Coborn’s Buys Illinois Grocer

(KNSI) – St. Cloud-based Coborn’s Inc. is expanding into Illinois.

Sullivan’s Foods has 11 grocery stores, a convenience store/gas station, three ACE Hardware stores, a warehouse, and a central office. It consists of 800 employees. Every worker is being hired on by Coborn’s and will make the transition. Coborn’s says the locations will still operate under the Sullivan’s Foods name going forward.

The purchase is expected to close in May and it will push Coborn’s portfolio to 77 locations from the Great Lakes west to the Dakotas. Company officials say the growing footprint will require some adjustments to how they do business.

President and CEO Chris Coborn says, “This is our first entry into the state of Illinois, so we have some things to learn, some added distance to figure out, and to onboard their team into our organization.”

Sullivan’s Foods started in 1967. John Sullivan took a part-time job as a meat cutter while serving in the U.S. Army and then bought his own store when he moved to Savanna, Illinois with his wife June. The company has since expanded to the central and northern parts of the state.

The acquisition was announced late Friday afternoon.

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