Smith's Food and Drug
 |
|
| Smith's | |
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Formerly called
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Smith and Son's Market Smith's Super Market |
| Supermarket | |
| Fate | Acquired by Kroger |
| Founded | 1911 in Brigham City, Utah |
| Founder | Lorenzo G. Smith |
| Headquarters | Salt Lake City, Utah, United States |
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Number of locations
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132 (2013) |
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Areas served
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Southwest, Northwest, Tennessee |
| Parent | Kroger |
| Divisions | Smith's Marketplace |
| Website | smithsfoodanddrug |
Smith's Food & Drug Centers, Inc. was founded in 1911 in Brigham City, Utah, United States by Lorenzo J. Smith. Now a subsidiary of The Kroger Company, it is a prominent regional supermarket chain operating in the Southwest, Northwest, and Tennessee. After completing a merger with Portland-based Fred Meyer in 1997, Fred Meyer was in turn acquired by Cincinnati-based Kroger in 1999, making Kroger the largest supermarket chain in the United States. Smith's headquarters are in Salt Lake City.
Smith's began in 1911 when Lorenzo J. "Ren" Smith opened a small dry goods store in Brigham City, Utah. It was replaced with a larger store across the street in 1922, and renamed "Smith & Son's Market" in 1932. When his son Dee Glen Smith joined the business after serving in World War II, he began immediately expanding it.
The company's growth ramped up significantly from 1946 onward. It changed its name to Smith's Super Markets in 1952. When Dee Smith took over as president upon his father's death in 1958, he discovered Brigham City was saturated, and felt the only option was to expand to other markets. Through partnerships and acquisitions Dee Smith built the company, until his death at age 58 in 1984. Later, Dee's son Jeff Smith became Chairman and CEO of Smith's. In 1989 the company completed its initial public offering and shares of the company started trading on the .
In Idaho in 1989, Smith's exited the once successful Boise, Idaho market after the Boise City Council refused approval for Smith's to open a large store in the city. Smith's attempted to re-enter the Boise market in 1996. However, numerous delays and the 1999 Kroger-Fred Meyer merger forced Smith's to halt construction on its sixth planned location indefinitely. In the early 1990s, Smith's attempted a major expansion into the Southern California market which was completely unsuccessful and resulted in Smith's accumulating nearly $500 million in debt.
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Wikipedia