Smart & Final is a chain of warehouse-style food and supply stores based in

Commerce, California Commerce is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 12,823 at the 2010 census, up from 12,568 at the 2000 census. It is usually referred to as the City of Commerce to distinguish it from the ...

, which developed through a series of mergers and expansions. The oldest of the combined companies, Hellman-Haas Grocery, was founded in 1871 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The company operates over 250 stores in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

and 15 in northwestern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. While Smart & Final stores target both the food-service and household markets, the company also formerly operated

Smart Foodservice Warehouse Stores US Foods CHEF'STORE (formerly Smart Foodservice Warehouse Stores and Cash&Carry Smart Foodservice) is a chain of American warehouse grocery stores located in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South ...

(formerly known as Cash & Carry), which market to foodservice professionals. The stores in Mexico are operated under a joint venture with

Calimax Calimax is a local grocery store chain operating in the Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora. It was founded in the city of Tijuana, Baja California, in 1939. The company remains headquartered in Tijuana, and it has many locations on sev ...

. Since 2008, in some parts of the United States, Smart & Final Extra! operates. These stores contain a slightly larger footprint and larger assortment of goods.

History

Formed in 1912, the Santa Ana Grocery Company mainly supplied feed and grain to local farmers. In 1914, J. S. "Jim" Smart, a banker from

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

, and H. D. "Hildane" Final bought the company and changed the name to Smart & Final Wholesale Grocers. From 1876 to 1913, Jim Smart had been involved with several wholesale grocers in the greater Saginaw area, including Lee, Cady & Smart and Smart & Symons with his brother-in-law, J. W. Symons of Symons Brothers. By 1919, annual sales for Smart & Final had reached $10 million. During the fierce competition among expanding grocers in the 1920s, the company introduced a self-serve concept to replace reliance on clerks to fetch goods. This was called " cash and carry." In 1953, Smart & Final merged with Haas, Baruch & Co. In 1984, it was acquired by Thriftimart. In 1991, it was reorganized via a

corporate spin-off A corporate spin-off, also known as a spin-out, or starburst or hive-off, is a type of corporate action where a company "splits off" a section as a separate business or creates a second incarnation, even if the first is still active. Characte ...

and

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

. In 1992, it announced a joint venture with Calimax to open stores in Mexico. In 1994, it opened its first store in Mexico. In 1998, it acquired

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 ...

-based United Grocers Cash & Carry, which was renamed Cash & Carry. These stores are concentrated in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

. In 2007, Smart & Final acquired 35

Henry's Farmers Market Henry's Farmers Market (also known as Henry's Marketplace and Henry's) was a grocery retailer that operated in California. In 2011, it started becoming part of the Sprouts Farmers Market chain with a full acquisition taking place by early- to mid ...

s in California and Sun Harvest Markets in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

for about $166 million. In 2007, the company was acquired by

Apollo Global Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American global private-equity firm. It provides investment management and invests in credit, private equity, and real assets. As of March 31, 2022, the company had $512 billion of assets under management, ...

. In March 2010, Smart & Final announced it would expand into the Colorado market under the SmartCo Foods brand, taking over five former

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 ...

locations in the Denver metro area with plans for dozens more stores in the coming years. SmartCo stores differed from typical Smart & Final locations in that they were significantly larger and included produce, meat, and bakery departments, as well as a large selection of natural and organic foods. In June 2010, the first SmartCo Foods store opened on Parker Road in Denver, and was said to be tailored for the Colorado market. In November 2010, only five months after the chain's grand opening, SmartCo Foods announced that it was exiting the Denver market and closing all five of its stores. SmartCo Foods attributed its hasty exit from

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

to poor performance chain-wide without any hope for improvement. However, the withdrawal may have also been partially due to negotiations resulting in the February 2011 acquisition of the

Sprouts Farmers Market Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc., is a supermarket chain headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. The grocer offers a wide selection of natural and organic foods, including fresh produce, bulk foods, vitamins and supplements, packaged groceries, meat ...

which had 9 locations in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. In 2012, Apollo sold its stake in Smart & Final to

Ares Management Ares Management Corporation is an American global alternative investment manager operating in the credit, private equity and real estate markets. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, with additional of ...

for $975 million. Smart & Final went public in 2014. In 2015, Smart & Final purchased the leases on 32 locations previously operated by

Haggen Haggen Food & Pharmacy is a grocery retailer in Washington State. Haggen is headquartered in Bellingham, Washington, where it started in 1933 when Ben Haggen, Dorothy Haggen, and Doug Clark opened the first store on Bay Street in Bellingham. Fo ...

. In 2019, Apollo once again acquired the chain, for $1.1 billion.

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

had financed the previous buyout and took a loss. On October 30, 2019, Smart & Final introduced two redesigned online shopping portals for consumers and business clients. Shoppers can see weekly specials, create grocery lists, shop by recipes, and create profiles that reflect dietary allergies or preferences. Business clients can complete online orders and apply for tax exemptions. On May 24, 2021, Mexican supermarket operator

Chedraui Chedraui is a publicly traded Mexican grocery store and department store chain which also operates stores in the U.S. in the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada under the name El Super. It is traded on the Mexican Stock Exchan ...

(via its California-based Bodega Latina subsidiary) announced its intent to acquire Smart and Final from Apollo.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smart and Final Supermarkets of the United States Wholesalers of the United States American companies established in 1871 Retail companies established in 1871 Private equity portfolio companies Apollo Global Management companies Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange 2007 mergers and acquisitions 2012 mergers and acquisitions 2019 mergers and acquisitions 2014 initial public offerings Commerce, California Economy of the Western United States Supermarkets based in California