BRUNO'S - BI-LO

BRUNO'S

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1932 - Joseph Bruno opened the first Bruno's Bros. grocery store in Birmingham, AL. The company grew steadily during the
         1950's and 1960's.
1966 - BI-LO was founded as Red Food Stores in South Carolina.
1968 - The Big B Discount Drugs chain is founded and was later sold to several companies including CVS/pharmacy.
1971 - With 29 Bruno's supermarkets, the company became publicly traded.
1972 - Bruno's entered the discount grocery business when it launched its first Food World format store.
1977 - BI-LO is acquired by Netherlands-based Royal Ahold.
1980 - Red Food Stores is acquired by France-based Promodes.
1983 - Bruno's launched its Food Fair banner stores.
1984 - Bruno's opens its largest store under the FoodMax banner.
1988 - Red Food Stores sells its 45 store Kentucky based Houchens chain to the chains employees.
1989 - Red Food Stores acquires 7 former Kroger stores in the Chattanooga, TN area.
1995 - Bruno's is acquired by investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) in a leveraged buyout. Because of overwhelming
          debt incurred in the buyout, Bruno's was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
1995 - Red Food Stores (55 stores) are purchased by Royal Ahold from France-based Promodes S.A. and merged into BI-LO.
1996 - Revco Drugs acquired the Big B Drugs chain from Bruno's.
1997 - Bruno's acquires Seessel's food stores.
1998 - Bruno's sells its Seessel's food stores to Albertsons.
2000 - Bruno's emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after closing many unprofitable stores.
2001 - AL-based Bruno's acquires 19 former Delchamps stores.
2001 - Netherlands-based Royal Ahold acquired Bruno's and operates it under its BI-LO division.
2004 - There are 168 Bruno's stores operating in AL,FL and GA and 287 BI-LO stores operating in SC, NC and TN.
2005 - Facing its own financial problems, Ahold sells both Bruno's and BI-LO to Texas investment firm Lone Star Funds.
          Lone Star in turn sells 104 of these stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers who operate their stores under its Southern
          Family Markets banner.
2006 - Based in Birmingham, AL, Southern Family Markets operates 99 stores.

Note: BI-LO also exists as a separate entity as part of the Friedman's and Riverside Grocery Store chain with 43 locations in western PA. The "BI-LO/Riverside" supermarkets trademark is owned by "The Penn Traffic Co."