Fleming Purchases Seven Food4Less Stores from Whitco Foods, Inc.

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Fleming Purchases Seven Food4Less Stores from Whitco Foods, Inc.
    DALLAS, April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Fleming (NYSE: FLM) today announced it
has purchased seven Food4Less retail stores operated by Whitco Foods, Inc.
located in the Fresno/Visalia, California area.  The stores will continue to
operate under the Food4Less banner and will become part of Fleming's retail
group.
    The purchase of the seven Whitco stores is consistent with Fleming's
previously stated strategic plan to grow the value retail segment of our
business.  "The growth of our value retail operations is progressing as
planned through acquisition, conversions of existing conventional retail
stores and new construction," stated Mark Hansen, Fleming Chairman and CEO.
"We continue to focus our financial and management resources on growing value
retailing and improving distribution operations."
    The seven stores are located in Northern California.  Three are located in
the Fresno area, two in Visalia, one in Hanford and one in Bakersfield.  They
will continue to be supplied by Fleming's Fresno Division.  This will increase
the number of company-owned price impact stores from the existing 31 stores to
38.
    "We look forward to welcoming these well-run stores to the Fleming
family," said Denny Lucas, Executive Vice President and President, Retail.
"In addition to adding a motivated and professional base of associates to the
Fleming team, we are also getting an excellent group of stores that
strategically fill in our Northern California marketplace."
    Fleming is a $14 billion company and the industry leader in distribution
and has a growing presence in value retailing.  Fleming's primary business is
buying and selling merchandise.  The company serves approximately
3,000 supermarkets including more than 700 North American stores of global
supermarketer IGA and other regional banners, 3,000 convenience stores and
nearly 1,000 supercenters, discount, limited assortment, drug, specialty, and
other businesses across the country.  To learn more about Fleming, visit our
website at http://www.fleming.com .

    Safe Harbor Statement
    This release includes statements that
    (a) predict or forecast future events;
    (b) depend on future events for their accuracy; or
    (c) embody projections and assumptions that may prove to have been
        inaccurate, including expectations for years 2001 and beyond.

    These projections, forward-looking statements, and the company's business
and prospects are subject to a number of factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially, including: adverse competition, sales declines
and loss of customers, exposure to litigation and other contingent losses,
failure to implement strategic initiatives according to plan or to achieve the
expected results of such plan, failure of the company to achieve necessary
cost savings, and negative effects of the company's substantial indebtedness
and the limitations imposed by restrictive covenants contained in the
company's debt instruments.  These and other factors are described in the
company's periodic reports available from the Securities and Exchange
Commission.

     CONTACTS:
     (Media) Randy Hatcher 972.906.8824
     (Investors-Equity) Meredith Anderson 972.906.8592
SOURCE Fleming
http://www.fleming.com
CONTACT:
media, Randy Hatcher, +1-972-906-8824, or
investors-equity, Meredith Anderson, +1-972-906-8592, both of
Fleming