Tom Thumb (grocery store)
| Grocer, Subsidiary of Albertsons | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Headquarters | Roanoke, Texas |
| Products | Bakery, dairy, delicatessen, frozen foods, grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks, liquor |
| Parent | Albertsons |
| Website | tomthumb.com |
Tom Thumb is a chain of supermarkets in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. It operate under the names Tom Thumb—traditional grocery stores; Flagship Tom Thumb—high end stores, usually in affluent areas. It makes up part of the Southern division of Albertsons. It is (as of May 2015) the number two supermarket in the competitive Dallas/Fort Worth area (in terms of market share) behind Walmart, but only when combined with sister stores Albertsons and Market Street.
The chain's distribution center is in Roanoke, Texas.
Tom Thumb was founded in 1948 by J.R. Bost and Robert B. Cullum as Tom Thumb Food Stores after acquiring 6 Toro supermarkets (Cullum was grocery supplier to Toro when Toro folded and the owner fled the country). It was once a publicly traded company on the NYSE under the name Cullum Companies. By 1956 it had grown to 20 stores. They bought 34 Hinky Dinky stores in the Midwest, 17 Pantry Food Markets in California, as well as Page Drug Stores (Tom Thumb added the "Page" to their store names after the acquisition). The freestanding Page stores were later sold to Eckerd. They also bought the gourmet specialty Simon David stores in 1963.
Tom Thumb expanded its reach to Austin, Texas, in 1972 when the grocer entered that market.
Tom Thumb partnered with Wal-Mart in 1987 to create Hypermart USA stores, but the initial lack of success led them to drop out in 1991. There were several locations including Garland, Texas, and Arlington, Texas. They were the early prototype for the current Walmart Supercenter concept, though they were much larger than today's Supercenters.
In January 1989, Cullum Companies sold six of its Tom Thumb stores in Austin to Albertsons.
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