MUNCIE, IN – Marsh Supermarkets continues to contract—with two recent closures in the Indianapolis area and two more set to follow.
According to local ABC news affiliate RTV-6, the company will shutter stores on the south side of the state capital and at the Nora Corners Shopping Center on March 25 and April 8 respectively. Additional stores in Richmond and Peru, Indiana, are expected to close this month, too. The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel reported this February that Marsh has dropped plans to build two new supermarkets in northern Indiana.
The Indiana Business Journal (IBJ) reported last week that the company has stopped paying rent on as many as six locations throughout Indianapolis, and at least two ownership groups have sued Marsh over nonpayment of rent.
The Indiana-based business supermarket chain was founded by the Marsh family in 1931, and was acquired by Florida-based Sun Capital Partners in 2006. The company had 120 locations as of the time of the acquisition—but has shrunk steadily to 67 stores.
“The fact that it’s a multiple number of cases would indicate that there’s probably some cash-flow problems,” Grocery Analyst David Livingston, who runs DJL Research in Waukesha, Wisconsin, told the IBJ. “I just don’t know of any viable company that arbitrarily starts to withhold rent.”
The IBJ also reports that Sun Capital Partners—a company managing more than $9 billion in capital—almost certainly has the capacity to rescue Marsh stores that may be foundering, but the company is unlikely to do so unless they are confident in a return on their investment. The private equity firm is most likely planning to continue liquidating the supermarkets assets.
For more on the situation as it develops, stay tuned to AndNowUKnow.
