Sentry Foods is a grocery store chain operating in Wisconsin.
Sentry Foods stores got their start in the Milwaukee area in the 1960s, being operated and supplied by the Godfrey family. In the mid-1980s, Fleming Companies, Inc., at the time a major wholesaler, bought the majority of the stores and took over supplying them. Being predominantly a wholesaler, Fleming was never a major force in the retail market, and as a result of missteps and poor financial choices, Fleming went bankrupt in 2000 and was forced to sell off the stores. Each store is now independently owned and operated. Terry Daniels owns and operates six: Janesville East, Janesville West, Whitewater, Elkhorn, Walworth and recently, Belleville, Wisconsin. They are all supplied by Supervalu of Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Brothers Tim and Kevin Metcalfe own and operate three: Madison and Wauwatosa. These stores are branded under the "Metcalfe's Market" name. Metcalfe's also operated stores in Waunakee and Middleton which have since closed.
Sentry Foods had its own bakery division, Crestwood, which was located on Highway 100 and Greenfield in West Allis, Wisconsin. After the purchase of the Sentry distribution line from Supervalu, the company saw the bakery as obsolete and closed the division, selling its bakery recipes to Milwaukee-based Grebe's Bakery. The former bakery building was sold and then demolished to make way for an Aldi store and a Culver's restaurant.
Sentry benefited from the exit of Kohl's Food Stores and Jewel-Osco from the Milwaukee Market. A few of the former Jewel stores were rebranded Sentry and continued distribution with SuperValu. When A&P exited the market along with the Kohl's Food Stores, the smaller stores were purchased by independent owners, remodeled and reopened as Sentry.
The stores were formally marketed under the Supersaver, Rainbow Foods and Sun Foods banners. SuperSaver stores were generally the largest Sentry stores, while Rainbow stores were stripped-down, low-cost affairs. A number of stores have closed because of competition with Pick 'n Save (Roundy's), Wal-Mart and ALDI. When Jewel Osco, owned by Supervalu, closed its stores in Wisconsin in May 2007, Albrecht's Sentry Foods took over two stores in Racine and Kenosha Counties. About six months after its grand opening Albrecht's Sentry Foods closed its stores in Kenosha and its Racine store which closed in 2013.
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External links
- Sentry Foods website
