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Colonial StoresColonial Stores was a chain of grocery stores once found throughout much of the South. Most were transformed to Big Star Markets in the 1970s and later most became Harris Teeter or A&P.
HistoryDavid Pender Grocery CompanyThe chain evolved from Norfolk, Virginia's D. P. Pender Grocery Stores, the first of which opened in 1900.[1][2][3] In its early years the company used horse drawn wagons to deliver goods to customers.[1] In 1919 Pender opened a second grocery store in Norfolk, later expanding to more locations in Central and Eastern Virginia.[1] Pender retired on January 1, 1926, making the David Pender Grocery Company a publicly owned corporation which later became a subsidiary of National Food Products Corporation.[1] By Pender's retirement the company owned 244 stores and employed more than 1,500 people.[1][2] In 1930 the company made an average of $35,000 in sales per store.[3] L. W. Rogers Grocery CompanyL. W. Rogers opened the first of his grocery stores in Atlanta, Georgia in 1892.[1] In the next twenty years the company expanded to other locations in Georgia and South Carolina.[1] By 1926 Rogers' company was owned by National Food Products Corporation.[1] Colonial StoresIn 1937 National Food Products opened two combined Pender-Rogers self-service supermarkets, under the name "Big Star", in Griffin, Georgia and Greensboro, North Carolina.[1][2] Subsequently some smaller stores were also opened under the name "Little Star".[1][2] In 1940 the chains were officially combined under the name Colonial Stores, Inc.[1][2] In 1947 the company introduced its rooster logo. In 1950 the company made $179 million in total sales, an average of $488,637 per store.[3] In 1955 the Cincinnati-based Albers Super Markets and the Indianapolis-based Stop and Shop Companies were acquired by National Food Products and put under the Colonial Stores label.[1][4] In the 1970s most of the stores were moved to the Big Star label.[1] In 1978 the New Jersey–based Grand Union purchased the Colonial Stores chain.[5] This move was initially blocked by the Federal Trade Commission out of fear Grand Union would be violating anti-trust laws.[6] This was later dismissed and the purchase was allowed to go ahead.[7] The Norfolk stores were closed in the 1980s, and many were purchased by the Food Town chain.[1] In 1988 the stores owned by Grand Union were resold.[2] The North Carolina and Virginia stores were acquired by Harris-Teeter, and the Atlanta stores were acquired by A&P.[1][2] LocationsThe company at its peak owned over 500 stores across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.[1] The company had 435 stores by 1964.[8] Its headquarters were located in Atlanta in 1955.[9] References
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