GREEN BAY, Wis. (WSAU) – ShopKo and Pamida are merging to create one of the country’s largest retailers focused on smaller and rural communities.
The combined company will be headquartered in Green Bay, will use the ShopKo name and be led by ShopKo president, chairman and CEO W. Paul Jones.
The merger is expected to close by the middle of next month. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Customers won’t notice any changes to the ShopKo stores and the company says it will invest $80 million over the next year to convert most Pamida locations to the ShopKo Hometown store concept.
ShopKo operates 149 stores in 13 states, including Plover, Rhinelander, Rothschild, Stevens Point, Wausau and Wisconsin Rapids. It operates a ShopKo Hometown store in Abbotsford. The company has annual revenues of $2 billion.
Pamida, operates 193 stores in 17 states, including locations in Eagle River, Neillsville and Park Falls. The Omaha-based company has annual revenues of $1 billion.
Once the Pamida conversions are done, the company says it will quickly add more ShopKo Hometown locations in the second half of 2012 and early part of 2013.
