A St. Louis-based grocery chain will expand into Wisconsin with its purchase of Festival Foods and a chain of nine more small grocery stores.

The family that runs Schnucks Markets announced in a Sept. 16 news release that 1939 Group Inc., its holding company, will buy all outstanding shares of Skogen's Festival Foods and Hometown Grocers Inc. , and take over operation of 51 Wisconsin grocery stores. The purchase includes shares held by the grocery stores' employee stock ownership plan.

Festival Foods operates 42 stores across Wisconsin. Hometown Grocers Inc. owns nine small-market grocery stores that include Super Ron's Food Center in Pulaski, Sentry Foods in Wittenberg and the Lake Mills Market outside Madison.

In a news release, the 1939 Group said it will maintain all the stores'

See Full Page