Not many supermarket companies have a history that can be traced
for more than 100 years. Ralphs Grocery Company is one of the few,
and, in fact, is currently celebrating 125 years of continuous operation
in Southern California. The history of Ralphs is interesting and extraordinary.
It is a classic American success story -- a story of overwhelming
success based on a commitment to quality, service and innovation.
Ralphs Grocery Company began by accident -- a hunting accident which
shattered the left arm of 22-year-old San Bernardino County bricklayer
George Albert Ralphs and forced him to find a new occupation as an
apprentice grocery clerk in Los Angeles. It was a career change that
led to many vital changes in the grocery industry.
George Ralphs got his start in the grocery business in 1872 working
in a small store in downtown Los Angeles. Within a year, he had saved
enough money to buy his own grocery store. Two years later George
summoned his brother Walter, who joined him in a partnership to form
Ralphs Bros. Grocers.
It was a modest beginning. George Ralphs' first store was a 112-foot
by 65-foot neighborhood market at the corner of Sixth and Spring Streets
at what was then the edge of downtown Los Angeles.
Energetic and ambitious, George Ralphs founded his business with
two philosophies in mind - to provide value-priced, top quality products
to his customers and to give them the customer-comes-first service
they deserved. As the city of Los Angeles grew, so did Ralphs - building
its reputation for providing quality goods at competitive prices.
Today, Ralphs Grocery Company is one of the western United States'
leading supermarket companies with more than 340 modern service-oriented
stores serving quality and cost-conscious consumers throughout southern
California.
Ralphs has long been famous for its innovations. One of the first
was a new approach to the traditional handling of fresh produce. To
solicit business in the company's early days, the Ralphs brothers
provided lodging for farmers and stabling for their horses when they
traveled to Los Angeles to sell their crops. This attracted so many
enthusiastic sellers that Ralphs was able to buy entire crops at one
time. This was the beginning of two Ralphs traditions -- farm-fresh
produce and volume buying with the savings passed on to the customer.
In 1901, Ralphs moved to a new site at 514 South Spring Street after
selling its first store to permit construction of the Hayward Hotel.
During the next decade, the company prospered, and in 1909 was incorporated
as Ralphs Grocery Company.
With the westward shift of Los Angeles' population, Ralphs established
a branch store at Pico Boulevard and Normandie Avenue in 1911. Huge
for its day (15,000 square feet, including the basement), it had stables
for delivery wagon horses in the rear. Soon after, the third and fourth
stores in the Ralphs "chain" were opened at 35th Street
& Vermont Avenue and in Highland Park.
Expansion accelerated. As Los Angeles grew, other attractive Ralphs
stores were opened in modern, elaborate buildings featuring clerk
service and home delivery.
With expansion came innovations in merchandising. In fact, Ralphs
is considered one of the country's first chain store operations and
was a pioneer in establishing the "supermarket" as it is
known today. The "chain concept" offered great advantages
in volume buying. More stores meant sizeable savings through increased
volume buying. And true to its tradition, Ralphs passed these savings
on to the customer in the form of higher standards and lower prices.
By 1928, Ralphs had 10 stores - and another wild idea. By then, American
families were driving their own automobiles. "A car in every
garage" was the nation's dream, fast becoming a reality. The
company abandoned home delivery and instituted a cash-and-carry policy,
self service and ample free parking.
The same year saw another innovation. With bread prices rising, Ralphs
opened its own bakery to service its stores and keep prices down for
its customers. This was the company's first venture into food manufacturing,
which expanded again in 1932 with the opening of a creamery.
By 1936, the company had expanded to 25 supermarket-type units featuring
such "radical" departures as streamlined store designs,
unobstructed curved roofs, vast expanses of plate glass windows for
brighter, more pleasant shopping, wider aisles and bigger and better,
free parking lots. By the 1940s, Ralphs supermarkets featured self-service
in a number of departments including produce, delicatessen and dairy.
Ralphs was an early convert to computer technology and in 1953, made
headlines with the introduction of an electronic store billing system
at its new grocery warehouse in Glendale. The '50's also marked Ralphs'
expansion to the suburbs, as the Southland continued to grow and the
downtown area gave way to metropolitan development.
In 1974, the company pioneered another breakthrough as the first
supermarket chain west of the Mississippi River to equip its stores
with laser scanning checkout systems. The new electronic checkstand
scanners resulted in faster, more accurate pricing and more efficient
customer service. By 1980, all Ralphs stores had been converted to
the scanning system.
In the 1970s, Ralphs continued adding new consumer-conscious benefits
to its supermarket lineup, including unit pricing, freshness code
dating and "no frills" generic products. Many other consumer-oriented
programs were also instituted during this time, such as the opening
of the company's first in-store floral departments, fresh bakery products
without preservatives and super value meat packages that allowed shoppers
to purchase "family-size" packages of meat.
In 1978, Ralphs became one of the first grocery companies in the
nation to offer cost-conscious consumers an alternative to name-brand
products and price. The introduction of its "no frills"
generic line of Plain Wrap products was front page news in the Los
Angeles Times. Since the introduction of its initial line of 21 Plain
Wrap items, Ralphs has expanded its "private label" offering
to more than 3,500 items under the Ralphs, Private Selection, Perfect
Choice, Old Fashioned, Grocers Pride, Equality, Sunny Select, Van
de Kamp's, Buena Comida and Western Hearth labels.
Until 1968, Ralphs was one of the few large companies that remained
entirely family-owned. Early that year, Ralphs was acquired by Federated
Department Stores of Cincinnati, Ohio, and became an independent operating
subsidiary of that corporation. The company changed hands again in
1988 when FDS was acquired by the Canadian-based Campeau Corporation,
and again in 1992 with The Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation as majority
owner.
In June 1995, Ralphs was acquired by The Yucaipa Companies and merged
with Food 4 Less Supermarkets, capturing the #1 market share in Southern
California, the largest retail market in the U.S.
Ralphs Grocery Co. became a subsidiary of Portland, Oregon-based Fred
Meyer, Inc. in March 1998, helping establish it as one of the
5 largest food and drug retailers in the U.S. Operating as a separate
subsidiary of Fred Meyer, Inc., Ralphs continues to maintain its own
unique merchandising and customer service philosophies while also
realizing the many efficiencies of being part of a larger organization.
The company's future course has been chartered in a series of forward-looking
plans, which lay the foundation for Ralphs to continue its tradition
of service, quality and competitive pricing. Central to those plans
is the company's philosophy of continuously opening, improving and
upgrading its stores with service, merchandising and design enhancements.
From the very beginning, Ralphs has responded to the changing needs
of Southern California consumers.
Today, Ralphs continues to set the pace with the attractive, shopper-friendly
design of its newest supermarket prototypes, which emphasize attractive
food presentation, high-quality perishables, superior service and
value.
Under the direction of CEO George Golleher, the company presently
operates 320 conventional Ralphs and Hughes supermarkets and 80 warehouse
format Food 4 Less stores in Southern California. In addition, the
company also has 27 Cala Foods, Bell Markets and FoodsCo stores in
Northern California and 38 Falley's and Food 4 Less markets in the
Midwest.
The company's conventional-style Ralphs supermarkets are designed
for customers looking for quality, nutrition and price, have limited
time, desire a wide selection of items and who prefer shopping at
one location.
Efficiently laid-out to make shopping easy, the typical modern Ralphs
supermarket is 45,000 gross square feet in size and carries approximately
30,000 different items in such well-stocked departments as those dedicated
to dry groceries, frozen foods, wine and liquor, produce, meat, fish
and dairy products, along with a wide assortment of general merchandise,
and health and beauty aids. Most Ralphs conventional-style supermarkets
also feature richly appointed in-store bakeries, service delicatessens,
floral counters, and European-style service seafood departments.
Its Food 4 Less warehouse stores are larger, averaging more than
50,000 square feet, and designed to offer consumers a low-priced alternative
to the typical conventional supermarket. Most locations offer a service
deli/bakery. Many Food 4 Less stores are located in inner-city neighborhoods
and other under-served communities across Southern California.
All of the company's stores are supported by an extensive network
of modern warehousing, distribution and manufacturing facilities.
In March 1996, the company opened its Riverside Distribution Center
& Creamery, a sprawling 90-acre, state-of-the-art complex featuring
more than one million square feet of warehousing space for dry grocery,
dairy/deli and frozen food storage, and a creamery facility.
In Glendale, Ralphs operates a 450,000 square-foot dry goods warehouse
and a 10-story computerized storage center.
Ralphs' 200,000 square-foot Perishables Service Center (PSC) in its
Compton Central Facilities Complex is one of the most advanced warehousing
facilities of its kind. The PSC serves as the central distribution
center for the majority of perishable products sold at Ralphs and
Food 4 Less stores, including produce, floral, dairy, deli and meat
items.
Also within the Compton Central Facility is a Delicatessen Kitchen
and Creamery manufacturing plant serving up a large selection of milk,
cottage cheese, yogurt and award-winning ice cream products.
A large bakery facility in La Habra produces a wide variety of bakery
products for Ralphs and Food 4 Less stores.
Ralphs Grocery Company has come a long way from its modest beginnings
in 1873. And while the company is modern and dynamic, it still operates
on the same sound principles upon which George Albert Ralphs founded
it so many years ago - an unwavering commitment to customer service,
quality products and significant savings.
