`Just The Beginning': Qfc Buys 25 Stores -- Adds Thriftways, Stock Markets In Expansion Push

In a sign of its new, expansionist mood, Quality Food Centers has acquired 25 stores in the Puget Sound area that are expected to push the supermarket chain's annual sales over the $1 billion mark.

QFC has acquired 21 Stock Market Foods stores and four Thriftways from Keith Uddenberg Inc. in a deal estimated at $65 million in cash and stock.

The stores are located from Everett to Burien, Kent, Tacoma and Gig Harbor.

Christopher Sinclair, the former PepsiCola chairman who joined QFC in September to spearhead the expansion, said the Uddenberg acquisition is "just the beginning."

QFC's stock was up 25 cents at $39.25 near the close.

Sinclair, based in Greenwich, Conn., said the Uddenberg stores were well-run, in "excellent" locations and had a strong base of 2,000 workers.

He and Marc Evanger, QFC vice president and chief financial officer, said the acquisition is expected to push QFC's annual sales, estimated at $800 million for 1996, to more than $1 billion.

Evanger said it is still unclear which Stock Market and Thriftway stores will be converted to QFC stores. Company officials will assess all the stores and their markets, he said. QFC currently has only two stores near Stock Market outlets, in Gig Harbor and Everett, he said.

Diane Daggatt, an analyst for Dain Bosworth in Seattle, expects QFC to make more acquisitions, possibly on the East Coast or in the Chicago area. Sinclair is on the East Coast and QFC's largest shareholder, financier Sam Zell, is based in Chicago.

Sinclair said QFC is looking at more acquisitions around the country, but he declined to say where or when they might be announced.

QFC said the acquisition of Uddenberg stores will be completed in early 1997.

Uddenberg will retain ownership of the Gig Harbor Thriftway.

QFC owns 64 stores in the Puget Sound region and has 4,400 employees.

QFC, the second largest supermarket chain in the region behind Safeway, has become increasingly visible recently. It opened a 66,000-square-foot store in University Village in August and is preparing to open a 45,000-square-foot store in the Harvard Market retail complex on First Hill by year's end. QFC acquired two Food Giant stores in August, in Wallingford and in North Seattle on Aurora Avenue North.