MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu Inc.’s involvement in the purchase of 18 Rainbow food stores from Roundy’s Inc. was done "strictly as a wholesale play," chief executive officer Sam Duncan said at the company’s annual meeting.

Supervalu Inc.’s involvement in the purchase of 18 Rainbow food stores from Roundy’s Inc. was done "strictly as a wholesale play," chief executive officer Sam Duncan said at the company’s annual meeting.

The acquisition, involving a consortium of Supervalu and four independent retailers as the buyer, closed earlier this month, and 10 of the stores have already been converted to the Cub Foods banner. Two of the remaining stores will operate as Byerly’s, and the other six will keep the Rainbow banner.

Cub Foods is one of five regional supermarket chains Supervalu operates. The others are Farm Fresh, Shoppers, Shop ’n Save and Hornbacher’s. The company also operates the Save-a-Lot discount grocery chain, which has about 1,300 stores.

But Supervalu, which became one of the nation’s largest supermarket chains in 2006, sold off much of its retail food operation last year, and the emphasis on wholesaling will remain.

"The retail banners that we have today are really to support our wholesale side," Duncan told shareholders. "We’re not going to venture out and be a big retail operator again."