Rosauers Supermarkets
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1934, 83 years ago |
| Founder | J. Merton Rosauer (1914–1990) |
| Headquarters | Spokane, Washington, U.S. |
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Number of locations
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22 (in 2012) |
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Key people
|
Jeff Philipps (President, CEO) |
| Products | Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks, liquor |
|
Number of employees
|
2,100 (2011) |
| Parent | URM Stores |
| Divisions | Super 1 Foods Huckleberry's Natural Market |
| Website | rosauers.com |
Rosauers Supermarkets, Inc. is a regional chain of supermarkets in the western United States, based in Spokane, Washington. Founded in 1934 by J. Merton Rosauer, Rosauers was sold in 1984 to Spokane-based URM Stores, and it eventually grew to 22 stores under the Huckleberry's Natural Market, Rosauers, and Super 1 Foods brands. Its stores are located in , and Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon.
In 1934, 20-year-old J. Merton Rosauer (1914–1990) purchased a small grocery store in Spokane, Washington, after obtaining a $1,000 loan from his parents. His father, Joseph P. Rosauer (1888–1961), owned two grocery stores in Spokane on East Sprague and in Parkwater, where Merton and younger brother Roswell worked. By 1938, Mert Rosauer sold his first store and invested in another grocery store. After selling off his second store, Rosauer opened his and Spokane's first supermarket in 1949.
In 1984, prior to retiring, Rosauer sold the company to URM Stores, a grocery supplier based in Spokane. By June 1986, Rosauers was operating 25 stores in four U.S. states with about 1,500 employees.
In September 1989, the Board of Directors for URM Stores made the decision to sell off the Rosauers chain. URM Stores agreed to sell 15 of the 24 Rosauers stores through an employee stock ownership plan in February 1990.
On April 10, 1990, Spokane employees of Rosauers voted to accept amendments to their labor contracts that would allow the employee purchase of the company. With 425 of the 700 eligible employees voting, the final count was 377 for and 48 against the company's sale. The sale was completed on July 27, 1990, with the company's 1,250 employees receiving ownership of 15 supermarkets, one freestanding pharmacy, an ice cream plant, and the corporate office building.
In November 1993, Rosauers was assessed $50,450 in civil fines for violating federal child labor laws at eight of its Spokane-area stores. Rosauers president Larry Geller said most of the violations involved one or two hours over the 18-hour weekly limit set for employees under age 16.
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Wikipedia