Vons Lures 2 Executives Away From Rival Lucky : Supermarkets: Lawrence Del Santo and Richard Goodspeed are named to high posts at Southland’s major store chain.

Vons Cos. scored a coup Monday against chief rival Lucky Stores by naming two executives from Lucky’s parent company to help head Southern California’s largest supermarket chain.

Lawrence Del Santo, 60, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of food operations at Salt Lake City-based American Stores, will become Von’s vice chairman and chief executive beginning today. Del Santo’s television commercials for Lucky have made him a familiar figure in many Southland homes.

Richard E. Goodspeed, 57, executive vice president of food operations at American Stores, was named new president and chief operating officer at Vons, replacing Dennis K. Eck, who resigned last November.

Vons Chairman Roger Stangeland relinquishes his position as chief executive to Del Santo. Vons said Del Santo will also succeed Stangeland as chairman in May, 1995. Stangeland, who has also been functioning as chief operating officer since Eck’s departure, will be 65 in October and plans to retire next year.

The move is considered a feather in the cap for Vons, which launched a restructuring plan in November designed to help the company cope with declining 1993 sales in the competitive Southland market. Vons, in a bid to compete with low-price rivals such as Food 4 Less and Lucky, also announced a price-cutting program in January.

Vons has been the supermarket leader in Southern California, with about 19% of the Southland market in 1993, according to Progressive Grocer magazine. Lucky and Ralphs both had market shares of about 14% last year, according to Progressive Grocer.

Arcadia-based Vons operates 331 Vons, Pavilions, Tianguis and EXPO stores in Southern California and 15 stores in Las Vegas.

American Stores operates 439 Lucky stores in California and Las Vegas, including 222 Lucky stores in Southern California. Its Lucky Stores unit is based in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Dublin.

Del Santo and Goodspeed will be responsible for Vons’ day-to-day operations. Del Santo began his career at Vons in 1957 and became president of the company in 1970. In 1974, he was named executive vice president of Household Merchandising--Vons’ parent company at that time--and held that position until he joined Lucky Stores in 1984.

Meanwhile, American Stores on Monday announced that Robert P. Hermanns, 50, formerly the company’s executive vice president and general manager for new business development, has succeeded Del Santo as senior vice president of food operations.

American Stores said Goodspeed will not be replaced because the company is changing its management structure.

American operates a total of 1,695 stores in 27 states, including the Anaheim-based Sav-on drugstore chain.