Wal-Mart Stores executive Santiago Roces has become the new CEO and president of Save-A-Lot, the US hard discount chain owned by Supervalu Inc.

Roces replaces Bill Shaner, who has spent 27 years at Supervalu and took the Save-A-Lot job in 2006 when the chain’s founder, Bill Moran, retired.

Supervalu, one of the largest grocers in the US, has faced a challenging two years across its business but it said yesterday (12 May) that its Save-A-Lot chain had opened 92 stores last year.

Craigh Herkert, Supervalu’s president and CEO, another former Wal-Mart executive, said: “We wish Bill well in all his future endeavors and appreciate his commitment to Supervalu for the past 27 years and more recently his leadership and guidance as we laid out an aggressive growth strategy for Save-A-Lot.”

Supervalu wants to double the number of Save-A-Lot stores to over 2,400 by the end of 2015.

Roces, the general manager of Wal-Mart’s small-format division, was president and CEO of the retail giant’s division in South Korea when it quit the market in 2006. His career also includes time within Wal-Mart’s business in Argentina and at PepsiCo and Carrefour.

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Herkert said Roces was “a nice fit” for Save-A-Lot. “We believe he is the right individual to lead this organisation forward and to help ensure we realise the aggressive growth plans that have been established,” Herkert said.

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