Grand Central (store)

Last updated
Grand Central
Company type Discount store
Founded1928 (1928)
FoundersMaurice Warshaw
Defunct1984 (1984)
FateAcquired by Fred Meyer
Headquarters
Number of locations
31 (1984)
Areas served
Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming (1984)

Grand Central was a chain of discount department stores based in Salt Lake City, Utah. At its peak, the chain operated over 30 stores in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming. It was acquired by Portland, Oregon-based retailer Fred Meyer in 1984, which rebranded most of the Grand Central locations to Fred Meyer.

History

Grand Central was founded by Russian immigrant Maurice Warshaw (1898 – January 5, 1979), who opened a produce stand on the corner of 900 South and Main Street in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1928. [1] [2] After finding success selling Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Warshaw expanded his business beyond produce by adding his own meat and grocery departments. [1] In 1946, Warshaw partnered with his son, Keith, and son-in-law, Don Mackey, to expand the retailer to multiple locations. [1] Maurice Warshaw left the company in the 1950s to focus on humanitarian work and left management duties to his son and Mackey. [1] The chain then expanded to sell clothing, electric gadgets, hardware, kitchenware, medicine, and toys. [1]

In 1960, Grand Central sold its food operations to Los Angeles, California-based Mayfair Markets. [3] The chain entered Idaho through the acquisition of Bosko Super Stores from Boise-based grocery retailer Albertsons in June 1963. [4] In 1971, the company went public. [2]

In March 1984, Portland, Oregon-based retailer Fred Meyer announced the purchase of Grand Central for US$11 per share, a transactional value of nearly US$25 million. [2] At the time, Grand Central operated 31 stores and employed about 2,900 people in Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. [2] 21 stores in Idaho and Utah were rebranded by Fred Meyer, while stores in Nevada and Wyoming were closed. [5] Seven stores in New Mexico were later acquired by Walmart in January 1985. [6]

Related Research Articles

Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewel-Osco</span> American supermarket chain

Jewel-Osco is a regional supermarket chain in the Chicago metropolitan area, headquartered in Itasca, a western suburb. In 2007, the company had 188 stores across northern, central, and western Illinois; eastern Iowa; and portions of northwest Indiana. Jewel-Osco has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Boise-based Albertsons since 1999. The company originally started as a door-to-door coffee delivery service before it expanded into delivering non-perishable groceries and later into grocery stores, and supermarkets. Prior to its 1984 acquisition by American Stores, Jewel evolved into a large multi-state holding company that operated several supermarket chains and other non-food retail chain stores located from coast to coast and had operated under several different brand names.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osco Drug and Sav-on Drugs</span> Retail pharmacy chains in the United States

Osco Drug and Sav-on Drugs were the names of a pair of chain pharmacies that operated in the United States. Osco Drug was founded by the Skaggs family. Alpha Beta grocery store was purchased by American Stores in 1961. Skaggs Drug Centers bought American Stores in 1979 and assumed the American Stores name. Sav-on Drugs was a California-based pharmacy chain that was acquired by Osco's parent company in 1980. Both Osco and Sav-on stores eventually came under the ownership of American Stores, then Albertsons, and finally SuperValu before the stores were sold off.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fry's Food and Drug</span> Supermarket chain

Fry's Food and Drug is a chain of American supermarkets that has a major presence in the U.S. state of Arizona. Fry's also operates under the banner of Fry's Marketplace, a hypermarket or combination of groceries and general merchandise. Fry's is a division of Kroger, an American retail company based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WinCo Foods</span> American supermarket chain

WinCo Foods, Inc. is a privately held, majority employee-owned American supermarket chain based in Boise, Idaho, with retail stores in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington. It was founded in 1967 as a no-frills warehouse-style store with low prices. The stores feature extensive bulk food sections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QFC</span> American supermarket chain

Quality Food Centers, Inc., better known as QFC, is an American supermarket chain based in Bellevue, Washington, east of Seattle. It is a subsidiary of Kroger and has 62 stores in western Washington and northwestern Oregon, primarily located in the Puget Sound region and Portland–Vancouver metropolitan area.

Fred Meyer is an American chain of hypermarket superstores founded in 1922 in Portland, Oregon, United States, by Fred G. Meyer. The stores are found in the northwest U.S., within the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska. The company was acquired by Kroger in 1998, though the stores are still branded Fred Meyer. The chain was one of the first in the United States to promote one-stop shopping, eventually combining a complete grocery supermarket with a drugstore, bank, clothing, jewelry, home decor, home improvement, garden, electronics, restaurant, shoes, sporting goods, and toys. The Fred Meyer division is headquartered in Portland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smith's Food and Drug</span> Supermarket chain and subsidiary of Kroger

Smith's Food and Drug, or simply Smith's, is an American regional supermarket chain that was founded by Lorenzo Smith in 1911 in Brigham City, Utah. Headquartered in Salt Lake City with stores in Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, Smith's became a subsidiary of Kroger in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vons</span> American supermarket chain owned by Albertsons Companies, Inc

Vons is a supermarket chain owned by Albertsons, with most of its locations in Southern California and the Las Vegas Valley. It is headquartered in Fullerton, California, and operates stores under the Vons and Pavilions banners. It was owned by Safeway Inc. and headquartered in Arcadia, California, before that company was acquired by and folded into Albertsons along with all of their subsidiaries, including Vons.

Associated Food Stores is an American retailers cooperative that supplies nearly 450 independently owned retail supermarkets throughout Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Nevada, and Wyoming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucky Stores</span> American supermarket chain

Lucky Stores is an American supermarket chain founded in San Leandro, California, in 1935. Lucky is currently operated by Albertsons in Utah and Save Mart Supermarkets in Northern California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super Saver Foods</span> American grocery store chain

Super Saver Foods was an American price-impact grocery franchise. It was owned by Albertsons LLC. It was a no-frills grocery store where the customers bagged their own groceries at the checkout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boise Towne Square</span> Shopping mall in Boise, Idaho

Boise Towne Square is a mall in the western United States, located in Boise, Idaho. The largest retail complex in the state, it opened in 1988 after more than 20 years of planning, and features 150 stores, with Macy's, JCPenney, Kohl's and Dillard's as anchor stores. The mall also includes the first Apple Store in Idaho. Boise Towne Square is owned by the Chicago-based Brookfield Properties and is located near the junction of Interstate 84 and Interstate 184.

The Skaggs Family, starting from a small frontier town in southern Idaho, came to have an important impact on merchandising across much of the United States. During most of the 20th century, the Skaggs name was prominent on hundreds of stores throughout the West and Midwest.

Skaggs Companies was the predecessor to many famous United States retailing chains, including Safeway, Albertsons, Osco Drug, and Longs Drugs. The company owned several drugstore chains, but all of them were sold. Skaggs Cos. became American Stores in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Stores</span> American grocery store holding company

American Stores Company was an American public corporation and a holding company which ran chains of supermarkets and drugstores in the United States from 1917 through 1998. The company was incorporated in 1917 when The Acme Tea Company merged with four small Philadelphia-area grocery stores (Childs, George Dunlap, Bell Company, and A House That Quality Built) to form American Stores. In the following eight decades, the company would expand to 1,575 food and drugstores in 38 states with $20 billion in annual sales in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buttrey Food & Drug</span> American grocery chain

Buttrey Food & Drug was a chain of grocery stores founded in Havre, Montana, and formerly headquartered in Great Falls, Montana. The company was founded in 1896 as a chain of department stores branded Buttrey Department Store. The company opened grocery stores in 1935 and sold off its department store division following a 1966 acquisition by The Jewel Companies, Inc. Jewel was sold to American Stores in 1984, and later Buttrey was sold off as a separate company in 1990. The company was sold to its main competitor, Boise, Idaho–based Albertsons, in January 1998 and the Buttrey name was retired. At that time, Buttrey was operating 43 stores in Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota with a revenue of US$391.4 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ridley's Family Markets</span> Grocery store chain

Ridley's Family Markets is a family-owned chain of grocery stores based in Jerome, Idaho, United States, with multiple locations around the Intermountain West.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year</span>

The Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an award given to the Western Athletic Conference's (WAC) most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1980–81 season. Keith Van Horn of Utah and Nick Fazekas of Nevada are the only players to have won the award three times. Three other players—Michael Cage, Josh Grant and Melvin Ely—have won the award twice. Danny Ainge, the first ever WAC Player of the Year, was also the John R. Wooden Award winner in 1980–81.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Mcdonald, Amy (October 21, 2015). "Whatever happened to … Grand Central Store?". The Salt Lake Tribune .
  2. 1 2 3 4 Woody, Robert H. (March 25, 1984). "G. Central Agrees to Takeover". The Salt Lake Tribune.
  3. Bernick, Robert W. (January 19, 1960). "Utah Markets Join California Chain". The Salt Lake Tribune.
  4. "Albertson's Sells Bosko To Grand Central Stores". Idaho Statesman . June 22, 1963.
  5. Friend, Janin (December 5, 1984). "Boise Grand Central stores get new name". Idaho Statesman.
  6. "Retailer buys Grand Central stores". The New Mexican . January 7, 1985.