This Chronicle article reports that former Randall’s owner Randall Onstead is preparing an offer to purchase the Randall’s supermarket chain from Safeway.
Mr. Onstead and his late father sold 117 Randall’s supermarkets to Safeway in 1999 for $1.5 billion. Since that time, Safeway has mismanaged the Randall’s stores to the point where the chain — which was once the cream of the crop of Houston supermarkets — is now an afterthought to Kroger, H.E.B. and even WalMart in the Houston market for supermarkets. Having the Onstead Family reacquire the Randall’s chain would be a welcome relief to Safeway’s mismanagement of the stores.