Colonial Stores

Colonial Stores was a chain 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.

The 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 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]

In 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]

The 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]

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