I hope someone can help me on this, because is something I had been wanting to know for many years now. I remember reading Supermarket News in the mid late 90s about the two different Finast chains after Pick N Pay owner Julius Kravitz bought the chain in 1978. Though I know that PNP was a Ohio (Midwest) chain. I put this in the Northeast section because my question is more about Finast (Northeast) supermarkets for Historical reasons. the SN article said that when PNP and Finast merged there were 325 stores
but by the time it was sold to Ahold Finast had only about 130 stores combined. Over the years on Groceteria (dating back I also saw someting mentioned about mass store closings and piulling out of New England and a "Somerville Massacre" regarding store closings. also were the New Jersey stores sold before or after the PNP deal.
I hope someone can clarify me on this
Thanks
Werememberretail
Finast/ First National (the Pick N Pay, Pre-Ahold years)
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werememberretail
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Re: Finast/ First National (the Pick N Pay, Pre-Ahold years)
There weren't two chains--First National was the name adopted after the merger of PnP and Finast.
I know a bit about this because I lived in Hartford 79-81 and happened to know a member of the family that ran Pick-n-Pay and the surviving First National chain. I believe Kravitz died before the merger--he was killed in a robbery at his home, I believe. He had been involved in just about every locally owned Cleveland chain from the end of WWII onward and also was involved with the Seaway organization that supplied voluntary co-ops in Cleveland. His place was taken by Richard Bolgomolny, whose family had operated an ice cream business that was later taken over by Fisher Foods. Bolgomolny took over the ice cream biz as a young man, so that his brother could attend college. His brother is the president of the University of Baltimore.
Finast went through multiple downsizings before and, especially, after the merger with Pick-n-Pay. I believe they exited the Boston area after the merger, but it might have occurred before then as a last itch effort. The HQ for the Eastern stores was first in downtown Hartford, then in nearby Windsor Locks where they had a DC. Although their critical mass of stores was in and around Hartford, they had even closed about half of their stores there in the late 1970s. The brick minimalist stores of the 50s, as well as their later colonial and ranch-like formats were familiar sites and often empty. They still operated stores in southern Vermont & NH, as well as Maine at least into the 1980s, but these were relatively isolated locations. They had relatively little representation in the New Haven area or in Western Mass. They closed stores in RI, Cape Cod and Eastern CT in 1980--I think these represented about 40% of the then-remaining Eastern locations.
Finast had once been the dominant grocery chain in New England and was probably one reason why A&P never had the level of market penetration there that they had in some other Eastern markets. Finast fell behind other stores in marketing, adoption of service depts, etc. and their sales actually began to drop during the early 1960s and never really recovered despite conversions to the Super Finast discount format. They built relatively small stores (13-15K sf) well into the 60s in contrast to Stop-n-Shop, Food Mart, Star (Jewel) and other major competitors. The stores they had in 1979 were a mishmash that included a few large modern stores as well as antiques like the 1940s store in Weathersfield, which had manual doors and competed unsuccessfully with a larger Shop-Rite nearby. Most were from the 50s or early 60s and it appeared that they had limited representation in the newest suburban areas, although one later store in Rocky Hill had been converted into the HQ for Ames department stores. At the time of the merger, Finast's stores were in poor condition and the Midwestern management literally had to clean house in many of them. I remember them as a very uneven operation although many of the stores had relatively strong perishables and good store management. Stop-n-Shop also was an uneven operator in that market with some stores that had gone untouched for 20+ years, but they usually did much better volumes. In Hartford, Finast competed with high/low pricing, whereas the market leaders, Shop-Rite (operated by Mott's) and Food Mart were everyday low price-based at that time, and both had built quality images.
I know a bit about this because I lived in Hartford 79-81 and happened to know a member of the family that ran Pick-n-Pay and the surviving First National chain. I believe Kravitz died before the merger--he was killed in a robbery at his home, I believe. He had been involved in just about every locally owned Cleveland chain from the end of WWII onward and also was involved with the Seaway organization that supplied voluntary co-ops in Cleveland. His place was taken by Richard Bolgomolny, whose family had operated an ice cream business that was later taken over by Fisher Foods. Bolgomolny took over the ice cream biz as a young man, so that his brother could attend college. His brother is the president of the University of Baltimore.
Finast went through multiple downsizings before and, especially, after the merger with Pick-n-Pay. I believe they exited the Boston area after the merger, but it might have occurred before then as a last itch effort. The HQ for the Eastern stores was first in downtown Hartford, then in nearby Windsor Locks where they had a DC. Although their critical mass of stores was in and around Hartford, they had even closed about half of their stores there in the late 1970s. The brick minimalist stores of the 50s, as well as their later colonial and ranch-like formats were familiar sites and often empty. They still operated stores in southern Vermont & NH, as well as Maine at least into the 1980s, but these were relatively isolated locations. They had relatively little representation in the New Haven area or in Western Mass. They closed stores in RI, Cape Cod and Eastern CT in 1980--I think these represented about 40% of the then-remaining Eastern locations.
Finast had once been the dominant grocery chain in New England and was probably one reason why A&P never had the level of market penetration there that they had in some other Eastern markets. Finast fell behind other stores in marketing, adoption of service depts, etc. and their sales actually began to drop during the early 1960s and never really recovered despite conversions to the Super Finast discount format. They built relatively small stores (13-15K sf) well into the 60s in contrast to Stop-n-Shop, Food Mart, Star (Jewel) and other major competitors. The stores they had in 1979 were a mishmash that included a few large modern stores as well as antiques like the 1940s store in Weathersfield, which had manual doors and competed unsuccessfully with a larger Shop-Rite nearby. Most were from the 50s or early 60s and it appeared that they had limited representation in the newest suburban areas, although one later store in Rocky Hill had been converted into the HQ for Ames department stores. At the time of the merger, Finast's stores were in poor condition and the Midwestern management literally had to clean house in many of them. I remember them as a very uneven operation although many of the stores had relatively strong perishables and good store management. Stop-n-Shop also was an uneven operator in that market with some stores that had gone untouched for 20+ years, but they usually did much better volumes. In Hartford, Finast competed with high/low pricing, whereas the market leaders, Shop-Rite (operated by Mott's) and Food Mart were everyday low price-based at that time, and both had built quality images.
Re: Finast/ First National (the Pick N Pay, Pre-Ahold years)
Hi, My dad managed for Finast in New jersey and in Ny State. I was a Produce Manager with them and also was a part time kid. At the time of the purchase of Safeways Ny Division, Finast was way behind Safeway in all aspects of Supermarketing. Highly sucessful in Connecticut and in West Chester County were they competed with Safeway. They had at first had verry little knowledge of what sold in the New York Market at a time when people did not move a lot and brands really sold on a market by market basis.
The results were a disaster. Finast with in a Year would close fifty former Safeways in New Jersey and New York. ( Many smaller stores. mostly in New Jersey) this would leave about 25 in New Jersey. They built stores with basements in places with plenty of room, with out Delis or Floral departments and wraped produce years after every one else went back to Bulk.
They also removed some service departments from some of the old Safeway stores to controll; shrink. They never renovated any of the stores they purchased no matter how succesfull they were. Most of the upper management in this division were from Connecticut and couldn!t understand why with clean and well managed stores but with out many service departments and with fair prices could not compete with moderen Shop Rites and Pathmarks.
In the mis 60!s First National was purchased by Madison Funds some new stores in places like Ramapo Ny and Ledgewood Nj would be built. The Super Finast and Big Buy stores would be tried and Madison Funds cut expenses. This led to the store in New Jersey to close
and the sale of the company to Pick NPay , the Sommerville Massacre then took place and the company would eventualy rename the Pick N Pay stores Finast and the stores on the East Coast were renamed Edwards.
Ahold would purchased Mels Foodtowns who they had solf the New Jersey Finast to originaly and Edwards would once again reenter the New Jersey Market. Ahold with the Purcahse of Stop and Shop would absorb the Edwards stores into that chain. The Cleveland Finasts were merged into the then Ahold owned Topps Markets. After many bizzare moves by Topps, The Division in Ohio was closed and liquidated.
Hope it Helps
Gerry
The results were a disaster. Finast with in a Year would close fifty former Safeways in New Jersey and New York. ( Many smaller stores. mostly in New Jersey) this would leave about 25 in New Jersey. They built stores with basements in places with plenty of room, with out Delis or Floral departments and wraped produce years after every one else went back to Bulk.
They also removed some service departments from some of the old Safeway stores to controll; shrink. They never renovated any of the stores they purchased no matter how succesfull they were. Most of the upper management in this division were from Connecticut and couldn!t understand why with clean and well managed stores but with out many service departments and with fair prices could not compete with moderen Shop Rites and Pathmarks.
In the mis 60!s First National was purchased by Madison Funds some new stores in places like Ramapo Ny and Ledgewood Nj would be built. The Super Finast and Big Buy stores would be tried and Madison Funds cut expenses. This led to the store in New Jersey to close
and the sale of the company to Pick NPay , the Sommerville Massacre then took place and the company would eventualy rename the Pick N Pay stores Finast and the stores on the East Coast were renamed Edwards.
Ahold would purchased Mels Foodtowns who they had solf the New Jersey Finast to originaly and Edwards would once again reenter the New Jersey Market. Ahold with the Purcahse of Stop and Shop would absorb the Edwards stores into that chain. The Cleveland Finasts were merged into the then Ahold owned Topps Markets. After many bizzare moves by Topps, The Division in Ohio was closed and liquidated.
Hope it Helps
Gerry
Re: Finast/ First National (the Pick N Pay, Pre-Ahold years)
Finast in Ohio became Tops in 2000, something I wasn't too pleased about. Tops has since pulled out of the state and I am not sure what became of the other Finast stores.
Re: Finast/ First National (the Pick N Pay, Pre-Ahold years)
The Edwards name came from a Cleveland-based wholesaler that dated back to the mid-19th century who Pick-n-Pay's former parent Cook United had acquired. It was used for a small number of warehouse format stores that Pick-n-Pay/Finast built in Ohio during the 80s. This was a short-lived experiment and included places like Toledo, where they had not previously operated.
The Edwards name also was used for a price sensitive format on the East Coast around the same time. First National used this format to re-enter some markets like Boston on a small scale. They also converted some existing Finasts and that probably was the beginning of their using the name in the NY/NJ area. They used Edwards and Finast as their private label for quite a while, before switching to Finast. Edwards had been Pick-n-Pay's private label with products supplied by Topco. The Finast name was gradually phased into the Ohio stores over the 80s and early 90s, usually through remodelings or store replacement. The Finast name lived on mostly in Connecticut on the East Coast.
The Edwards name also was used for a price sensitive format on the East Coast around the same time. First National used this format to re-enter some markets like Boston on a small scale. They also converted some existing Finasts and that probably was the beginning of their using the name in the NY/NJ area. They used Edwards and Finast as their private label for quite a while, before switching to Finast. Edwards had been Pick-n-Pay's private label with products supplied by Topco. The Finast name was gradually phased into the Ohio stores over the 80s and early 90s, usually through remodelings or store replacement. The Finast name lived on mostly in Connecticut on the East Coast.
Re: Finast/ First National (the Pick N Pay, Pre-Ahold years)
Hi, Yes I knew about Edwards history and you are correct that for what ever reasom First Nationals strongest Market was in Connecticut and in Westchester County NY. I
think the problem was that Finast never could figure out what they did so well in that area and so bad in New Jersey and New York City.
But then again a lot of companies in New Jersey have came and went , from Stop @ Shop the first time in the 70!s, to Food Fair , Grand Union and Mayfair Foodtown. It has always been a tough place to do business.
By the way Finast had two main line private labels across the store, Finast and Richmond. Their pot pies when I were a Kid were great.
Gerry
think the problem was that Finast never could figure out what they did so well in that area and so bad in New Jersey and New York City.
But then again a lot of companies in New Jersey have came and went , from Stop @ Shop the first time in the 70!s, to Food Fair , Grand Union and Mayfair Foodtown. It has always been a tough place to do business.
By the way Finast had two main line private labels across the store, Finast and Richmond. Their pot pies when I were a Kid were great.
Gerry