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Weingarten's was a supermarket chain in the Southern United States until it was acquired by Safeway in 1983. J. Weingarten, Inc. had its headquarters in what is now the East End in Houston, Texas. [1] [2] [3]
Hersch Harris Weingarten, a poor Jewish immigrant from Łańcut (what was then Austria-Hungary) and his son, Joseph, opened a grocery store in Downtown Houston in 1901. [4] [5] A second store opened in 1920. Advertising "Better Food for Less," Joseph Joe Weingarten pioneered self-service and cash-and-carry shopping. Weingarten's chain of stores in Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana grew by 1926 to six; by 1938 the company had 12 stores; by 1951 there were 25 stores; and by 1967 the chain operated 70 stores.
To concentrate on real estate development for retail shopping centers, Weingarten Incorporated sold its stores, which had grown to a chain of 104 stores in five states, to Cavenham Foods, who transferred management to its chain Grand Union in 1980 for $12 (~$43.00 in 2022) a share. [6] [7] In 1980 Weingarten had 18% of the Houston area grocery market share. [8] Grand Union then resold most of the stores to Safeway (Safeway, which later left the Houston market, acquired 43 of the stores), Randalls (purchased by Safeway when they reentered Houston, but at that time, an independent company), and Gerland's Food Fair in 1983, including 55 stores in the Houston area. However, lease provisions at several locations barred the automatic transfer of leases between operators. Because Weingarten's and Tanglewood Corporation could not agree on a disposition of the Post Oak Center lease, Weingarten's continued to operate the store at that location until the end of March 1986. [9]
Weingarten Realty Investors was acquired by Kimco Realty in 2021. [10]
Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho.
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.
The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.
Carrs–Safeway is a supermarket chain that is based in Anchorage, Alaska, and is a subsidiary of Albertsons. It was acquired in April 1999 by former parent Safeway from an employee ownership group, who itself had purchased the company from founder Larry Carr and his partner Barney Gottstein in 1990.
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 1999, 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.
Safeway, Inc. is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. 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.
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.
Tom Thumb is a chain of supermarkets in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It operates under the name Tom Thumb for traditional grocery stores and Flagship Tom Thumb for higher end stores in affluent areas. It makes up part of the Southern division of Albertsons. When combined with sister chains Albertsons and Market Street, it is the number two supermarket group in the competitive Dallas/Fort Worth area behind Walmart. The chain's distribution center is in Roanoke, Texas.
Genuardi's Family Markets L.P. was a chain of supermarkets located in the Northeastern United States. The store was family-owned. In 2000, it was purchased by Safeway. Its headquarters was in East Norriton Township, Pennsylvania in Montgomery County.
Roy Furr was the president of the Furr's chain of supermarkets and restaurants after his older brother Key Furr.
Randalls operates 32 supermarkets in Texas under the Randalls and Flagship Randalls banners. The chain consists of 13 stores located around the Houston area and 15 stores located around the Austin area as of May 2020. Randalls today forms the nucleus of the current Houston division of Albertsons and is headquartered in the Westchase district of Houston. The office served as the headquarters of the independent Randalls company before its takeover and later the Texas division of Safeway. The Randalls distribution center was near Cypress, Texas, and now is serviced by the Tom Thumb distribution in Roanoke, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.
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.
AppleTree Markets was a supermarket chain in Texas formed in 1969 when Safeway opened its first stores in Houston, which were spun off under the AppleTree name in 1988. The division once had 100 stores in Greater Houston and Greater Austin. By January 21, 2002, AppleTree had reduced its holdings to two stores in Bryan, Texas, where it had shifted its headquarters. One of the remaining locations was sold in 2009 and the final location, in Bryan at Highway 21 and Texas Avenue, closed in early 2012, marking the end of the chain.
Gerland Corporation was a retail company headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States; the company operates various grocery stores, gas stations, and check cashing stores within the Greater Houston Area.
Rice Epicurean Markets was an American niche grocery store chain based in Southwest Houston, Houston, Texas. There is now just one supermarket left of the chain. Prior to 2012 the company operated five Rice Epicurean Markets, which ranged in size from 25,000 to 42,000 square feet (3,900 m2). At its height, it operated 35 stores. The last Rice Epicurean Market is wholly owned by founding family members.
Davis Food City was a supermarket chain headquartered Houston, Texas, United States, founded in 1965 and closed in 2007.
Until its closing in 2010, Simon David was the oldest gourmet and specialty foods store in Dallas, Texas. Simon David was a long-time specialty retail brand and division of Tom Thumb Supermarkets. Tom Thumb became a division of Randalls in 1992, which itself became a 112-store division of Safeway Inc. in 1999.
Lewis Food Town, Inc., which does business as Food Town, is an independent grocery chain with 30 stores throughout Greater Houston. The chain got its start with founder Ross Lewis and six associates in late 1993, but officially launched on April 28, 1994, with the opening of its first store in Pasadena, Texas. Although the company’s founder passed away in December of 2020, younger generations continued the family business. Food Town was named among the honorees for the Houston Business Journal’s inaugural Family-Owned Business Awards in 2023. Today, its footprint extends throughout the Houston metro region, from Spring down to Webster, and from Sugar Land to Baytown.
RLS Supermarkets LLC, doing business as Minyard Food Stores, was a privately owned supermarket chain in Texas.
Weingarten Realty Investors was a real estate investment trust that invested in shopping centers, primarily in the Southern United States and primarily with grocery stores as the anchor stores. In August 2021, the company was acquired by Kimco Realty.
