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Kroger's legacy banners - Historical operations

Posted: 01 Nov 2007 12:40
by luckysaver
According to the latest 10K report from Kroger, in Exhibit 21 (complete list of subsidiaries), the subsidiary "Kroger Company of Michigan" has these legacy banners:

- Apple Orchard Food Market
- World of Videos Movies and Munchies
- Kessel Pharmacies
- Bi-Lo Discount Foods

Did these banners originate from an earlier buyout of another company since Kroger no longer operates these banners?

Similarly, Kroger Limited Partnership 1 has Foods Plus and Ruler's Discount Foods, which originated from Kroger's acquisition of Jay-C. All stores under these banners were converted to Jay-C.

I posted a list of Ralphs subsidiaries in the California section, which lists the legacy banners Crawfords and Hughes.

Fred Meyer at one time owned Merksamer Jewelers during the Kroger era.

luckysaver

Posted: 01 Nov 2007 17:34
by Toby Radloff
At least in Northeast Ohio, Kroger operated "Bi-Lo" stores, some in former Kroger locations, from roughly 1976 to 1985, when Kroger closed all of their NE OH operations. Bi-Lo was one of the first "no-frills" limited assortment stores, and was no-frills to the extreme, since the stores did not carry meats, dairy products, frozen foods, produce, or other perishables. All Bi-Lo carried were canned and boxed goods, mostly Kroger or Cost Cutter brand. Kroger must have operated Bi-Lo stores in Michigan as well, since it is listed as a "Kroger Company Of Michigan" brand per the above post. A similar Kroger operation was "Barney's Food And Drug Warehouse", which was also a no-frills operation, but unlike Bi-Lo, Barney's carried pretty much everything a full service Kroger store would carry, including meats and other perishables. Barney's lasted until 1985 as well, but whether Kroger took Barney's to other markets I don't know offhand.

Posted: 01 Nov 2007 20:38
by krogerclerk
I believe in Canton or Youngstown, LoBi was used by Kroger on its no-frills store. It was possibly to distinguish them from the Penn Traffic BiLo's which most likely advertised on radio and TV stations which also covered the region of Ohio bordering Pennsylvania.

Some other Kroger banners from the past:
Wyatt's-Dallas, Texas in the 50', Kroger rebannering completed by the mid-60's.
M&M-Savannah, Ga. a recent ex-banner c.1984-1991. Rebannering was partly reaction to the first Publix outside Florida opening in Savannah, as well as integration into the Atlanta division.
Great Scott!-Detroit, last banner of the once dominant Wrigley's/Allied chain, evidently Kroger has chosen not to use the banner as a subsidiary operation to keep the banner exclusive.
Market Basket-Southern California chain acquired in 1962 and sold off to various Southern California grocers in 1982 prior to Dillon merger. Ralphs and Smith's Food King were two of the largest buyers, and now part of Kroger since the 1999 Fred Meyer merger. Also, Ralphs has rights to the Alpha Beta banner as a result of the American Stores divesture of the chain which eventually ended up under Yucaipa with Ralphs. Ocassionally Market Basket brand eggs show up in Kroger here in the Atlanta area.

Posted: 02 Nov 2007 12:06
by luckysaver
There's already a post on Ralphs, but I did forget about Kroger owning Market Basket in SoCal.

Also, don't forget the standalone drugstores that are now legacy banners:
- SuperRx/Hooks

Krogerclerk, did Gene Maddy Drugs have other locations and how long has Kroger owned GMD? There is only one location listed in Google but their logo showed up on a Ralphs Pharmacy handout (the one stapled to your pharmacy paper bag when you pick up your prescription). Since GMD is part of the Midwest region, it is possible that it may be a unit of the Dillon Companies Inc subsidiary?

luckysaver

Posted: 02 Nov 2007 18:55
by rich
Kessell was a chain that operated super markets and, ironically, bought some stores from Kroger when they retrenched in Michigan.

Kroger bought the Henke & Pilot chain in Texas (I think Houston) in the late 50s/early 60s and used both the "Henke's" and "Kroger" banners for quite a long time afterward.

Market Basket evolved as Kroger's cheaper brand for dairy and egg products, along with Springdale (a Cincinnati suburb where they had a warehouse). I forgot that the "Market Basket" brand endured after the chain.

Posted: 03 Nov 2007 11:16
by krogerclerk
luckysaver wrote:There's already a post on Ralphs, but I did forget about Kroger owning Market Basket in SoCal.

Also, don't forget the standalone drugstores that are now legacy banners:
- SuperRx/Hooks

Krogerclerk, did Gene Maddy Drugs have other locations and how long has Kroger owned GMD? There is only one location listed in Google but their logo showed up on a Ralphs Pharmacy handout (the one stapled to your pharmacy paper bag when you pick up your prescription). Since GMD is part of the Midwest region, it is possible that it may be a unit of the Dillon Companies Inc subsidiary?

luckysaver
The address of Gene Maddy Drugs is 3050 Meridian Avenue, Anderson,IN which corresponds to the address of one of the PayLess Supermarkets which Kroger acquired late in 1999. The Kroger web site does not list Gene Maddy Drugs. PayLess was family owned with stores in the LaFayette and Anderson, IN area until being sold to Kroger. It's likely the pharmacy inside the PayLess is operated by a former independent drugstore, Gene Maddy Drugs, an arrangement that would pre-date Kroger ownership. It was not unusual for pharmacies to be operated in partnership with a supermarket in the earlier days and the arrangement hascontinued with many independents and small regionals into the present. Albertson's partnered with Skaggs Drugs to build Skaggs Albertson's combo food-drug stores in the late 60's/early 70's. Kroger started SupeRx in the early 60's and acquired several drug chains over the years including Hook, and acquired Louisville, KY distributor Peyton's to service the drugstore operations as well as general merchandise for Kroger stores. PayLess is part of the Central KMA of Indianapolis, the Dillon stores are primarily the supermarkets Dillon's, Gerbes, King Soopers, City Market , and Fry's and the convenience store chains. The Dillon supermarkets were primarily in the Plains, Rockies, and Southwest.

Re: Kroger's legacy banners - Historical operations

Posted: 18 Dec 2016 19:51
by Groceteria
Always good to reopen a nine-year-old thread.

Kroger also operated a few Bi-Lo stores in the Dallas area in the late 1960s/early 1970s. My guess is that they started using the banner at about the same time they rebranded the Wyatt's stores. They even managed to attract a "predaory pricing" lawsuit:

https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2 ... -bilo-inc/

The two stores that had the banner in 1970 were operating as Kroger stores by 1975.