King Soopers

Last updated

King Soopers
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Retail / grocery
FoundedOctober 1947;76 years ago (1947-10) in Arvada, Colorado, U.S.
FoundersLloyd J. King
Charles W. Houchens
Headquarters Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Number of locations
118 [1]
Area served
 Colorado, Wyoming
Key people
Products Bakery, dairy, delicatessen, frozen foods, fuel, grocery, lottery, pharmacy, photographic processing, produce, meats, snack food, liquor, flowers, and Western Union
Services Supermarket
RevenueUS$4 billion
Number of employees
Increase2.svg 20,000
Parent Dillon Companies (1957-1983)
Kroger (1983–present)
Website kingsoopers.com

King Soopers is an American supermarket chain located in the Rocky Mountains of the United States. It started as its own brand, and is now a subsidiary of Kroger. It is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. [2]

Contents

King Soopers has a significant presence in the state of Colorado on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. The stores are located along the Front Range from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Pueblo, Colorado. There are also a few locations in the foothills west of Denver and Colorado Springs. [3]

History

Early history

Lloyd J. King opened the first King Soopers with Charles W. Houchens [4] in November 1947 in Arvada, Colorado. [5] This location has since been demolished for Arvada's Public Library, built in 2005–06. [6]

The name "King Soopers" was derived from Lloyd's family name and an alternate spelling of the word "super!" from the Archie comics series that one of his two sons, Larry, read. [7] Within the next five years, King Soopers became the first grocery store in the country to open an in-store pharmacy [6] and one of the earliest to have a meat department. [7] [6]

Ownership changes

King Soopers grew to several stores [8] in the Denver metro area and Colorado Springs, [9] before being bought out by Dillon Companies in 1957. [10] The original King Soopers location was relocated from Olde Town Arvada to Arvada Plaza. [11] [6]

King Soopers' then-parent, Dillon Companies, was bought out by The Kroger Company in 1982–83, and King Soopers and Dillon's are both still owned by Kroger today. [12]

Fresh Fare King Soopers

In 2012, Kroger expanded its Fresh Fare style of supermarkets into the King Soopers brand, opening the first Fresh Fare King Soopers in Englewood, Colorado. [13] This is a concept that first appeared in Kroger as early as 2007 [14] and actually seems to have started with Ralphs, another Kroger subsidiary primarily located in California in 1998. [15]

The main idea of Fresh Fare is to be a bit more upscale in that it sells more organic foods while still selling traditional groceries; it follows the themes of the 'Green Grocer' Concept. [16]

King Soopers Marketplace

In 2012, the first King Soopers Marketplace opened, [17] just one year after the first Kroger Marketplace in Texas. [18] As of 2017, there are ten King Soopers Marketplace locations all located in Colorado. [19]

The marketplace concept is based on Fred Meyer stores (which have spawned multiple Marketplace stores under other Kroger banners), and features a wider selection of products besides just food and other necessities.

Modern day

A rough total of 118 King Soopers have been opened over the brand's lifetime, [20] many of which are still open today. [21] All are located in Colorado except for one, located in Cheyenne, Wyoming. [22]

In October 2022, Kroger and major competitor Albertsons announced a merger agreement. [23] That plan has been challenged in court by several states. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser summarized consumer and worker opposition: the merger "would lead to stores closing, higher prices, fewer jobs, worse customer service, and less resilient supply chains.” [24]

Related Research Articles

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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kroger</span> American retail company

The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralphs</span> American supermarket chain owned by Kroger

Ralphs is an American supermarket chain in Southern California. The largest subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Kroger, it is the oldest such chain west of the Mississippi River. Kroger also operates stores under the Food 4 Less and Foods Co. names in California.

<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.

Schnuck Markets, Inc., doing business as Schnucks, is a supermarket chain. Based in the St. Louis area, the company was founded in 1939 with the opening of a 1,000-square-foot (93 m2) store in north St. Louis and currently operates over 100 stores in four states throughout the Midwest. Schnucks also ran stores under the Logli Supermarkets and Hilander Foods banners. Schnucks is one of the largest privately held supermarket chains in the United States and dominates the St. Louis metro grocery market.

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

Safeway, Inc. is an American supermarket chain. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, delicatessen, floral and pharmacy, as well as Starbucks coffee shops and fuel centers. It is a subsidiary of Albertsons after being acquired by private equity investors led by Cerberus Capital Management in January 2015. Safeway's primary base of operations is in the Western United States with some stores located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Eastern Seaboard. The subsidiary is headquartered in Pleasanton, California.

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

Harris Teeter Supermarkets, LLC., also known as Harris Teeter Neighborhood Food & Pharmacy, is an American supermarket chain based in Matthews, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte. As of May 2024, the chain operates 260 stores in seven South Atlantic states and Washington, D.C. Supermarket News ranked Harris Teeter No. 34 in the 2012 "Top 75 Retailers & Wholesalers" based on 2011 fiscal year sales of $4.3 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baker's Supermarkets</span> American supermarket chain

Baker's is a supermarket chain operating primarily in the metro area of Omaha, Nebraska. It is owned by Kroger. Baker's supermarket has an annual revenue of $325,000,000.

<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">Dillons</span> Supermarket located in the Midwest and owned by Kroger

Dillons is a regional grocery supermarket chain based in Hutchinson, Kansas, and is a division of Kroger. Other banners under the Dillon Stores Division include Gerbes in Missouri and Baker's in Omaha, Nebraska. Dillons operates grocery stores throughout Kansas with major influences in and around Wichita, Topeka, Manhattan, and Lawrence. Dillons also operates distribution centers in Goddard and Hutchinson.

King Kullen Grocery Co., Inc., is an American supermarket chain based in Hauppauge, New York. Founded by Michael J. Cullen on August 4, 1930, the company operates 27 locations across Long Island as of 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Supermarkets</span> Defunct American grocery store chain

National Supermarkets was a grocery chain in both the St. Louis, Missouri, and New Orleans, Louisiana, areas of the United States. Both firms were owned by Loblaw Companies of Canada, but in June 1995, they were sold by Loblaw to Schnucks Markets. Immediately after that, per the FTC, Schnucks sold the National New Orleans division to Schwegmann Brothers Giant Supermarkets of Metairie, Louisiana, which later sold them to Great A&P, which finally sold them to Rouse Markets in 2007. National itself had cemented the number two spot in St. Louis by acquiring several former Kroger locations and the Kroger distribution center in the market when the latter exited St. Louis in 1986. Kroger and National had been battling for the number two and three spots since the 1970s, swapping rankings several times over throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Loaf 'N Jug is a chain of convenience stores/gas stations, owned by EG America, headquartered in Westborough, MA. Kroger owned Loaf 'N Jug and its respective brands for over two decades before exiting the convenience store business and selling them to EG Group. Some Kroger supermarket locations, such as King Soopers and Smith's, have retained the Kroger convenience store signage that is still used at Loaf 'N Jug today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food 4 Less</span> American no-frills grocery store chain owned by Kroger

Food 4 Less is the name of several grocery store chains, the largest of which is currently owned by Kroger. It is a no-frills grocery store where the customers bag their own groceries at the checkout. Kroger operates Food 4 Less stores in the Chicago metropolitan area and in Southern California. Kroger operates their stores as Foods Co. in northern and central California, including Bakersfield and the Central Coast, because they do not have the rights to the Food 4 Less name in those areas. Other states, such as Nevada, formerly contained Kroger-owned Food 4 Less stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy</span> Grocery store chain in the US state of Virginia

Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy is a supermarket chain with four independently owned stores, all of which are in Virginia. At its peak, Farm Fresh called itself "Virginia's Grocery Store" because it had stores spanning the state. Its headquarters were located in Virginia Beach and its largest presence was in the surrounding Norfolk/Virginia Beach metropolitan area. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based SuperValu. On March 14, 2018, it was revealed that parent company, SuperValu, would be selling 21 stores to Kroger and Ahold Delhaize. Currently, three Farm Fresh stores remain in operation under different ownership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Remke Markets</span> American supermarket

Remke Markets is a chain of American supermarkets in the Cincinnati metropolitan area.

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

Ruler Foods, Inc. is a discount warehouse store grocery chain in the United States, currently owned by Kroger, and headquartered in Seymour, Indiana. It is a no-frills grocery store where 80% of the offerings are Kroger Brand, the customers bag their own groceries at the checkout, and rent shopping carts for 25 cents. Kroger operates Ruler Foods stores in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucky's Market</span> Colorado supermarket

Lucky's Market is a brand of supermarkets that are being used by two independent and unrelated regional supermarket chains, LM Acquisition Co. LLC in Colorado and Lucky's Market Ohio in Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Boulder shooting</span> Mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado

On March 22, 2021, a mass shooting occurred at a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Ten people were killed, including a local on-duty police officer. The alleged shooter, 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Al-Issa, was arrested after being shot in the right leg. He was temporarily hospitalized before being moved to the county jail. After undergoing mental evaluations during the legal proceedings, Al-Issa was found mentally incompetent to stand trial in December 2021 and in April 2022. On August 23, 2023, prosecutors announced that Al-Issa was mentally competent to stand trial; a judge ruled as such on October 6 of that same year.

References

  1. ↑ "King Soopers - Supermarkets". Supermarket Page. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Our Divisions". Kroger. Retrieved on November 28, 2012. "65 Tejon St. P.O. Box 5567 Denver, CO 80217"
  3. ↑ King Soopers [ permanent dead link ] at 9News Colorado Shares website
  4. ↑ "Charles W. Houchens Obituary (2003) Denver Post". Legacy.com. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  5. ↑ Roberts, Michael (July 14, 2009). "Grocery-workers Union Recalls Soopers' First King". Westword. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "From Farming Community to Atomic Age Suburb, Historic Building Survey of Olde Town Arvada and the Allendale and Alta Vista Neighborhoods" (PDF). March 24, 2015. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  7. 1 2 Lewis, Shanna. "Where Did The 'Sooper' In The King Soopers Name Come From?". Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  8. ↑ Jensen, Dave (March 2, 2021). "How King Soopers Became Colorado's Largest Grocery Chain". Retro 102.5. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  9. ↑ Grocer, Master (February 20, 2011). "King Soopers". Grocery.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  10. ↑ "A King Soopers grocery store in Boulder had an active shooter kill 10 people, here's who owns the chain and who of the chain is". meaww.com. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Lloyd King". COLORADO BUSINESS HALL OF FAME. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Kroger to Acquire Dillon, a Retailer". The New York Times. AP. November 16, 1982. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  13. ↑ "King Soopers' Fresh Fare market highlights Kent Place development". The Denver Post. December 11, 2012. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Kroger expands with biggest 'Fresh Fare' store". The Herald-Dispatch. The Associated Press. November 15, 2008. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  15. ↑ "Ralphs' Fresh Fare Stores Exceeding Firm's Expectations". Los Angeles Times. December 24, 1998. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  16. ↑ "1st [Atlanta] 'green' Kroger planned". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  17. ↑ "King Soopers bringing a king-sized grocery to Colorado Springs area | Evergreen Devco Inc. | Real Estate Development and Commercial Realty". Evergreen Devco Inc. October 14, 2015. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  18. ↑ Micek, Kassia (August 12, 2011). "First Kroger Marketplace in Montgomery County opens in Willis". The Courier. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  19. ↑ "'Sooper-sized' King Soopers opening in Colorado Springs". KKTV. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  20. ↑ "King Soopers - Supermarkets". supermarketpage.com/. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  21. ↑ "Colorado King Soopers locations". Google My Maps. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  22. ↑ "King Soopers · 3702 Dell Range Blvd, Cheyenne, WY 82009". King Soopers · 3702 Dell Range Blvd, Cheyenne, WY 82009. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  23. ↑ "Kroger and Albertsons Companies Announce Definitive Merger Agreement". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  24. ↑ Chuang, Tamara (February 14, 2024). "Colorado AG sues to block merger between parent companies of King Soopers and Safeway". The Colorado Sun. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.