St. Peters-based Rinderer's was a family-owned company begun in 1961, and was sold to Shop 'n Save in 2010.

Report
All six Rinderer's drug stores will close or be taken over by the Shop 'n Save grocery chain in a sale announced Monday. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Shop 'n Save officials had sought for years to buy Rinderer's, but the struggling economy finally led to a deal acceptable to both firms, said Matt Carlisle, president of Rinderer's Drug Stores Inc.

"It's more the economy than anything else," he said. "They approached us. It's a great opportunity for them."

Three Rinderer's stores will close, their operations taken over by nearby Shop 'n Save pharmacies, Carlisle said. The three remaining stores will stay open under the Shop 'n Save name. The sale means that will disappear, Carlisle said.

Store closures and transfers will be done by Thanksgiving, Carlisle said. "Many" of Rinderer's 80 employees are likely to be hired by Kirkwood-based Shop 'n Save, he added.

Rinderer's stores at 4447 Natural Bridge Avenue, 68 North Bellwood Road in Bethalto, Ill., and on Highway 50 in Union, Mo., will become freestanding Shop 'n Save pharmacies.

Prescription files at the remaining stores — two on Bellefontaine Road in north St. Louis County and one in Ferguson — will be transferred to pharmacies at nearby Shop 'n Save groceries in Florissant, Moline Acres and Ferguson. Shop 'n Save said it would mail Rinderer's customers notices of the changes.

"We are delighted to welcome new customers to our pharmacies, as we work to make this transition as seamless as possible," said Marline Gebhard, president of Shop 'n Save.

The deal will raise to 34 the number of pharmacies operated by Shop 'n Save in the St. Louis area and in Springfield, Ill.

Carlisle, part of the third generation of his family to work at Rinderer's, will join Shop 'n Save as a pharmacist.

"I'll work wherever they say they need me," he said.