Ann Arbor, MI chain grocery/supermarket history
Posted: 09 Jul 2018 13:33
It recently occurred to me that even though Groceteria has a multitude of Michigan regulars on the forum, the Great Lake State is completely devoid of representation on the map. That didn't seem right, so I decided to do something about it: Ann Arbor, MI chain grocery locations 1925-1960. I also included Ypsilanti locations in my research; even though the Ypsi directories cut off after 1940, not leaving a lot to go on.
Ann Arbor is a city with a fair amount of personal significance to me. It's a university city, and one that has a fair amount in common with Madison, Wisconsin. It's less than half the size of Madison, however, and the list for Ann Arbor is both shorter and more dominated by inter-regional chains.
What is there to say about the history of supermarkets in this city? A&P and Kroger both exploded in the late 1920s, with A&P going from one Ann Arbor store to five and Kroger leaping from none to seven! Pierce's, their closest local multi-store competitor, petered out in the 1940s.
The local Wrigley's powerhouse entered Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti in 1951 by purchasing an outfit called Packer's Outlet. Meanwhile, National made an aggressive push into Ann Arbor during the 1950s by opening two stores. I'm not sure how long they lasted there, and we know the story didn't end well.
One interesting peculiarity I discovered was that the "big three" chains of southeast michigan (A&P, Kroger, and Wrigley) performed virtually no store construction in Ann Arbor during the 1950s: The stores all three operated out of in 1960 were the exact same stores all three operated out of in 1951! No doubt they spent the 1960s entering shopping centres and playing catch-up...but alas, the directories end there.
Ann Arbor is a city with a fair amount of personal significance to me. It's a university city, and one that has a fair amount in common with Madison, Wisconsin. It's less than half the size of Madison, however, and the list for Ann Arbor is both shorter and more dominated by inter-regional chains.
What is there to say about the history of supermarkets in this city? A&P and Kroger both exploded in the late 1920s, with A&P going from one Ann Arbor store to five and Kroger leaping from none to seven! Pierce's, their closest local multi-store competitor, petered out in the 1940s.
The local Wrigley's powerhouse entered Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti in 1951 by purchasing an outfit called Packer's Outlet. Meanwhile, National made an aggressive push into Ann Arbor during the 1950s by opening two stores. I'm not sure how long they lasted there, and we know the story didn't end well.
One interesting peculiarity I discovered was that the "big three" chains of southeast michigan (A&P, Kroger, and Wrigley) performed virtually no store construction in Ann Arbor during the 1950s: The stores all three operated out of in 1960 were the exact same stores all three operated out of in 1951! No doubt they spent the 1960s entering shopping centres and playing catch-up...but alas, the directories end there.