The Natchez company that owns the McComb Markets grocery store and six other locations has agreed to sell the business to Harps Food Stores Inc. of Arkansas.
The companies anticipate completing the sale by the end of the year.
“We are proud of our Markets family of over 350 team members and the communities we serve in central Louisiana and southwest Mississippi,” said company president Barry Loy. “We are excited for the new possibilities for growth and success that Harps can bring to our stores. We wish Harps and the Markets team members many years of success.”
Harps operates 135 stores in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas. Founded by Harvard and Floy Harp in Springdale, Ark., in 1930, it is the largest employee-owned company in Arkansas and has 6,800 associates.
Its website is www.harpsfood.com.
Harps chairman and CEO Kim Eskew said the company is excited to enter communities in two new states.
“The Market stores have served these communities with excellence for many years and we are thrilled to add them to the Harps family,” Eskew said.
Barry Loy and his brother Jeff Loy, the company’s vice president and treasurer, are the sons of Harley Loy, who founded Supermarket Operations Inc. in 1969. Along with the McComb store, which opened in 2005, the company has three grocery stores in Natchez and one each in the Louisiana towns of Ball, Ferriday and Vidalia.
