The Save Mart Companies is an American
grocery store
A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...
operator founded and headquartered in
Modesto, California. It owns and operates stores under the names of Save Mart,
Lucky, Lucky California, FoodMaxx, and Maxx Value Foods. The stores are located in northern and central
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
and northern
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
.
Overview
Save Mart stores are full-service grocery stores with a broad product offering, including fresh produce, bakery goods, deli foods and ethnic foods. In
Lodi and
Stockton, an unrelated Save Mart chain operated and so stores were branded under the S-Mart Foods name. The unrelated chain has since folded and the stores in Lodi and Stockton are now under the Save Mart banner.
Company history
![PacificGrove SaveMart 2011-02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/PacificGrove_SaveMart_2011-02.jpeg)
* 1952 – First Save Mart store opens in Modesto, California.
* 1973 – Yosemite Wholesale opens in
Merced, California
Merced (; Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on April 1 ...
.
* 1981 – Bob Piccinini is named president.
* 1984 – Save Mart partners with two other retailers to launch Mid-Valley Dairy, producer of Sunnyside Farms products. SMART Refrigerated Transport opens in
Turlock, California
Turlock is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. Its estimated 2019 population of 73,631 made it the second-largest city in Stanislaus County after Modesto.
History
Founded on December 22, 1871, by prominent grain farmer Jo ...
.
* 1985 – Bob Piccinini purchases Save Mart Supermarkets and becomes CEO.
* 1986 – Opens its first two FoodMaxx stores in
Bakersfield, California in partnership with the Fleming Company.
* 1988 – Partners with two other retailers to open Sunnyside Farms Dairy product plant in Turlock.
* 1989 – Acquires 27
Fry's supermarkets in the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
.
* 1991 – Helps found and becomes a voting partner in Super Store Industries (SSI).
* 1997 – Acquires 10 Lucky stores in California.
* 2006 – Acquires
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-larg ...
stores in the
Sacramento, California
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
area, San Francisco Bay Area,
Central Valley and northern Nevada and converts them to Lucky and Save Mart stores in 2007.
* 2022 – The company is acquired by private equity firm Kingswood Capital Management.
Banners and brands
![PacificGrove SaveMart 2011-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/PacificGrove_SaveMart_2011-01.jpeg)
Save Mart Supermarkets includes a number of store banners and private label product brands.
Lucky
Lucky is a chain of full-service grocery stores with a broad product offering, including fresh produce, bakery goods, deli foods, and ethnic foods. The chain operates in and around the San Francisco Bay Area under its own banner and its newer banner concept, Lucky California. Lucky is a revival of the original chain after Save Mart acquired the northern California Albertsons stores from
Cerberus Capital Management
Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is an American private equity firm,Leaders Magazine"Providing Economic Opportunity: An Interview with The Honorable Dan Quayle, Chairman, Cerberus Global Investments, LLC". specializing in distressed investing. ...
in 2006, which included the rights to use the Lucky name.
FoodMaxx
![FoodMaxx logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/FoodMaxx_logo.svg)
FoodMaxx is Save Mart's warehouse-style grocery chain. It began in 1986, when Save Mart's then-CEO Bob Piccinini saw the potential of the
no-frills grocery store
A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...
concept which offered the same products at a fraction of the price. Piccinini opened two new Food 4 Less stores in the
Fresno
Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...
area.
After the success of the two new Food 4 Less stores, the first FoodMaxx in Fresno opened in 1989. By 2000, 15 stores had opened. As of 2021, There are currently 51 store locations in California and 2 in Nevada.
Maxx Value Foods
A grocery store in Modesto that offers products at warehouse-store prices without a store club membership fee. It is part of the FoodMaxx banner.
Store brands
* Sunny Select – grocery products
* Market Essentials - grocery products
* Simply Done - paper products (toilet paper, napkins, foil, plates, etc.)
* Valu Time – packaged foods and general merchandise
* Sunnyside Farms – dairy and frozen foods
* Bayview Farms – dairy and frozen foods
* Pacific Coast Selections – fresh and packaged foods
* Pacific Coast Café – coffee
* Full Circle – organic packaged foods
* Master Cut – meats
* Maxx Value – meats
* Master Catch – fish and seafood
* Top Care – over-the-counter medications
* Paws Premium – pet food
* Bohemian Hearth - bread
* Lucky California - specialty deli
Distribution infrastructure
Super Store Industries (
Lathrop) also produces and packages bottled beverages, cultured dairy products, and frozen dairy products for several brands, including Sunnyside Farms yogurt, Stater Brothers ice cream, and Minute Maid orange juice. SSI owns and operates Sunnyside Farms (
Fairfield) and Sunnyside Farms Dairy (
Turlock
Turlock is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. Its estimated 2019 population of 73,631 made it the second-largest city in Stanislaus County after Modesto.
History
Founded on December 22, 1871, by prominent grain farmer Jo ...
).
* Yosemite Wholesale (
Merced
Merced (; Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on April 1 ...
) is a dry and packaged good warehouse servicing all of the company's stores.
* Save Mart Supermarkets Distribution Center (
Roseville) services all of the company's stores.
* SMART Refrigerated Transport (Lathrop) is a trucking firm that transports dry groceries, frozen foods, ice, and novelties to all of Save Mart Supermarkets’ stores. The company also works as an outside contractor hauling products for other retailers.
Store closures
Since 2010 the company has closed stores in
Bakersfield,
Clovis,
Delano Delano or DeLano may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Delano, California
* Delano, Wichita, Kansas, a neighborhood in Wichita and former community before merging with Wichita
* Delano, Minnesota
* Delano, Nevada
* Delano, Pennsylvania
* De ...
,
Elk Grove,
Folsom Folsom may refer to:
People
* Folsom (surname)
Places in the United States
* Folsom, Perry County, Alabama
* Folsom, Randolph County, Alabama
* Folsom, California
* Folsom, Georgia
* Folsom, Louisiana
* Folsom, Missouri
* Folsom, New Jerse ...
,
Fresno
Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...
,
Kerman,
Madera,
Merced
Merced (; Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on April 1 ...
,
Milpitas
Milpitas (Spanish for "little milpas") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in Silicon Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 80,273. The city's origins lie in Rancho Milpitas, granted to Californio ranchero José Marí ...
,
Modesto
Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton ...
,
Sparks,
Sanger,
Redwood City
Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a po ...
,
Tracy and
Yuba City
Yuba City (Maidu: ''Yubu'') is a city in Northern California and the county seat of Sutter County, California, United States. The population was 70,117 at the 2020 census. Yuba City is the principal city of the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistica ...
, due to competition, higher prices and other reasons.
Lawsuits
In a 2013 settlement with 35 California district attorneys, the company agreed to pay $2.55 million in civil penalties, costs and expenses for violating state law on storage, handling and disposal of hazardous materials, including bleaches, batteries, electronic devices, ignitible liquids, aerosol products and cleaning products.
In 2015 the company agreed to pay $277,319 in back pay and damages to distribution center workers in Vacaville (now closed) and Roseville. A
U.S. Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the United States federal executive departments, executive departments of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of fede ...
investigation found the company failed to include bonuses in the employee rate of pay when computing overtime.
Unions
Employees at the company's stores are represented by
labor unions
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (su ...
.
[Fact Sheet](_blank)
Save Mart Supermarkets. Retrieved December 31, 2016 These include:
United Food and Commercial Workers
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufacturing; hosp ...
,
Teamsters
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), also known as the Teamsters Union, is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of The Team Drivers International Union and The Teamsters National Union, the ...
,
Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of members ...
and Machinist Automotive Trades District.
References
External links
Save Mart website
{{Supermarkets of the United States
Retail companies established in 1952
Companies based in Stanislaus County, California
Supermarkets of the United States
1952 establishments in California