The Fleming Companies, a food wholesaler, fell 3 1/2, to 26 3/4.

By 1990, the chain was being supplied by the Fleming Companies.

The first tender offer, for shares of the Fleming Companies, was made in early 1999.

In the mid-1980s, Fleming Companies, Inc., at the time a major wholesaler, bought the majority of the stores and took over supplying them.

"We are, in effect, paying the cost of market research," said Ronald Frost, of the Fleming Companies.

The Fleming Companies agreed to buy Scrivner in a deal that creates the nation's largest food distributor.

Her father was until earlier this year the chief financial officer of the Fleming Companies, food marketers and distributors in Oklahoma City.

Last year, Kmart executives teamed up with a new distributor, the Fleming Companies, in a partnership that soon turned sour.

Wholesalers like Super Valu and the Fleming Companies are left to supply small independent chains.

The company was under the head of Edward Hill before being sold to the Fleming Companies, Inc. in 1996.