Dahl's Foods Inc., an 83-year-old Des Moines-based grocery store chain, will disappear from the local landscape as a locally owned company, The Des Moines Register reported today. The 10-store chain filed a $41 million bankruptcy petition in federal court on Sunday asking that it be allowed to reorganize and sell its stores. The likely buyer will be its supplier or another grocery company. The company is also asking that the process be moved along quickly. Dahl's said yesterday that Kansas City, Kan.-based Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) plans to buy Dahl's assets and rebrand the stores. AWG is a retailer-owned grocery cooperative and grocery distributor. Court filings show that AWG has offered to buy the chain's assets for a base price of $4.8 million, which could be adjusted depending on the value of inventory and other items. Under one scenario, one of AWG's co-op members could own the stores, with AWG funding the acquisition. AWG said that it plans to rebrand the remaining Dahl's stores and remodel and update the properties. The new brand was not identified.
