Wednesday, September 17, 1997, Vol. 111, No. 173

MegaMarket adds pharmacies in four stores Megamarket adds pharmacies in four stores Megamarket, Jitney Jungle in North Mississippi become Jitney Premier stores By CAMILLE H. GAMBLE The Daily News Construction has started on pharmacies for four existing Megamarket stores in Memphis, and a Jitney Jungle store in Horn Lake and Megamarket store in Southaven are undergoing renovations to become Jitney Premier stores. F.L. Crane & Sons Inc. is the general contractor on the pharmacy projects, which include stores at 1627 Poplar Ave., 5150 American Way, 2011 Covington Pike and 1232 E. Shelby Drive. Each renovation project is valued at $200,000, according to building permits issued Thursday by the Shelby County Construction Code Enforcement Office. "We have gotten very aggressive about expanding the pharmacy division in the past fiscal year," said Clarence Lea, vice president of pharmacy operations for Jitney-Jungle stores. "We recently opened two pharmacies in Jitney Premier stores - one in Cordova and one in Collierville." The company has acquired four independent pharmacies near the four Megamarket locations, which will move into the Megamarket stores. The pharmacies are scheduled to open Oct. 29. Jackson, Miss.-based Jitney-Jungle Stores of America Inc. underwent a $373 million leveraged buyout in March by Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co., a New York-based investment firm. The chain operates Jitney Jugles, which are conventional, full-service supermarkets; and Sack and Save and Megamarkets, which are large discount stores. The companys newest concept, Jitney Premier, which offers in-store restaurants and gourmet items, opened in June 1994 in Jackson. Another Jitney Premier opened in March 1996 in Jackson, and two Memphis area Megamarkets were recently converted to Jitney Premier stores. The two newest Jitney Premiers are in Southaven and Horn Lake, Miss. "What we are doing is taking stores in certain markets and deciding whether they are Jitney Premier formats or Mega formats," Lea said. "Most grocery chains have gone to having a couple of different levels to fit markets. They will have a standard store and a warehouse-type store." Lea said the company has plans to open a Jitney Premier store in the city of Memphis. Jitney-Jungles acquisitions in the past few years include Kroger stores in north Alabama; Megamarket stores in Memphis and Little Rock; the 28-store Foodway chain in Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi; and the Louisiana-based McLemore chain in 1993. Jitney-Jungle acquired Mobile-Ala.-based Delchamps Inc. this summer. Jitney-Jungle commenced an all-cash tender offer for all of Delchamps outstanding common stock at a price of $30 per share on July 14. The transaction was completed Friday. Jitney -Jungle now operates 212 grocery stores, 30 of which have pharmacies.