Ingles Markets, Inc. (stylized as ingles) is an American
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...
chain based in
Black Mountain, North Carolina
Black Mountain is a town in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 7,848 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is named for the old train stop at the Black Mountain Depot ...
.
As of September 2021, the company operates 198 supermarkets in the
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...
. The company is listed on the
NASDAQ
The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...
under the ticker symbol IMKTA and is part of the Global Select Market tier of trading.
As an adjunct to its supermarket business, Ingles owns and operates
shopping center
A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof.
The first known collec ...
s,
gas station
A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel.
Gasoline ...
s and a milk processing plant.
History
The first Ingles store was opened by second-generation grocer Robert P. Ingle in 1963 and located in
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...
.
Ingle had worked in his father's store since he was five years old and was unable to convince his father to build a large store. The younger Ingle had a vision of 4000 square feet. When Elmer Ingle died in the 1950s, Robert Ingle sold the store because his mother could not run it. Seven years later at age 29 Ingle decided to build a new 10,000-square-foot store. He would have to compete with larger chains and with independent stores that used cooperative distributors.
To start his business, Ingle joined with his mother and sister, and they used all of their savings and a mortgage on the house. The first store opened on Hendersonville Road. In one year, that store was expanded, and in another year, a second location opened on Patton Avenue. Ingles was incorporated in 1965 in the state of North Carolina.
In 1967 the company bought six Colonial supermarkets.
[
In 1982, Ingles purchased a milk processing plant from ]Sealtest
Sealtest Dairy is a Good Humor-Breyers brand for dairy products. Formerly a division of National Dairy Products Corporation (precursor to Kraft Foods) of Delaware, it produced milk, cream, ice cream, and lemonade. The Sealtest brand was also late ...
, which it operates as Milkco Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary. Two-thirds of Milkco's business, which was later expanded beyond dairy to include products such as citrus, tea, and bottled water
Bottled water is drinking water (e.g., well water, distilled water, mineral water, or spring water) packaged in plastic or glass water bottles. Bottled water may be carbonated or not. Sizes range from small single serving bottles to large car ...
, is from food service distributors, grocery warehouses, and independent specialty retailers located in 17 states as of 2010. Ingles became a publicly traded company in 1987.
In the 2000s, the chain started building "Ingles Gas Express" gas stations with many of its newer stores.
In February 2005, Ingles Markets announced it would restate financial statements for fiscal years 2002 and 2003 and the first three quarters of 2004, to correct the accounting for vendor allowances and certain other items. The restatement was a significant factor in
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
(SEC) issuing a Wells notice
A Wells notice is a letter that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sends to people or firms at the conclusion of an SEC investigation that states the SEC is planning to bring an enforcement action against them. The notice informs t ...
to the firm in January 2006, indicating that it might bring enforcement action against it. A settlement was reached with the SEC in April 2006 that did not require payment of a monetary penalty.
Following the death of Robert Ingle on March 6, 2011, his son Robert P. Ingle II became CEO.
In December 2012 and December 2013, the company collaborated with Eblen Charities' St. Nicholas Project on what they called "Ingles Toy Store," offering "toys, games, clothes and stocking stuffer
A Christmas stocking is an empty sock or sock-shaped bag that is hung on Saint Nicholas Day or Christmas Eve so that Saint Nicholas (or the related figures of Santa Claus and Father Christmas) can fill it with small toys, candy, fruit, coins or ot ...
s" to needy North Carolina families.
In July 2021, Ingles has collaborated with Creating A Family.
Operations
Ingles owns 163 of its 198 supermarkets either as free-standing locations or in shopping centers where it is the anchor tenant. The remaining 36 locations are leased from various unaffiliated third parties. The company also owns 23 undeveloped sites which are suitable for a free-standing store or shopping center development. The company owns numerous outparcels and other acreage located adjacent to the shopping centers and supermarkets it owns. Real estate owned by the Company is generally located in the same geographic regions as its supermarkets. Ingles also operates 111 pharmacies and 107 gas stations at select retail locations. As of 2021, Ingles had a workforce of approximately 26,000 associates.
Ingles also owns and operates nine supermarkets under the name Sav-Mor, with the other 189 locations being Ingles Markets. The Sav-Mor store concept accommodates smaller shopping areas and carries dry groceries, dairy, fresh meat and produce, all of which are displayed in a modern, readily accessible environment.
Substantially all of Ingles' stores are located within of its warehouse and distribution facilities, near Asheville, North Carolina. The Company operates 1.65 million square feet of warehouse and distribution facilities. These facilities supply the company’s supermarkets with approximately 62% of the goods the company sells. The remaining 38% is purchased from third parties and is generally delivered directly to the stores. The close proximity of the company’s purchasing and distribution operations to its stores facilitates the timely distribution of consistently high quality perishable and non-perishable items.
The company owns a 1,649,000 square foot facility, which is strategically located between Interstate 40 and Highway 70 near Asheville, North Carolina, as well as the 119 acres
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ya ...
of land on which it is situated. The facility includes the company’s headquarters and its warehouse and distribution facility. The property also includes truck servicing and fuel storage facilities. The company also owns a 139,000 square foot warehouse on 21 acres of land approximately one mile from its main warehouse and distribution facility. Goods from the warehouse and distribution facilities and the milk processing and packaging plant are distributed to the company’s stores by a fleet of 193 tractors
A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...
and 751 trailers that the company owns, operates and maintains.
Locations
Ingles operates 197 stores in six southeastern states:
*Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
: 1
*Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
: 65
*North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
: 75
*South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
: 35
*Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
: 21
*Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
: 1
Private label brands
Ingles sells products with the ''Laura Lynn'' brand, named for Ingle's daughter Laura Lynn, now Laura Ingle Sharp. She worked in advertising for the chain starting in the 1970s and has been a member of the board of directors since 1997. The chain sells natural
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...
and organic
Organic may refer to:
* Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity
* Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ
Chemistry
* Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...
products under the ''Harvest Farms'' label. A few other products are sold with the ''Ingles Best'' label.
Competition
Local and regional competitors include Food City, Food Lion
Food Lion is an American regional grocery store chain headquartered in Salisbury, North Carolina, that operates over 1100 supermarkets in 10 states of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States (Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North ...
, Harris Teeter
Harris Teeter Supermarkets, Inc., also known as Harris Teeter Neighborhood Food & Pharmacy, is an American supermarket chain based in Matthews, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte. , the chain operates 261 stores in seven South Atlantic states ...
, Harveys, Target
Target may refer to:
Physical items
* Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports
** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports
** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...
, Aldi
Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...
, Lidl
Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...
, Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
, Kroger
The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.
Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincin ...
, Lowes Foods
Lowes Foods is an American supermarket chain based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The chain initially grew in the mountains of North Carolina and rural areas of Virginia, but, starting in the late 1990s, it expanded in metropolitan areas of ...
, Publix
Publix Super Markets, Inc., commonly known as Publix, is an employee-owned American supermarket chain headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, Publix is a private corporation that is wholly owned by present and ...
, and United Grocery Outlet
United Grocery Outlet, also branded as Bargain Barn Inc. and GO: Grocery Outlet, is a regional discount supermarket chain based in Athens, Tennessee. In addition to its 24 locations in Tennessee, UGO has 9 locations in Western North Carolina, 3 ...
.
References
External Links
Official website
{{Supermarkets of the United States
Companies based in Asheville, North Carolina
Retail companies established in 1963
Supermarkets of the United States
Economy of the Southeastern United States
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
1963 establishments in North Carolina