Quality Food Centers, better known as QFC, is a

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

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area and has variously been characterized as a s ...

, with 62 stores in the

Puget Sound region The Puget Sound region is a coastal area of the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. state of Washington, including Puget Sound, the Puget Sound lowlands, and the surrounding region roughly west of the Cascade Range and east of the Olympic Mountains. ...

of the state of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

and in the

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, metropolitan area. QFC is a subsidiary of

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 ...

History

Jack Croco first started in the grocery business in

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown are ...

, in the 1940s, working for

Albertsons Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho. With 2,253 stores as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and 270,000 employees as of fiscal year 2019, the company is the second-large ...

Supermarkets. By 1950, he had become the district manager in the Northwest and was responsible for opening the first Albertson's stores in the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

area. Soon afterward in 1955, he opened his own grocery store in Bellevue which was called Lake Hills Thriftway. The grocery concern that would come to be named QFC in 1963 was founded in 1955 with the first store at 6600 Roosevelt Way Northeast by a group headed by Vern Fortin, the former president of

Van de Kamp's Holland Dutch Bakeries Van de Kamp's Holland Dutch Bakeries was a brand of breads and assorted pastry products, frozen fish entrees, and prepared dinners formerly owned by General Baking Established by one of the founders of both Los Angeles' iconic Tam O'Shanter Inn ...

and founder of Vernell's Fine Candies. Croco merged his store with QFC in 1960. He remained involved in the company until his death in 1991 at the age of 65, though in 1986 he sold QFC to Seattle investment firm Sloan, Adkins & Co. Sloan Adkins took QFC public in 1987.

Christopher A. Sinclair Christopher A. Sinclair (born September 5, 1950) is an American businessman. He is the chairman of Reckitt, the consumer health and household products company. He is the former chairman and CEO of Mattel, the toy company. Previously, he was chair ...

became the CEO in 1996. In 1997, QFC purchased the Uddenberg grocery company which operated Thriftway and Stock Market stores throughout western Washington. In late 1997, QFC was sold to

Fred Meyer Fred Meyer is an American chain of hypermarket superstores founded in 1922 in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Fred G. Meyer. The stores are found in the northwest U.S., within the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska. The company merged w ...

, and a year and a half later in May 1998 Kroger acquired Fred Meyer and QFC. The Roosevelt store remained open through May 5, 2012, when it was closed to make way for construction of the Roosevelt light rail station.

Expansion

Over the years, QFC has expanded aggressively through acquisitions. When A&P Supermarkets abandoned the Seattle area in 1974, QFC took over several locations. They expanded to surrounding counties in the 1990s by acquiring and renaming Olson's Food Stores, Johnny's Food Centers, and Stock Market Grocery Stores as well as several Thriftway stores. Between 1990 and 1996, 30 stores were acquired from 11 different independent grocery chains. Reed's Super Valu in Port Hadlock and Stock Market Foods in

Port Townsend Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County. In addition to ...

were acquired in 1997. The company expanded into the

, area as well. In the mid-1990s, QFC expanded to Southern California by acquiring Hughes Family Markets (which kept its name). By the mid-1990s, many Hughes store locations were sold to

Ralphs Ralphs is an American supermarket chain in Southern California. The largest subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Kroger, it is the oldest such chain west of the Mississippi River. Kroger also operates stores under the Food 4 Less and Foods Co. names ...

, which soon was sold to

, before going to Kroger. A new flagship store opened in downtown Kirkland in 2019, with of space.

Philanthropy and controversy

In 1996, Stuart Sloan, former owner and chairman of QFC, promised to spend at least $1 million a year for the next eight years to overhaul one of

Seattle Public Schools Seattle Public Schools is the largest Public school (government funded), public school district in the state of Washington (state), Washington. The school district serves almost all of Seattle. Additionally it includes sections of Boulevard Park, ...

's most challenged schools, T.T. Minor Elementary. The funds were donated in addition to public dollars and helped to pay for uniforms, smaller class sizes and a year-round schedule, though the manner in which the funds were applied sparked controversy.

References

External links

QFC homepageThe Kroger Company
{{Seattle Corporations Kroger 1955 establishments in Washington (state) Companies based in Bellevue, Washington Retail companies established in 1955 Economy of the Northwestern United States Supermarkets of the United States 1980s initial public offerings 1997 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1955