Southeastern Grocers, which is led by former Giant Food president Anthony “Slick” Hucker, the move allows the Jacksonville, FL-based retailer to place more focus on its five-year growth plan. SEG, which entered bankruptcy in March 2018 and emerged from its Chapter 11 status two months later, said it will now focus on its Winn-Dixie, Fresco y Más and remaining Harveys stores. It added that it is also actively exploring strategic options for the rest of Bi-Lo’s stores, including other potential transactions.
Separately, SEG is also divesting the assets of 57 of the in-store pharmacies it operates under the Bi-Lo and Harveys Supermarket banners to CVS and Walgreens. These locations, which include all of the retailer’s Bi-Lo pharmacies and nine Harveys Supermarket pharmacies in Georgia, will begin to transition within the next two weeks. During this process, SEG said it will seek to minimize any interruption to customers and to ensure the smooth transition of their prescriptions.
CEO Hucker stated: “The successful execution of our long-term transformation strategy may at times require difficult decisions. Today’s transactions are a critical strategic move and an important next step for our continued growth and broader evolution as a business. These actions will facilitate greater investment in our remaining footprint so we can continue to provide an exceptional shopping experience our customers can always count on.”
Southeastern Grocers also noted that these transactions build on previous announcements made by the company such as the opening of a new store earlier this year and the acquisition of eight new store locations from Lucky’s Market and Earth Fare – as part of its business transformation strategy to strengthen its overall performance in an increasingly competitive sector.
Then there’s this: On June 10, Stop & Shop and King Kullen announced that they have terminated their merger agreement through which Stop & Shop was to acquire King Kullen. A joint decision was made not to proceed with the acquisition because of significant, unforeseen changes in the marketplace that have emerged since the agreement was signed in December 2018, largely driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Both companies have put forth an incredible amount of effort to work through unanticipated challenges that have arisen, and we regret that we’re not able to move forward. King Kullen has a strong legacy on the island, and we wish them continued success,” said Gordon Reid, president of Stop & Shop. “Stop & Shop remains committed to the Long Island community, to serving our customers in the market well, and to investing in our associates and our stores in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.”
Brian Cullen, co-president of King Kullen, stated, “We look forward to continuing to focus on what we do best — serving our great customers across Long Island and supporting our hard-working store associates. We are enthusiastic about the future and well-positioned to serve Nassau and Suffolk Counties for many years to come. In short, we are here for the long term.”
However, multiple sources have told us that the role of the Federal Trade Commission, which reportedly sought to force Stop & Shop to divest more stores than the company had originally intended (due to anti-competitive concerns), was a factor in the final decision.
In a memo to the trade, SVP and chief merchandising officer for King Kullen Joe Brown said, “As you may be aware, King Kullen has decided not to sell our company. Our public statements address all that is needed in regard to our decision to remain in business as a family and management owned company for the foreseeable future.” He continued, “The intent of this memo is to directly inform our vendor partners of our intent to build and strengthen the equity of the King Kullen brand. We understand that it is no longer ‘business as usual,’ it is something far different than that. Along with the technological, cultural, and social changes we see from consumers, we see our need for internal structural and cultural changes in our approach to how we run our business.”
The deal, originally announced by Ahold Delhaize in early January 2019, was for Stop & Shop, its largest brand in the United States, to acquire King Kullen’s 37 Long Island stores, which included 32 King Kullen supermarkets and five Wild By Nature units, as well as its corporate offices located in Bethpage, NY.
The news came as a bit of a surprise as a memo from King Kullen emerged in April indicating that the deal would close by the end of the month.
The company’s internal memo, which was issued on April 17 and referenced a prior memo from March 13, stated: “In our memorandum to you dated March 13, 2020 we advised you that the merger agreement between King Kullen and Stop and Shop had been extended to April 17, 2020 in order to resolve some outstanding issues which would allow us to complete the FTC approval process.
“Those issues have been largely resolved, and now final negotiations with the FTC toward completion of the approval process have begun. At the same time, however, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on supermarket operations in our region, raising issues that need to be considered carefully between Stop & Shop and King Kullen so that we can complete this merger successfully. Accordingly, the parties have agreed to amend, and have amended, the merger agreement to call for an outside completion date of April 30, 2020. This additional time will give representatives of both parties the opportunity to meet and begin to develop and implement a plan to coordinate the merger from an operations standpoint in consideration of these COVID-19 related issues.
“Stop & Shop continues to express enthusiasm about completing the merger. We are confident that with that commitment, and the diligence of both the Stop & Shop and King Kullen teams, we will meet this new challenge presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and complete this merger successfully.”
Additionally, as recently as May 7 at the Ahold Delhaize annual general shareholders meeting, CEO Frans Muller said his company expected to finalize the deal in the second half of 2020.
In Food Trade News’ 2020 market study, to be published June 29, Stop & Shop remains the share of market leader on Long Island with 52 stores, claiming 21.33 percent of all channel food and drug business in the $10.5 billion market. King Kullen, which has shuttered two stores since the deal with Stop & Shop was originally announced, continues to lose share in an area where competitive activity over the past three years has been volatile. The Bethpage, NY-family-owned regional chain ranks number five on Long Island with 6.48 percent of the all-channel food and drug business in the two-county market.
“I’m not surprised by this announcement,” said a senior VP for a food broker based in the Metro New York area who calls on King Kullen. “This soap opera has gone on for far too long and it’s adversely affected the culture and the momentum of the Kullen organization. It’s going to be challenging to restart their engine. As for Stop & Shop, whether it was COVID-related, or became an FTC problem that they couldn’t overcome, or the fact their parent firm Ahold Delhaize USA just agreed to acquire 62 Bi-Lo and Harveys Supermarkets and a distribution center from Southeastern Grocers, they seemed ready to move on.”
And then there’s one more thing: vendors again are unhappy with a new ADUSA edict that claims it will charge suppliers a reinstatement fee for returning out-of-stock items to the shelves. According to one of more than two dozen copies of the memo (sent by all ADUSA banners), “any LTMO (Long Term Manufacturer Outs) that is returned to distribution before October 1st is subject to an administrative fee aligned to brand specific costs (to incorporate administrative, tags, store labor/handling, etc.) ranging from $2.5-$5K.” This decision follows an April 7 memo in which all ADUSA companies said they would seek “total trade rates” for 2020 that need to be delivered and that pandemic-related costs will be evaluated. “As we continue to evaluate the impacts of this pandemic on our business, we will review ancillary costs we are incurring and revisit with each supplier as needed at a later date.”
This is just bad form. At the height of the pandemic, when all retailers were desperately searching for product (and many manufacturers bent over backwards to meet the demand), there wasn’t much debate about individual SKU rationalization. Core items were most important, and many secondary items weren’t available because suppliers prioritized getting their customers their best selling products.
Now, retroactively to penalize those vendors is not only unfair, it’s greedy. Although the powers in Quincy or Zaandam might not believe this, but they’re the only merchant in the U.S. deploying these ham-handed tactics.
Charging up to $5,000 to reinstate COVID-impacted out-of-stocks, asking for full trade rates after what’s occurred (and is still occurring) and possibly seeking compensation for pandemic-related expenses that ADUSA has incurred?
You can see why the vendors are pissed.
As 100th Anniversary Nears, Utz Combines With PE Firm To Form New Publicly-Traded Entity
It’s been no secret that Utz Quality Foods, the Hanover, PA-based manufacturer of salty snacks, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year, has been searching for the right partner to bolster its fast-growing business (it surpassed the $1 billion sales mark earlier this year). And earlier this month it stepped to the altar to combine with blank check private equity firm Collier Creek Holdings.
The family-owned snack firm’s deal with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) will see the formation of a new company, Utz Brands, Inc. It is expected that the newly combined company, which will be a leading pure-play snack food platform in the U.S., will trade under the ticker symbol “Utz” on the New York Stock Exchange once the transaction is completed in the third quarter of 2020.
Dylan Lissette, who first joined Utz in 1995 and has served as the snack firm’s CEO since 2013, will continue to serve in that role to lead the business along with the existing management team. Roger Deromedi, former chairman of Pinnacle Foods and ex-Kraft Foods CEO will become chairman of Utz Brands. Deromedi co-founded the Manhattan based investment firm along with Chinh Chu and Jason Giordano in 2018.
Utz Brands will remain headquartered in Hanover.
Proceeds from the transaction are expected to be used primarily to repay existing borrowings at Utz. The Rice and Lissette family, the founding family and owners of Utz, will retain more than 90 percent of its existing equity stake, which will represent more than 50 percent ownership in Utz Brands upon completion of the transaction.
The remaining ownership will be held by the public shareholders and sponsor of Collier Creek. In connection with the transaction, Collier Creek’s sponsor and directors will invest approximately $35 million alongside public investors via a private placement pursuant to the forward purchase agreements entered into concurrent with Collier Creek’s initial public offering. Collier Creek will become a Delaware corporation and the name of Collier Creek will be changed to Utz Brands, Inc.
Assuming no redemptions by the public shareholders of Collier Creek, the approximately $453 million in cash held in Collier Creek’s trust account, together with the $35 million private placement, will be used to pay cash consideration to the current Utz owners, pay transaction expenses, and reduce the company’s existing indebtedness to approximately 3.1x estimated 2020 Pro Forma Adjusted EBITDA.
The transaction will be structured as an entity called an “Up-C” where the continuing Utz owners will retain common units of a partnership managed by Utz Brands and an equal number of non-economic voting shares in Utz Brands. Utz Brands will also enter into a customary tax receivable arrangement with continuing Utz owners, which will provide for the sharing of tax benefits relating to certain pre-combination tax attributes, as well as tax attributes generated by the transaction and any subsequent sales or exchanges by the continuing Utz owners of their equity interests, as those attributes are realized by Utz Brands.
Utz has been expanding rapidly over the past decade, acquiring other snack food companies as well as manufacturing plants and distribution centers. In 2009, the company was close to merging with rival Snyder’s of Hanover (now Snyder’s-Lance, a division of Campbell’s). In October 2016, it sold a minority stake to private equity firm Metropoulos & Co to help with the acquisition of Golden Flake Foods, a large snack food manufacturer based in Birmingham, AL. Fifteen months later, Utz reacquired those shares.
This deal looks like a very good fit for Utz, with Lissette continuing as primary day-to-day leader and Deromedi, whose vast food industry experience, serving as a guiding hand as the company seeks further growth.
‘Round The Trade
The Food Industry Association/FMI earlier this month released its annual U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report, which extensively tracks consumer grocery shopping habits. Prepared by research firm The Hartman Group, the 2020 report provides a distinct picture of grocery shopping habits before the pandemic, attitude shifts that took place during COVID-19 and offers a glimpse of what might come next for the food industry. According to the report, prior to the pandemic, U.S. grocery shopper trends followed a familiar pattern. Weekly household trips to the grocery store remained high, at 2.7 trips per week, and shoppers continued to utilize several different channels and banners to meet their monthly grocery needs. In the early weeks of COVID-19, weekly trips to the grocery store by households increased to 3.6, while 40 percent of shoppers reported they were shopping fewer stores for their household grocery needs. In early 2020, 14.5 percent of grocery spending was online, a significant increase over the previous year. However, COVID-19 greatly accelerated the move to online grocery shopping with online spending doubling to 27.9 percent of all grocery spending during March and April. Many shoppers were new to online grocery shopping and were willing to break previous barriers, including 12 percent reporting purchasing fresh produce online for the first time. Nearly all families (87 percent) reported that eating together was important and the COVID-19 pandemic had only amplified this value. Some younger shoppers, particularly 48 percent of Gen Z and millennials, said they were eating healthier during the pandemic. Forty-one percent of shoppers surveyed noted they were cooking more, and 42 percent were minimizing trips to the store or using perishables before they spoil. Before the pandemic nearly all (90 percent) grocery shoppers reported dining out sometimes, but during March and April only 45 percent of shoppers reported utilizing restaurant delivery while 35 percent reported cooking at home six to seven days a week. “In looking toward the future, most consumers expect to return to their pre-pandemic levels of in-store grocery shopping and more than a fourth of consumers expect to be ordering more groceries online in the future,” said Leslie Sarasin, president and CEO of FMI. “The food industry will continue to listen to consumers and let them guide us on how to best meet their changing household needs. Whatever comes next, we know the supply chain is tremendously resilient and that we can flex, pivot and accommodate the demands of the nation’s grocery shoppers.”…in other COVID-19-related new data, research organization Brick Meet Click (BMC) noted that online grocery sales for the month of May topped the previous high water mark set a month earlier. BMC said sales jumped 24 percent over April’s revenue to reach $6.6 billion and that online orders also increased 18 percent to 73.5 million from the previous month. Additionally, the average “ring” in May was $90, a six percent gain from April’s former record setting level. And trust me, it’s not just Amazon/Whole Foods and Walmart dominating the online space; retailers whose average online revenue was at or below one percent of total sales have told me that digital-driven volume is now in the four to five percent range…Kroger and Ocado are enhancing their relationship and will build three more fulfillment centers in the Great Lakes, west and northwest regions. With Ocado-inspired fulfillment centers either operational or under construction in Frederick, MD; Groveland, FL; Atlanta; Dallas; Monroe, OH; and Pleasant Prairie, WI, Kroger is further advanced than any other supermarket retailer in offering an infrastructure – BOPIS, delivery through Instacart and Ocado – that will further enhance its e-commerce initiatives…on June 13, Albertsons ended its $2 per hour “appreciation pay” to its store associates, making the chain one of the last retailers to end its bonus compensation programs (Stop & Shop and Target have extended until July 4). As at Kroger and several other chains that have already terminated their bonus payments, all store associates will receive a one-time final bonus. In other Albertsons news, one of its principal investors, real estate firm Kimco Realty, has reduced its investment in the Boise, ID-based chain. That news is related to PE firm Apollo Global Management, which acquired a 17.5 percent stake in the big chain for $1.75 billion as it attempts to launch an IPO, likely in the next six weeks. Along with current largest shareholder Cerberus Capital Management, and Schottenstein Stores and Klaff Realty, Kimco has owned a stake in Albertsons since 2006. With the equity sale, Kimco received $156.1 million and saw its stake in the second largest pure-play retailer in the country decrease from 9.29 percent to 7.5 percent…kudos to Steve Smith, CEO of K-VA-T, who has renamed the Food City 500 – the NASCAR race sponsored by his company. The race will now be known as the Supermarket Heroes 500. In announcing the move in mid-May, the second-generation chief executive said: “For the last 76 days, our country has been in really uncharted territory with this COVID-19 pandemic. Like our counterparts throughout this great nation, our dedicated team of associates have gone above and beyond the call of duty to meet the needs of our customers and the communities we serve. We’re proud to have this opportunity to honor supermarket heroes around the country for their hard work and dedication.” Classy move by a classy guy…just heard that Necco Wafers will soon be returning to store shelves after a two-year absence thanks to its current owner, Spangler Candy. But the real news story is “why?” Necco Wafers taste like chalk, its flavor varieties barely resemble what they claim, and most importantly, Necco Wafers are not candy. Nasty stuff that I wouldn’t feed to my dog. And I don’t even like my dog that much…
Thankfully, despite all of the craziness going on at this time, I only have one obit to report this month. One of the greatest (and most unsung) basketball players to ever represent Baltimore and Washington has passed on. I said Baltimore and Washington because Wes Unseld played for both the Baltimore Bullets and Washington Wizards during a 13-year NBA career, which ultimately led to a berth in the Basketball Hall of Fame. At 6’ 7” and 245 pounds, Unseld was like an early-version of Charles Barkley, but without Barkley’s offensive game. Height challenged, the Louisville native faced some of the league’s greatest centers of all time – Wilt Chamberlain, Nate Thurmond and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – and with his brute strength, savvy and basketball intelligence, he often neutralized those stars who almost always had more raw talent than Unseld. “You always wanted to make sure you got a good night’s sleep before you played against him,” said another Hall of Famer, former New York Knicks center Willis Reed, another Hall of Famer who squared off against Unseld more than 75 times (including some classics playoff duels). “He was most consciously a rebounder – he could shoot, but he didn’t emphasize that part of his game – and felt that if he did his job right, by getting the defensive rebound and making the quick outlet pass, they would score quickly.” A great team player, Wes Unseld was also extremely generous, contributing to many charitable and philanthropic causes, some of which involved the grocery business, where I found him to be accessible and humble. Sad to see him pass at only 74.
And finally, as we publish our signature issue of the year. I want to remind my many industry friends to be careful and cautious. COVID-19 remains a huge existential threat. Beyond the impact that it’s already had on our lives, there are certain to be more challenges for most of us. Do the right thing; please stay safe.