| 1935 - |
Richfood, a Virginia-based cooperative wholesaler known as Richmond Food Stores,
was formed and managed by its retailer members.
The goal of the company was to ensure the survival of the small independent stores
that were beginning to feel the pressures of competition from large supermarket chains.
The supermarket concept--with its emphasis on service, name brands, and deep discounts
had gradually taken hold since the 1920s and was becoming the standard form of retailing
even in rural areas. Unfortunately, at Richfood there was little need for accountability.
Patronage rebates and guaranteed price controls on stock were the chief indices by which the
company and its members operated, and even thrived, for decades.
Richfood's mission, according to Seth Lubove, "was simple: buy groceries from manufacturers,
take a standard markup to cover costs and move the goods on to the retail grocers whenever they
wanted them, and damn the costs."
Over the next several decades this cooperative system showed signs of failing.
Its members began to realize that other, more efficient wholesalers provided better services,
including capital loans which were necessary for expansion and renewed vitality.
Fleming Foods of Virginia, a subsidiary of Fleming (which, through acquisition, was fast becoming
the nation's largest wholesaler) was one company that contrasted sharply with Richfood.
Asset rich and profit oriented, Fleming Foods was supported by a public company capable of
offering its customers several advantages over the competition.
|
| 1955 - |
Richfood introduced its private-label brand.
|
| 1966 - |
|
Richmond Food Stores embarked on a major expansion plan by
acquiring 300 acres of land just north of Richmond, in Hanover
County. Within four years, the company was operating out of its
brand-new, $7.5 million facility. |
|
 |
|
| 1973 - |
The company bought another 104 acres in Hanover County and enlarged its modern
distribution center.
The Universal Product Code (UPC) - the postage stamp sized
symbol printed on packaged goods - was introduced. The
brainchild of a consulting firm hired by a committee of
grocery industry executives, it employed unique all-numeric
codes to identify manufacturers and products for point-of-sale
use. The first commercial scan was taken in 1974 at a
supermarket in Troy, Ohio.
|
| 1974 - |
| Richmond Food Stores, Inc. officially changed its name to
Richfood, Inc. to boost recognition of its private-label
products and reflect the company's expanding geographic reach.
The company was supplying retailers in Virginia, North Carolina,
West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia. |
|
 |
|
| 1980 - |
| Richfood introduced a line of products under its new ECON
label to help its members contend more effectively with
competition from "no-frills" grocery stores and generic
products. The company's ECON line was comprised of over
250 different items. |
|
 |
|
| 1987 - |
In July, Richfood Holdings was organized as the successor to the
Richfood wholesale grocery company.
|
| 1988 - |
| Richfood, whose annual sales had passed the $1 billion mark,
made industry and corporate history by becoming the first
cooperative in the nation to convert directly to a publicly
held corporation. The company's newly issued common shares were
traded on NASDAQ under the symbol RCHFA. |
|
 |
|
| 1990 - |
| Richfood secures a new managment team and a new corporate
mission - to be the industry's lowest-cost provider and to
offer its customers support services that are unmatched in
scope. Under the new leadership, Richfood disposes of
underperforming assets, closes or consolidates excess
warehouse and office facilities and reduces other operating,
administrative and interest expenses. |
|
 |
|
| 1991 - |
| Richfood entered a new era of growth by acquiring the
Waynesboro, Virginia, division of Fleming Companies, Inc. and
becoming a licensed wholesaler of the Independant Grocers
Alliance (IGA), the largest and most successful association of
independant grocers in the United States. Richfood was soon
offering its customers more than 500 products that bear the
familiar IGA label. |
|
 |
|
| 1993 - |
Richfood purchased the Civilian Wholesale Division of B. Green
& Company, Inc., in Baltimore, Maryland. The acquisition added
substantial volume to the existing sales base in the northern
portion of Richfood's operating area.
|
| 1994 - |
| | Richfood acquired Rotelle, Inc., one of the largest wholesale
frozen food distributors in the United States. Rotelle,
headquartered in West Point, Pennsylvania, operateed a highly
automated distribution facility and had annual revenues of
approximately $340 million. |
|
 |
|
| 1995 - |
| Richfood entered into a "strategic alliance" with Norfolk-based
Camellia Food Stores, Inc. Under the agreement, Richfood
purchased Camellia's wholesale inventory, transportation fleet
and fluid dairy and began providing Camellia Food Stores and
many of its customers with procurement, distribution and
transportation services under long-term contracts. |
|
 |
Richfood acquired Super Rite Corporation, a full service
grocery wholesaler with $1.47 billion in net sales, located in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Super Rite also operated a retail
grocery division, which consisted of the METRO/BASICS supermarkets
in metropolitan Baltimore, Maryland. The acquisition doubled
the size of Richfood, making it the fourth largest wholesale
food distributor in the U. S.
|
| 1996 - |
Richfood acquired substantially all of the assets of
Norristown Wholesale, Inc., a wholesale distributor of produce
and other perishable food items. Norristown Wholesale,
headquartered near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, supplied a full
range of fresh produce, fruits and vegetables to over 400
retail supermarkets in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New
Jersey and Virginia.
|
| 1997 - |
Virginia-based Farm Fresh chain was acquired by Richfood Holdings
|
| 1998 - |
Washington D.C.-based Shoppers Food Warehouse and The Dart Group
were acquired by Richfood Holdings.
|
| 1999 - |
Richfood Holdings Inc, announced it will lose a $600 million annual
contract with its largest customer, the Pennsylvania chain known as
Giant Food of Carlisle.
Richfood merged with SUPERVALU. In what both companies
described at the time of the merger as "a powerful
combination," the acquisition consolidated Richfood, the
premier regional food distributor, into SUPERVALU's national
network, and, significantly, brought to SUPERVALU a major food
retailing presence in the Mid-Atlantic with nearly $1.8
billion in retail food sales.
The acquisition increased
SUPERVALU's geographic reach as the nation's leading food
distributor to supermarkets across America. |
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