Buffalo Chain Grocery/Supermarket Locations, 1925-2005

This is a list of all chain grocery locations my research has uncovered in Buffalo and its inner suburbs between 1925 and 2005, compiled from city directories, telephone books, and other sources. There may be some omissions due to incomplete or missing data, etc. and I welcome suggestions and corrections. Please read about my methodology for more information about what I do and do not include.

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Notes

• “Buffalo” covers Buffalo, Amherst, Lackawanna, Cheektowaga, Depew, and West Seneca. These municipalities (generally) maintain a common street numbering scheme so the addresses are sorted by street rather than municipality. Other suburbs have their own pages.
• In 1939, major portions of Elk Street, Abbott Road, and Triangle Street were incorporated into a extended South Park Avenue. I have attempted to align period addresses with the current number and street as closely as possible, but a few may be slightly off, particularly the former Triangle Street addresses.
• Danahy-Faxon and Nu-Way were under the same ownership (Nu-Way was Danahy-Faxon’s supermarket operation) and were purchased by American Stores in 1946. In 1961, the stores were rebranded as Acme.
• The Flickinger stores led to the Red & White co-op/franchise and later to Super Duper stores. In 1942, the Red & White stores were listed under their individual owners and therefore could not be identified for inclusion in this list.
• Loblaws also owned the Star Food and Bells chains in the 1960s and 1970s; the Bells banner replaced Loblaws in 1975. Loblaws also seems to have owned the Food Arena stores but I have not confirmed this.
• Tops Friendly Markets would arrive in about 1961 after starting out in Niagara Falls and also owned the B-Kwik stores.
• Michael Rizzo’s The Glory Days of Buffalo Shopping is an excellent resource on all aspects of retail history in Buffalo.

Store tags

• A&P
• Acme
• Bells
• Danahy-Faxon/Nu-Way/Thrift
• Federal
• IGA
• Loblaws/Star
• Mohican
• Red & White/Super Duper
• Tops/B-Kwik