About Albertsons

When Joe Albertson opened his first grocery store in Boise, Idaho, in 1939, he called it “Idaho’s largest and finest food store.” Joe was innovative.  He had one of the first magazine racks in the country. He offered his customers hot, buttered popcorn, roasted nuts, and double-dipped home-made ice cream cones, plus one of the first scratch bakeries. From the beginning, his philosophy was to “Give the customer the merchandise they want, at a price they can afford, complete with lots of tender, loving care.”

Today, in all of its stores from Arizona to Florida and with over 20,000 associates, Albertson’s LLC still practices this same philosophy. The organization has evolved from that corner store into a chain spanning several states, but its focus continues to be on the customer, and on becoming the favorite neighborhood food and drug retailer in every market where it does business.

It all started in 1939

The story of Albertson’s grocery stores goes back over 70 years, however. Even though Albertson’s LLC is only a few years old, our company is built on a legacy that reaches back to the roots of what we know today as a “modern grocery store.”

In 1929, Joe Albertson was a college student who had spent two years studying business when the Great Depression sent the country into a tailspin. Joe decided that he would leave school and enter the grocery business, holding onto the philosophy that in good times or in bad, people had to eat, so he figured a grocery store was a good business.

Joe spent ten years working his way up at Safeway, but he knew that ultimately, he would open his own store. In July 1939, he did just that.  With $5,000 of his own money and a $7,500 loan from his wife’s aunt, Albertsons Store 101, at 16th and State Streets in Boise, Idaho, opened with new services that customers hadn’t seen in a grocery store before.  He introduced things to shoppers like a scratch bakery, an automatic doughnut machine and one of the first magazine racks in the country. He also sold big, double dip ice cream cones, fresh popcorn and roasted nuts, which all became a hit with shoppers.

Joe’s idea about what made for a good grocery store quickly spread, and the following year he was able to open two more stores in neighboring Nampa and Caldwell, Idaho. It was only the beginning of a chain that, sixty years later, would have 1,000 Albertsons stores, as well as 1,500 other locations throughout the United States. In 2005, when the sale of Albertson’s Inc. was announced, a group of investors came together to form Albertson’s LLC, and in June 2006, the company officially acquired the stores in Arkansas, Arizona, Northern California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming, and Oklahoma.

In the years that Albertson’s LLC has operated stores, we have operated under Mr. Albertson’s same philosophy:  to give customers the products they want, at a fair price, with lots of care along the way. Our goal has never been to be the biggest, just the best.  It’s that simple.
 
Today, AB Acquisition LLC (“Albertsons”), which operates Acme, Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, Shaws & Star Market stores, is working to become the favorite food and drug retailer in every market it serves. The company is privately owned by Cerberus Capital Management, Kimco Realty Corporation, Klaff Realty, Lubert-Adler Partners, and Schottenstein Stores Corporation.  The company operates over 1,000 stores and 12 distribution centers in twenty nine states and employs approximately 109,000 associates. For more information, please visit www.AlbertsonsMarket.com.