Red Owl was a grocery store chain in the United States, headquartered in Hopkins, Minnesota. Founded in 1922, it was initially owned and operated by a private investment firm affiliated with General Mills, and purchased in 1968 by Gamble-Skogmo. [1]
Red Owl was a grocery store chain in the United States, headquartered in Hopkins, Minnesota. Founded in 1922, it was initially owned and operated by a private investment firm affiliated with General Mills, and purchased in 1968 by Gamble-Skogmo. [1]
Red Owl started as a coal company in the 1920s. [2]
It opened its first store in Rochester, Minnesota. [3] Eventually there were stores throughout the Upper Midwest, with one having opened in Bismarck, North Dakota, in 1927. [4] The chain briefly expanded into the Chicago area starting in late 1959, but in 1963 sold its Chicago area operations to National Tea Company. In 1980, Gamble-Skogmo was acquired by Wickes Corporation, which sold the chain to three executives of the chain in January 1986. [5] At that time, the company operated 441 stores in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and North and South Dakota.
In December 1988, the rights to the Red Owl name were obtained by grocery wholesaler Supervalu Inc., [6] along with its warehouse and distribution operations. [7] Supervalu phased out the Red Owl name.
Red Owl operated radio stations KRSI, WEBC and WNAX in the 1960s. [8]
From 1973 to 1977, the title sequence of The Mary Tyler Moore Show featured the lead character in a Red Owl meat department.
An independent grocery store in Saint Paul, MN, Cooper's Foods, was redecorated as a Red Owl to be featured in the 2009 Coen Brothers movie A Serious Man .
In Season 3, Episode 1 of FX's Fargo a Red Owl is featured.
In Season 9, Episode 9 of the Sci-Fi Channel's Mystery Science Theater 3000 which features the 1980 Italian film The Pumaman , Mike uses some of the movie's music which resembles commercial theme music to make up a jingle with the phrase "Dick's Red Owl, selection and service!". Mystery Science Theater 3000 originated in Hopkins, MN, which was Red Owl's headquarters.
A pharmacy named Value Drug Mart in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada, was redecorated as a Red Owl food store for the 2020 film Let Him Go . [9]
| Company type | Grocery/Convenience Store |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail (Grocery) |
| Headquarters | Green Bay, WI |
Key people | Mervin and Jared Mason/Jared Jr and Justin Mason |
| Products | Fresh and Canned Groceries, Produce, Bakery, Deli, Liquor |
Number of employees | 6 |
| Website | masonsredowl.com |
Founded on February 1, 1969, Masons Red Owl was the first franchised Red Owl store in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Three years later, the owners, Mervin and Jared Mason, purchased a second Red Owl franchise in De Pere, Wisconsin. At that time, Masons Red Owl was incorporated from a partnership into the MEJ Corporation.
By 1985, the Green Bay area witnessed the introduction of several other grocery stores, including a Cub Foods and a Copps Food Center. At this point, the De Pere location was sold and efforts were refocused on the original franchise. In 1988, SuperValu Corporation purchased Red Owl's Green Bay warehouse, making it the supplier for Masons Red Owl.
In 1989 the store expanded to include a full-service deli department, and remained in 2023 as one of the smallest full-service grocery retailers.
Masons Red Owl faces competition in the Green Bay area from other grocers including Woodman's, Wal-Mart, ALDI, and Festival Foods.
In the late 60's early 70's Red Owl opened a small chain of family centers, [10] similar to what Grand Union Supermarkets did with their Grand Way stores.
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.
Save A Lot Food Stores Ltd. is an American discount supermarket chain store headquartered in St. Ann, Missouri, in Greater St. Louis. It has about 900 independently owned and operated stores across 32 states in the United States with over $4 billion in annual sales.
Acme Markets Inc. is a supermarket chain operating 161 stores throughout Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, the Hudson Valley of New York, and Pennsylvania and, as of 1998, is a subsidiary of Albertsons, and part of its presence in the Northeast. It is headquartered in East Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania, near Malvern, a Philadelphia suburb.
SuperValu is a supermarket chain that operates throughout the island of Ireland. SuperValu is operated as a symbol group; each supermarket is independently owned, with individual owners using the SuperValu format and selling the chain's own brand products. SuperValu outlets tend to be larger than the convenience shop formats used by many other symbol group retailers such as Centra, Gala and Spar, and the larger SuperValu units are on a par with full-service supermarkets. Their main competitors are Dunnes Stores and Tesco.
Shopko was a chain of department stores based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. All locations closed on June 23, 2019, with the exception of the Shopko Optical locations, which continue to operate.
SuperValu, Inc., was an American wholesaler and retailer of grocery products. The company, formerly headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, had been in business since 1926. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Natural Foods (UNFI).
Cub is an American supermarket chain. It operates stores in Minnesota and Illinois. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Natural Foods, based in Providence, Rhode Island.
Shop ’n Save was a grocery store chain in the Greater St. Louis market with 36 stores at its peak. The company, headquartered in Kirkwood, Missouri, was a wholly owned subsidiary of SuperValu, based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Shaw's and Star Market are two American supermarket chains under united management based in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, employing about 30,000 associates in 150 total stores; 129 stores are operated under the Shaw's banner in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, while Star Market operates 21 stores in Massachusetts, most of which are in or near Boston. Until 2010, Shaw's operated stores in all six New England states, and as of 2021 Shaw's remained the only supermarket chain with stores in five of the six, after it sold its Connecticut operations. The chain's largest competitors are Hannaford, Market Basket, Price Chopper, Roche Bros., Wegmans, and Stop & Shop. Star Market is a companion store to Shaw's, Shaw's having purchased the competing chain in 1999.
SpartanNash Company is an American food distributor and grocery store retailer headquartered in Byron Center, Michigan. The company's core businesses include distributing food to independent grocers, military commissaries, and corporate-owned retail stores in 44 states, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. SpartanNash operates 147 corporate-owned retail stores under a number of brands located in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio, many of which were local grocery chains acquired by SpartanNash. In terms of revenue, it is the largest food distributor serving military commissaries and exchanges in the United States. It is known for its Our Family line of products and formerly the "Spartan" line of products.
A warehouse store or warehouse supermarket is a food and grocery retailer that operates stores geared toward offering deeper discounted prices than a traditional supermarket. These stores offer a no-frills experience and warehouse shelving stocked well with merchandise intended to move at higher volumes. Unlike warehouse clubs, warehouse stores do not require a membership or membership fees. Warehouse stores can also offer a selection of merchandise sold in bulk. Typically, warehouse stores are laid out in a logical format; this leads customers in a certain way around the store to the checkout. For example, as one enters the store they are directed down an aisle of discounted products. From there the layout could then lead to the fresh produce department, followed by the deli and bakery departments at the back of the store. Often, certain customer service niceties, like the bagging of groceries, are not done by store employees; this helps reduce overall cost. Many warehouse stores are operated by traditional grocery chains both as a way to attract lower income, value conscious consumers and to maximize their buying power in order to lower costs at their mainstream stores.
Lucky Stores was an American supermarket chain founded in San Leandro, California, that operated from 1935 until 1999. The Lucky brand was revived in 2007 and is now operated as two separate and distinct chains by Albertsons in Utah as Lucky and Save Mart Supermarkets in Northern California as Lucky California.
Gamble-Skogmo Inc. was a conglomerate of retail chains and other businesses that was headquartered in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Business operated or franchised by Gamble-Skogmo included Gambles hardware and auto supply stores, Woman's World and Mode O'Day clothing stores, J.M. McDonald department stores, Leath Furniture stores, Tempo and Buckeye Mart Discount Stores, Howard's Brandiscount Department Stores, Rasco Variety Stores, Sarco Outlet Stores, Toy World, Rasco-Tempo, Red Owl Grocery, Snyder Drug and the Aldens mail-order company. In Canada, retail operations consisted of Macleods Hardware, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Stedmans Department Stores, based in Toronto, Ontario. Gamble-Skogmo carried a line of home appliances, including radios, televisions, refrigerators, and freezers, under the Coronado brand name.
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.
Fiesta Mart, L.L.C., formerly Fiesta Mart Inc., is a Latino-American supermarket chain based in Houston, Texas that was established in 1972. Fiesta Mart stores are located in Texas. The chain uses a cartoon parrot as a mascot. As of 2004 it operated 34 supermarkets in Greater Houston, 16 supermarkets in other locations in Texas, and 17 Beverage Mart liquor store locations. During the same year it had 7.5% of the grocery market share in Greater Houston. Many of its stores were located in Hispanic neighborhoods and other minority neighborhoods.
The Save Mart Companies is an American grocery store operator founded and headquartered in Modesto, California. It owns and operates stores under the Save Mart, Lucky, and FoodMaxx brands. The stores are located in northern and central California and northern Nevada. The company is owned by the Jim Pattison Group.
Festival Foods is a family owned grocery company operating stores throughout Wisconsin. It was founded as Skogen's IGA by Paul and Jane Skogen in 1946 in Onalaska, Wisconsin, and is still owned by the Skogen family. Festival's private label brands are supplied by SuperValu, with the majority under their Essential Everyday label.
Mike Jackson is the former President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Supervalu.
