 | |
| Subsidiary of SuperValu | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 2003 in Richmond, Virginia |
| Headquarters | Virginia Beach, Virginia |
Key people | Jeff Noddle, Chairman and CEO, SuperValu, Inc. Ron Dennis, President & CEO, Farm Fresh Food and Pharmacy |
| Products | Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, grocery, meat, produce, seafood, snacks, beer, wine, gourmet/specialty |
| Parent | SuperValu, Inc. |
| Website | farmfreshsupermarkets.com |
The Market: A Farm Fresh Supermarket was a high end concept grocery store catering specifically to urban customers. It was owned and operated by Virginia Beach, Virginia-based Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy. The Market had three locations, two of which were in Norfolk, Virginia, and the original location in Richmond, Virginia. The first store was an independently owned and operated grocery store which closed due to financial problems. The store's distributor, SuperValu, required that the store be reopened and handed operations over to FF Acquisitions LLC.
Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 437,994. In 2015, the population was estimated to be 452,745. In 2017 the estimated population was 450,435. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city in Virginia and the 41st most populous city in the nation. Located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia Beach is included in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. This area, known as "America's First Region", also includes the independent cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk, as well as other smaller cities, counties, and towns of Hampton Roads.
Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy is a supermarket chain with 6 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 14th 2018, it was revealed that parent company, SuperValu, would be selling 21 stores to Kroger and Ahold Delhaize. Currently, six Farm Fresh stores remain in operation under different ownership.
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. At the 2010 census, the population was 242,803; in 2017, the population was estimated to be 244,703 making it the second-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Beach.
The Market was known for each location being named after its neighborhood: Richmond's "The Market at Tobacco Row," Norfolk's "The Market at Ghent," and "The Market at Harbour Heights." Each store specialized in something prominent in the neighborhoods that they served, for example "The Market at Ghent" is located in a neighborhood with a large Jewish population; therefore it contains a large kosher foods section. All of The Market locations contained a premier bakery, deli, seafood shop, butcher, and wine specialist along with gourmet chefs on staff to prepare meals to carry home at the store's signature Chef's Corner.
Kosher foods are those that conform to the Jewish dietary regulations of kashrut, primarily derived from Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Food that may be consumed according to halakha (law) is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér, meaning "fit". Food that is not in accordance with law is called treif meaning "torn."
A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish to consume the baked goods on the premises.
A delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, unusual or foreign prepared foods ("delicacies"). Delicatessen originated in Germany during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the mid-19th century. European immigrants to the United States, especially Ashkenazi Jews, popularized the delicatessen in American culture beginning in the late 19th century.
The chain's flagship store at Harbour Heights in downtown Norfolk closed the first half of 2011 after being open for only four years. The original location at Tobacco Row was rebranded as a Farm Fresh Supermarket during the third quarter on 2011 and the Ghent location was rebranded as a Farm Fresh Supermarket in November 2011.
Farm Fresh Food and Pharmacy and The Market are wholly owned subsidiaries of Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based SuperValu, Inc.
Minnesota is a state in the Upper Midwest and northern regions of the United States. Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858, created from the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory. The state has a large number of lakes, and is known by the slogan the "Land of 10,000 Lakes". Its official motto is L'Étoile du Nord.
SuperValu, Inc. is an American wholesaler and retailer of grocery products. The company, headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, has been in business for nearly a century. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Providence, Rhode Island based United Natural Foods. It is the largest publicly-traded wholesaler and the fifth-largest food retailing company in the United States, and ranks in the top 200 on the 2018 Fortune 500 list. Supermarket News ranked SuperValu #1 in the 2008 "Top Wholesalers for 2008".
