Three St. Joseph grocery stores will become Apple Market stores.

By Nov. 1, Price Chopper and Homeland Food stores will change to Apple Market. Local owners Mike Decker and Todd Euler said they chose the Apple Market brand so that all three locations in St. Joseph could use the same format. Apple Market is affiliated with Associated Wholesale Grocers.

“We felt that was important,” Mr. Decker said. “We want to focus on customer service. We’re not corporately owned so we’ll be working in the store on a daily basis, which can help our people be more consistent on that approach.”

Both men worked their way up in their companies. Mr. Decker worked for Homeland Foods in his hometown of Topeka, Kan., and St. Joseph native Mr. Euler worked with Food-4-Less.

Oklahoma-based Homeland Foods Acquisition purchased St. Joseph’s three Food-4-Less stores in 2006. A store at 903 N. 36th St. and 3734 Pear St. changed to Price Chopper while another location at 2300 Mitchell Ave. became Homeland Foods.

Logistics played a major factor in the company’s decision to sell, Mr. Decker said.

“It was a nightmare for them, and in the meantime they purchased some other stores, and that made them the largest grocer in Oklahoma,” Mr. Decker said. “They sold some and closed some. That’s when we went to work to purchase (the St. Joseph stores).

But purchasing a grocery store in today’s economy was difficult.

“It gets interesting and challenging,” Mr. Decker said.

Customers shouldn’t see any big changes besides a few new signs. Mr. Decker said they will continue to buy groceries from the same distributors.

“So the products won’t change,” he said. “It should be a real smooth transition for the customers.”

Business reporter Jennifer Hall can be reached at jennhall@npgco.com.