Giant Food of Landover, Maryland
 |
|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1936 (as Giant Food Shopping Center Inc.) |
| Headquarters |
8301 Professional Place, Suite 115 Landover, Maryland, U.S. |
|
Key people
|
Gordon Reid, President |
| Products | Supermarket Pharmacy |
|
Number of employees
|
22,000 |
| Parent |
Ahold (1998–2015) Ahold Delhaize (2015–present) |
| Website | giantfood |
Giant Food of Maryland, LLC, also known as Giant, is an American supermarket chain with 169 stores and 159 full service pharmacies located in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. It is headquartered in an unincorporated area of Prince George's County, Maryland, in Landover.
Giant is often known as Giant-Landover to avoid confusion with sibling company Giant-Carlisle.
Giant was founded in 1936 by Nehemiah Meir "N.M." Cohen and Samuel Lehrman. The first store was at Georgia Avenue NW and Park Road NW in the District of Columbia.
The chain experienced rapid growth following World War II, growing from nine stores in 1946 to 17 in 1950. Co-founder Samuel Lehrman died aged 70 while wintering in Miami Beach, Florida in January 1949.
Between 1950 and 1952, Giant added five new stores, joining in the general expansion of the American economy. At this time, the shopping center concept was taking hold in America and Giant put a new store in the Congressional Plaza Shopping Center in Rockville, Maryland.
In 1955 the chain opened its first store in Baltimore. By this time 48 percent of all its stores were located in shopping centers. In 1958, riding a new merchandising trend of combination supermarket/department stores, Giant opened its first Super Giant store and within a year had opened eight more. Also in 1958, the company opened its new headquarters and distribution center on a 40-acre site in Landover, Maryland.
In 1957 Giant Food Shopping Center Inc. became Giant Food Inc., and fiscal 1958 saw sales of more than $100 million. In 1959 the company, with 53 stores (including nine Super Giant stores) went public.
During this time Giant computerized its inventory data, customer information, and payroll and bookkeeping operations. Customer service features added in the 1950s included self-opening doors, mechanized checkouts, and open display cases to make meats and frozen food directly accessible to the customer.
In the 1950s, Giant initiated a scholarship program to encourage students to pursue food management careers. Two of the first five recipients later became senior vice-presidents at Giant.
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Wikipedia