SPTN 10-Q Quarter ended Sept. 10, 2011

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

For the quarterly period ended September 10, 2011.

OR

For the transition period from                 to                 .

Commission File Number: 000-31127

SPARTAN STORES, INC.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

(616) 878-2000

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

Yes x No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).

Yes x No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act)

Yes ¨ No x

As of October 17, 2011 the registrant had 22,864,131 outstanding shares of common stock, no par value.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The matters discussed in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, in our press releases and in our website-accessible conference calls with analysts and investor presentations include “forward-looking statements” about the plans, strategies, objectives, goals or expectations of Spartan Stores, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, “Spartan Stores”). These forward-looking statements are identifiable by words or phrases indicating that Spartan Stores or management “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” or is “confident” that a particular occurrence or event “began,” “will,” “may,” “could,” “should” or “will likely” result or occur, or “appears” to have occurred, or will “continue” in the future, or that a development is an “opportunity,” a “priority,” a “strategy,” or “initiative” or similarly stated expectations. Accounting estimates, such as those described under the heading “Critical Accounting Policies” in Part I, Item 2 of this Form 10-Q, are inherently forward-looking. Our asset impairment, restructuring cost provisions and fair value measurements are estimates and actual costs may be more or less than these estimates and differences may be material. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of the Quarterly Report, release, presentation, or statement.

In addition to other risks and uncertainties described in connection with the forward-looking statements contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, Spartan Stores’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 26, 2011 (in particular, you should refer to the discussion of “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K) and other periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, there are many important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. Our ability to maintain and improve our retail-store performance; assimilate acquired stores; maintain or grow sales; respond successfully to competitors or changing consumer behavior; maintain or increase gross margin; anticipate and successfully respond to openings of competitors; maintain and improve customer and supplier relationships; realize expected benefits of new relationships; realize growth opportunities; expand our customer base; reduce operating costs; generate cash; continue to meet the terms of our debt covenants; continue to pay dividends; and implement the other programs, initiatives, plans, priorities, strategies, objectives, goals or expectations described in this Quarterly Report, our other reports or presentations, our press releases and our public comments is not certain and will be affected by changes in economic conditions generally or in the markets and geographic areas that we serve, adverse effects of the changing food and distribution industries and other factors including, but not limited to, those discussed below.

Anticipated future sales are subject to competitive pressures from many sources. Our Distribution and Retail businesses compete with many distributors, supercenters, warehouse discount stores, supermarkets and other retail stores selling food and related products, pharmacies and product manufacturers. Future sales will be dependent on the number of retail stores that we own and operate, our ability to retain and add to the retail stores to whom we distribute, competitive pressures in the retail industry generally and our geographic markets specifically, our ability to implement effective new marketing and merchandising programs and unseasonable weather conditions. Competitive pressures in these and other business segments may result in unexpected reductions in sales volumes, product prices or service fees.

Our operating and administrative expenses, and as a result, our net earnings and cash flows, may be adversely affected by changes in costs associated with, among other factors: difficulties in the operation of our business segments; future business acquisitions; adverse effects on business relationships with independent retail grocery store customers; difficulties in the retention or hiring of employees; labor stoppages or disputes; business and asset divestitures; increased transportation or fuel costs; current or future lawsuits and administrative proceedings; and losses or financial difficulties of customers or suppliers. Our future costs for pension and postretirement benefit costs may be adversely affected by changes in actuarial assumptions and methods, investment return and the composition of the group of employees and retirees covered, changes in our business that result in a withdrawal liability under multi-employer plans, and the actions, contributions and financial condition of other employers who participate in multi-employer plans to which we contribute. Our future income tax expense, and as a result, our net earnings and cash flows, could be adversely affected by changes in tax laws and related interpretations. Our accounting estimates could change and the actual effects of changes in accounting principles could deviate from our estimates due to changes in facts, assumptions, or acceptable methods, and actual results may vary materially from our estimates. Our operating and administrative expenses, net earnings and cash flow could also be adversely affected by changes in our sales mix. Our ongoing cost reduction initiatives and changes in our marketing and merchandising programs may not be as successful as anticipated. Acts of terrorism, war, natural disaster, fire, accident, and severe weather may

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adverse affect the availability of and our ability to operate our warehouses and other facilities, and may adversely affect consumer buying behavior, fuel costs, shipping and transportation costs, product cost inflation or deflation and its impact on LIFO expense. General economic conditions and unemployment, particularly in Michigan, government assistance programs, health care reform, or other circumstances beyond our control, may adversely affect consumer buying behavior. A combination of the aforementioned factors, coupled with a prolonged general economic recession, could result in goodwill and other long-lived asset impairment charges.

Our future interest expense and income also may differ from current expectations, depending upon, among other factors: the amount of additional borrowings; changes in our borrowing agreements; changes in the interest rate environment; changes in accounting pronouncements; and changes in the amount of fees received or paid. The availability of our secured loan agreement depends on compliance with the terms of the loan agreement and financial stability of the banking community.

Our dividend policy does not commit the Board of Directors to declare future dividends. Each future dividend will be considered and declared by the Board of Directors in its discretion. The ability of the Board of Directors to continue to declare dividends and the amount and timing of the Company's future repurchases of shares of common stock, if any, will depend on a number of factors, including our future financial condition and profitability and compliance with the terms of our credit facilities.

This section is intended to provide meaningful cautionary statements. This should not be construed as a complete list of all economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors that could adversely affect our expected consolidated financial position, results of operations or liquidity. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to Spartan Stores or that Spartan Stores currently believes are immaterial also may impair its business, operations, liquidity, financial condition and prospects. We undertake no obligation to update or revise our forward-looking statements to reflect developments that occur or information obtained after the date of this Quarterly Report.

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FINANCIAL INFORMATION

SPARTAN STORES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)

See accompanying notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

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SPARTAN STORES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

(In thousands, except per share data)

(Unaudited)

See accompanying notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

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SPARTAN STORES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)

See accompanying notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

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SPARTAN STORES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)

See accompanying notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

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SPARTAN STORES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(Unaudited)

The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Spartan Stores, Inc. and its subsidiaries (“Spartan Stores”). All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated.

In the opinion of management, the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, contain all adjustments, which are of a normal recurring nature, necessary to present fairly the financial position of Spartan Stores as of September 10, 2011, and the results of its operations and cash flows for the interim periods presented. Interim results are not necessarily indicative of results for a full year.

Restructuring, asset impairment and other included in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings consisted of the following:

The following table provides the activity of restructuring costs for the 24 weeks ended September 10, 2011. Restructuring costs recorded in the Consolidated Balance Sheets are included in “Current portion of restructuring costs” in Current liabilities and “Restructuring costs” in Long-term liabilities based on when the obligations are expected to be paid.

Included in the liability are lease obligations related to closed stores recorded at the present value of future minimum lease payments, calculated using a risk-free interest rate, and related ancillary costs from the date of closure to the end of the remaining lease term, net of estimated sublease income.

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Financial instruments include cash and cash equivalents, accounts and notes receivable, accounts payable and long-term debt. The carrying amounts of cash and cash equivalents, accounts and notes receivable, and accounts payable approximate fair value because of the short-term nature of these financial instruments. At September 10, 2011, and March 26, 2011, the estimated fair value and the book value of our debt instruments were as follows:

The estimated fair value of debt is based on market quotes for instruments with similar terms and remaining maturities.

ASC 820 prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value into the following hierarchy:

Level 1: Quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2: Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly.

Level 3: Unobservable inputs for the asset or liability, reflecting the reporting entity's own assumptions about the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing.

At September 10, 2011 and March 26, 2011, the fair value of the interest rate swap liability was approximately $1.0 million and $1.1 million, respectively, and is included in other long-term liabilities in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. The fair value measurements are classified within Level 2 of the hierarchy as significant observable market inputs are readily available as the basis of the fair value measurements.

Spartan Stores has limited involvement with derivative financial instruments and uses them only to manage well-defined interest rate risk exposure when appropriate, based on market conditions. Spartan Stores' objective in managing exposure to changes in interest rates is to reduce fluctuations in earnings and cash flows, and consequently, from time to time Spartan Stores uses interest rate swap agreements to manage this risk. Spartan Stores does not use financial instruments or derivatives for any trading or other speculative purposes.

On January 2, 2009, Spartan Stores entered into an interest rate swap agreement. The interest rate swap has been designated as a cash flow hedge of interest payments on $45.0 million of borrowings under Spartan Stores' senior secured revolving credit facility by effectively converting a portion of the variable rate debt to a fixed rate basis. Under the terms of the agreement, Spartan Stores has agreed to pay the counterparty a fixed interest rate of 3.33% and the counterparty has agreed to pay Spartan Stores a floating interest rate based upon the 1-month LIBOR plus 1.25% (1.47% at September 10, 2011) on a notional amount of $45 million. The interest rate swap agreement expires concurrently with the senior secured revolving credit facility on December 24, 2012.

For derivative instruments that are designated and qualify as cash flow hedges, the effective portion of the gain or loss on the derivative is reported as a component of other comprehensive income and reclassified into earnings in the same period during which the hedged transaction affects earnings. Gains and losses on the derivative representing hedge ineffectiveness are recognized in current earnings.

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The following table provides a summary of the fair value and balance sheet classification of the derivative financial instrument designated as an interest rate cash flow hedge:

The following table provides a summary of the financial statement effect of the derivative financial instrument designated as an interest rate cash flow hedge for the quarter and year-to-date period ended September 10, 2011:

Various lawsuits and claims, arising in the ordinary course of business, are pending or have been asserted against Spartan Stores. While the ultimate effect of such actions cannot be predicted with certainty, management believes that their outcome will not result in a material adverse effect on the consolidated financial position, operating results or liquidity of Spartan Stores.

Spartan Stores contributes to the underfunded Central States multi-employer pension plan based on obligations arising from its collective bargaining agreement covering its warehouse union associates. This plan provides retirement benefits to participants based on their service to contributing employers. The benefits are paid from assets held in trust for that purpose. Trustees are appointed by employers and unions; however, Spartan Stores is not a trustee. The trustees are responsible for determining the level of benefits to be provided to participants as well as for such matters as the investment of the assets and the administration of the plan.

Because we are one of a number of employers contributing to this plan, it is difficult to ascertain what our share of the underfunding would be, although we anticipate that our contributions to this plan will increase each year. To reduce this underfunding we expect meaningful increases in expense as a result of required incremental multi-employer pension plan contributions over the years. Any adjustment for a withdrawal liability will be recorded when it is probable that a liability exists and can be reasonably determined. See Note 6 for further details.

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The following table provides the components of net periodic pension and postretirement benefit costs for the second quarter and year-to-date periods ended September 10, 2011 and September 11, 2010:

(In thousands)

12 Weeks Ended

(In thousands)

24 Weeks Ended

No contribution payments are required to be made in fiscal 2012 to meet the minimum pension funding requirements until the accumulated funding standard carryover balance of $0.2 million (as of April 1, 2011) and the prefunding balance of $7.0 million (as of April 1, 2011) are fully utilized. As of September 10, 2011, no contributions have been made to the plan. Spartan Stores will assess the prudence of making an additional voluntary contribution to the plan during the third quarter of fiscal 2012.

Effective January 1, 2011, the Cash Balance Pension Plan was frozen and, as a result, additional service credits will no longer be added to each associate’s account, however, interest credits will continue to accrue. Effective the same date, Company matching contributions to the Savings Plus 401k Plan were reinstated at a rate of 50% of pay deferral contributions up to 6% of each associate’s qualified compensation. Additionally, a provision allowing for a discretionary annual profit sharing contribution was added to the Company’s 401k Plan.

As previously stated in Note 5, Spartan Stores contributes to the Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund (“Fund”) (EIN 7456500) at a pro rata fraction of 1% of total contributions. Spartan Store’s employer contributions during the last plan year totaled $7.1 million, which Fund administrators represents as less than 5% of total employer contributions to the Fund.

Pursuant to a report issued by Fund administrators under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, the most recent certified zone status in the report states that “The Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund was in critical status in the Plan Year ending December 31, 2010 because the plan’s actuaries determined that: (1) the Plan had an accumulated funding deficiency for the Plan Year and over the next three plan years, the Plan is projected to have an accumulated funding deficiency for the 2011 through 2013 plan years; (2) the funded percentage of the Plan is less than 65% and over the next four plan years, the Plan is projected to have an accumulated funding deficiency for the 2011 through 2014 plan years; (3) the sum of the Plan’s normal cost and interest on the unfunded benefits for the Plan year exceeds the present value of all expected contributions for the year; the present value of vested benefits of inactive participants is greater that the present value of vested benefits of active participants; the Plan has an accumulated funding deficiency for the Plan Year, and over the next four plan years, the Plan is projected to have an accumulated funding deficiency for the 2011 through 2014 plan years; and (4) the Plan was in critical status last year, and over the next 9 years, the Plan is projected to have an accumulated funding deficiency for the 2011 through 2019 plan years.”

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During the first quarter of fiscal 2012, the Michigan state legislature enacted the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) effective January 1, 2012. The new CIT will replace the current Michigan Business Tax that is in effect through December 31, 2011. As a result, Spartan Stores recorded a one-time, non-cash income tax charge relating to the write-off of net deferred tax assets and liabilities that will no longer be realized under the CIT of approximately $0.5 million in Income Taxes in the first quarter and a corresponding change in Deferred Taxes on Income. As a result of this charge and the state tax provision in the first quarter of fiscal 2012, the effective income tax rate was 43.3% versus the Federal statutory income tax rate of 35.0%. The effective tax rate without this charge was 38.5%. For the year-to-date period the effective income tax rate was 40.2%. The year-to-date effective tax rate without this charge was 38.3%

There were no material changes to the amount of unrecognized tax benefits during the second quarter of fiscal 2012.

The effective income tax rate differs from the statutory Federal income tax rate primarily due to state income taxes.

Spartan Stores has two shareholder-approved stock incentive plans that provide for the granting of incentive stock options, non-qualified stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units, stock awards, and other stock-based awards to directors, officers and other key associates.

Spartan Stores accounts for stock-based compensation awards in accordance with the provisions of ASC Topic 718 which requires that share-based payment transactions be accounted for using a fair value method and the related compensation cost recognized in the consolidated financial statements over the period that an employee is required to provide services in exchange for the award. Spartan Stores recognized stock-based compensation expense (net of tax) of $0.6 million ($0.03 per diluted share) and $0.6 million ($0.03 per diluted share) in the second quarter of fiscal 2012 and 2011, respectively, as a component of Operating expenses in the Consolidated Statements of Earnings. Stock-based compensation expense (net of tax) was $1.3 million ($0.06 per diluted share) and $1.3 million ($0.06 per diluted share) for the year-to-date period ended September 10, 2011 and September 11, 2010, respectively.

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The following table summarizes activity in the share-based compensation plans for the year-to-date period ended September 10, 2011:

There were no stock options granted during the year-to-date periods ended September 10, 2011 and September 11, 2010.

Due to certain events that are considered unusual and/or infrequent in nature, and that resulted in significant business changes during the limited historical exercise period, management does not believe that Spartan Stores’ historical exercise data will provide a reasonable basis upon which to estimate the expected term of stock options. Therefore, the expected term of stock options granted is determined using the “simplified” method as described in SEC Staff Accounting Bulletins that uses the following formula: ((vesting term + original contract term)/2).

As of September 10, 2011, total unrecognized compensation cost related to nonvested share-based awards granted under our stock incentive plans was $0.5 million for stock options and $8.0 million for restricted stock. The remaining compensation costs not yet recognized are expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 1.1 years for stock options and 2.9 years for restricted stock.

Results of the discontinued operations are excluded from the accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements for all periods presented, unless otherwise noted.

The following table details the results of discontinued operations reported on the Consolidated Statements of Earnings:

(In thousands)

(In thousands)

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Non-cash financing activities include the issuance of restricted stock/units to employees and directors of $3.6 million and $3.3 million for the year-to-date periods ended September 10, 2011 and September 11, 2010, respectively. Non-cash investing activities include capital expenditures included in current liabilities of $1.1 million and $0.9 million for the year-to-date periods ended September 10, 2011 and September 11, 2010, respectively. In addition, in the second quarter of fiscal 2012 the Company entered into a $2.8 million capital lease.

The following tables set forth information about Spartan Stores by operating segment: