Pamida nameplate to disappear with merger

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 1/4/2012 3:17:49 PM

Green Bay, Wis. and Omaha, Neb. - Shopko Stores and Pamida today announced a merger creating a $3 billion company which combined will serve nearly 350 locations in 22 states with plans for new store growth in the second half of 2012.

Shopko acquired Pamida in 1999 and ran it as separate unit, the latter's stores located in smaller, more rural Midwestern markets. Shopko was itself acquired by private equity firm Sun Capital Partners in 2005.

Leading the new Green Bay-headquartered entity will be Shopko president, chairman and ceo W. Paul Jones. Pamida stores will be converted to the ShopKo Hometown store format, for which the company has aggressive growth plans, he said.

"Merging Pamida and Shopko is a great move for our businesses and our customers given our complementary strengths, store networks and consumer‐centric retail models," said Jones.

The new company will retain the Shopko name and operate in the Midwest, North Central, Mountain and Pacific Northwest regions. No financial details were available.

Shopko generated approximately $94 millon in home textiles sales in 2010 and was the 35th largest home textiles retailer in the U.S. that year, according to HTT's annual Retail Giants report.