Greg Gilligan reported in this morning’s Richmond Times-Dispatch that the rumors that have been flying around about Ukrop’s grocery store chain being for sale are not true.

The rumors were squashed (or so the Ukrops hope) by both Robert S. Ukrop and James E. Ukrop denying flatly any truth to the rumors that have been flying around the River City over the past week.

There seems to be some confidence in the statements, but as a business broker I know that in order to keep business flowing and to maintain confidentiality, sometimes you have to deny sales negotiations even if the cat is out of the bag.