As we reported Wednesday, Phoenix-based Hispanic retailer Pro's Ranch Market was sold for $55 million earlier this week to a California-based company -- an LLC made up of two other supermarket chains. The family-owned Pro's Ranch Market declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy last June, saying that the bad economy and negative perception of the state toward immigrants and Hispanics were some causes of the company's millions of dollars of debt.
The new owners, Cardenas Northgate Group Ranch, is a partnership between Cardenas Markets and Northgate Gonzalez Markets, which own a combined total of 67 stores in California and Nevada. Northgate Gonzalez Markets will oversee the store management and day-to-day operations, working with Pro's Ranch Markets management during the transition. We talked to Northgate's Mike Hendry about what changes Phoenix customers can expect.
See also: Pro's Ranch Market Sold to California-Based Company for $55 Million - Pro's Ranch Markets Files for Chapter 11
If you're worried about not being able to find your favorite brands and other products now that Pro's is under new ownership, Hendry's words should put you at ease. Because both Cardenas Markets and Northgate Gonzalez Markets stores are so similar to Pro's already, the "core offerings should remain largely the same," Hendry says.
And as we mentioned in our last post, the company doesn't intend on closing in of the existing Pro's Ranch Market stores. In fact, Hendry says that once things are "sychronized," the company likely will look to open more.
Hendry also says that as of right now, Cardenas Northgate Group Ranch doesn't have plans to change the Pro's Ranch Markets name -- though that's not to say it's entirely out of the question either.
"Right now, we're doing some market research to kind of understand brand strength and see what customers think about the current name," Hendry says. "But we are not sitting here with a plan to change the name."
Cardenas-Northgate hopes to be able to keep the Pro's Ranch employees in place. And Hendry says they'll work to place those who aren't needed, though "we fully expect that we're going to need all those people."
"We've know [the Pro's Ranch Market] family and operation for years, so were just really happy to be able to combine the operations and embark in new territories," Hendry says.
