Columbus is a fascinating area to study, having hosted numerous regional (it was the home of Big Bear Stores) and national (A&P, Kroger) chains, and also being the only large city in Ohio that has experienced consistent growth over the past century.
In this section:
Additional material:
- Miscellaneous articles on Kroger in Columbus (1907-1997)
- Big Bear’s “Store of Tomorrow” (1960)
- The supermarket and its contribution to modern marketing (1962 speech by president of Big Bear Stores)
- Big Bear Stores history traced (1963)
- Big Bear Supermarkets history (2001)
Rich
June 25, 2019 at 11:47amPretty gassy self-promotion by Big Bear. No mention that they lifted the name from the pioneering Big Bear in Elizabeth, NJ (huge store in an old factory) and that their competitor Albers introduced the term super market, as well as pioneering the concept in the Midwest.Kroger entered a lot of places by buying out Piggly Wiggly operators. They did this in Cleveland and Atlanta among other places.