Last updated on 22 June 2025.
This section includes historical material on some national and regional chains in the US and Canada including a few individual history pages on various chains around the country that have some historical interest and on which I’ve done some research.
Important notes and caveats
- I am not maintaining most of the chain histories at this point and they are here for general reference only. Most of my work is focused on the location lists presented here, although I do try to add (or link) interesting information resources in this section as I find them.
- This is not a list of every supermarket chain that’s ever existed in the US or Canada and it never will be.
- Some pages have more information than others. Again, it is not my goal to document every chain that has ever existed in the United States or Canada, and it and only includes chains on which I have done some research and have a specific interest or knowledge about.
- If your favorite is not included, I encourage you to read about my methodology and maybe even submit a history to be included here.
Elsewhere on the site
- A quick history of the supermarket
- Places and location lists (the bulk of the site)
In this section
- Brief Histories of a Few National Chains
- Brief Histories of a (Very) Few Regional Chains
- Almacs
- American Stores/ACME
- Alpha-Beta
- H.C. Bohack
- Cala Foods and Bell Markets
- Centromart
- Colonial Stores, Pender’s, and Big Star
- Food Lion, Bloom, and Bottom Dollar
- First National/Finast
- Giant Eagle
- Giant Food (Washington, DC)
- Grand Union
- Harris Teeter
- Littleman Stores
- Lucky Stores
- Mayfair Markets
- Metro
- Penn Fruit
- Purity Stores (California)
- QFI
- Raley’s and Bel-Air
- Ralphs Grocery Company
- Steinberg
- Thriftimart
- Vons
- Winn-Dixie