UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

Commission File Number:  000-31127

SPARTAN STORES, INC.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

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.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act).

As of October 8, 2004 the registrant had 20,501,966 outstanding shares of common stock, no par value.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

          The matters discussed in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q 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," "projects," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "intends," is "optimistic" or "confident" that a particular occurrence "will," "may," "could," "should" or "will likely" result or that a particular event "will," "may," "could," "should" or "will likely" occur in the future, that the "outlook" or "trend" is toward a particular result or occurrence, or similarly stated expectations. Accounting estimates, such as those described under the heading "Critical Accounting Policies" in Item 2 of this Form 10-Q, are inherently forward-looking. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements , which speak only as of the date of this Quarterly Report.

          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 27, 2004 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 strengthen our retail-store performance; sustain sales growth; increase gross margin; reduce operating costs; sell on favorable terms assets classified as held for sale; continue to meet the terms of our debt covenants; and implement the other programs, plans, strategies, objectives, goals or expectations described in this Quarterly Report 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, tho se discussed below.

          Anticipated future sales are subject to competitive pressures from many sources. Our Grocery Distribution and Retail businesses compete with many warehouse discount stores, supermarkets, 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 and our ability to implement effective new marketing and merchandising programs. 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 may be adversely affected by unexpected 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 shortages, stoppages or disputes; business and asset divestitures; increased transportation or fuel costs; current or future lawsuits and administrative proceedings; and losses of, or financial difficulties of, customers or suppliers. Our operating and administrative expenses 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 we anticipate. Acts of terrorism or war have in the past and may in the future result in considerable economic and political uncertainties that could have adver se effects on consumer buying behavior, fuel costs, shipping and transportation, product imports and other factors affecting our company and the grocery industry generally.

          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; 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.

          In fiscal 2004, we completed the sales of substantially all of the assets of United Wholesale Grocery Company, L&L/Jiroch Distributing Company, J.F. Walker Company, Inc. and most Food Town stores and have closed all Food Town stores that were not sold. We believe that these actions will allow us to better focus our efforts and capital on key strategic markets where we have the strongest growth and value creation opportunities. However, we cannot assure you that these transactions will be beneficial to our company. Our asset impairment and exit cost provisions for these transactions are estimates and actual costs may be more or less than these estimates. The agreements relating to some of these transactions require us to indemnify these asset buyers for breaches of our representations and warranties contained in the agreements and certain other matters.

          This section is intended to provide meaningful cautionary statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. 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. 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.

PART I
FINANCIAL INFORMATION

SPARTAN STORES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(In thousands)
(Unaudited)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

SPARTAN STORES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(In thousands, except per share data)
(Unaudited)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

SPARTAN STORES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY
(In thousands)
(Unaudited)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

SPARTAN STORES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(In thousands)
(Unaudited)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

SPARTAN STORES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(Unaudited)

Note 1
Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies

The 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 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 11, 2004 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.

Stock-Based Compensation
Spartan Stores has a stock incentive plan, which is more fully described in Note 10 of the 2004 Annual Report on Form 10-K. Spartan Stores accounts for the plan under the recognition and measurement principles of Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 25, "Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees," and related Interpretations. No stock-based compensation cost is reflected in the Statements of Operations, as all options granted under the plan had an exercise price equal to the market value of the underlying common stock on the date of grant. The following table illustrates the effect on net earnings (loss) and earnings (loss) per share as if Spartan Stores had applied the fair value recognition principles of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards Statement No. 123, "Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation," to stock-based employee compensation:

(In thousands, except per share data)

Reclassifications
Certain reclassifications have been made to the fiscal 2004 consolidated financial statements to conform to the fiscal 2005 presentation.

Note 2
New Accounting Standards

In May 2004, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued FASB Staff Position ("FSP") FAS 106-2, "Accounting and Disclosure Requirements Related to the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003." FSP FAS 106-2 provides guidance on the accounting, disclosure, effective date and transition rules related to the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003. FSP FAS 106-2 was adopted in the second quarter of fiscal 2005 and did not have a significant impact on the financial statements.

Note 3
Discontinued Operations

Spartan Stores' former convenience distribution operations, insurance operations and certain of its retail, grocery distribution and real estate operations have been recorded as discontinued operations. Results of the discontinued operations are excluded from the accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements for all periods presented, unless otherwise noted.

Discontinued operations had no sales during the second quarter and year-to-date period ended September 11, 2004 and generated sales of $47.6 million and $263.4 million during the second quarter and year-to-date period ended September 13, 2003, respectively. The operating losses in discontinued operations for the second quarter and year-to-date period ended September 11, 2004 of $0.2 million and $0.4 million were partially offset by income tax benefits of $0.1 million and $0.2 million. The net losses from discontinued operations contributed a loss of $0.01 per share for the second quarter and year-to-date period ended September 11, 2004.

The $1.0 million net loss from discontinued operations for the second quarter ended September 11, 2003 consisted of a loss from operations of $0.6 million, provision for asset impairments and exit costs of $3.0 million, gain on disposal of assets of $1.6 million and an income tax benefit of $1.0 million. The net loss from discontinued operations contributed a loss of $0.05 per share. The $4.0 million net loss from discontinued operations for the year-to-date period ended September 13, 2003 consisted of a loss from operations of $1.3 million, provision for asset impairments and exit costs of $6.6 million, gain on disposal of assets of $1.8 million and an income tax benefit of $2.1 million. The net loss from discontinued operations contributed a loss of $0.20 per share.

Total assets of discontinued operations decreased from $8.3 million at March 27, 2004 to $7.1 million at September 11, 2004. Total liabilities of discontinued operations decreased from $16.9 million at March 27, 2004 to $14.8 million at September 11, 2004.

In accordance with Emerging Issues Task Force Issue No. 87-24, "Allocation of Interest to Discontinued Operations," interest was allocated to discontinued operations based on the debt that was required to be repaid as a result of the asset dispositions. Interest expense of $0.3 million and $1.6 million was allocated to, and is included in, loss on discontinued operations in the Consolidated Statements of Operations for the second quarter and year-to-date period ended September 13, 2003. Interest expense is no longer allocated to discontinued operations as all debt has been repaid as a result of the disposal of these operations.

Note 4
Asset Impairments and Exit Costs

Discontinued operations recognized pre-tax charges of $3.0 million and $6.6 million during the second quarter and year-to-date period ended September 13, 2003 for asset impairments and exit costs related to transaction costs and severance.

The following table provides the activity of exit costs for fiscal year 2004 and the twenty-four weeks ended September 11, 2004. Exit costs recorded in the Consolidated Balance Sheets are included in Other accrued expenses in current liabilities and Other long-term liabilities based on when the obligations are expected to be paid.

(In thousands)