Wakefern Food Corporation is an American company that was founded in 1946 and is based in Keasbey,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. It is the largest

retailers' cooperative A retailers' cooperative is a type of cooperative which employs economies of scale on behalf of its retailer members. Retailers' cooperatives use their purchasing power to acquire discounts from manufacturers and often share marketing expenses. A r ...

group of

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 ...

s and the fourth-largest cooperative of any kind in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Wakefern was the largest private employer in New Jersey in 2018, with 40,200 employees. As of 2021, Wakefern has fifty member companies who own and operate 362 supermarkets, under the brands of ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace,

The Fresh Grocer The Fresh Grocer is a supermarket chain based in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania that operates thirteen stores in the Greater Philadelphia region of Pennsylvania. Founded in 1996 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as an independent company, the company be ...

, Dearborn Market, Gourmet Garage, and Fairway Market in New Jersey,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, and

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 ...

. As of September 2022, Wakefern owned 365 supermarkets.https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail-financial/wakefern-sees-sales-rebound-fiscal-2022. Retrieved October 28, 2022

History

Meaning of the Wakefern name

The name "Wakefern" is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsShopRite for its stores in 1951.

Cooperative overview

Wakefern owns one of the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

's largest trucking fleets and is the fourth-largest cooperative in the United States. In fiscal year 2016, its revenue was $16 billion, and $16.3 billion in 2017. In 2011, ''Supermarket News'' gave Wakefern its Retailer Excellence Award and both ''The Griffin Report'' and ''Progressive Grocer'' named Wakefern its Retailer of the Year. In 2012, the company was named one of the Best Places to Work in New Jersey by ''NJBIZ Magazine''. As of 2011, Wakefern was ranked 17th by sales among all supermarket operators in the United States. Wakefern also created and operates or franchises the

Price Rite Price Rite is a chain of supermarkets found in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York (state), New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Based in Keasbey, New Jersey, Price Rite is owned by New Jersey-based Wake ...

limited-assortment chain (based in

Wethersfield, Connecticut Wethersfield is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut. It is located immediately south of Hartford along the Connecticut River. Its population was 27,298 at the time of the 2020 census. Many records from colonial times spell the name ...

) of stores in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Dearborn Market is a supermarket in New Jersey. Readington Farms, Inc. processes and distributes milk products in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. On August 1, 2013, Wakefern added

banner, an eight-store chain based in

Drexel Hill Drexel Hill is a neighborhood and census-designated place (CDP) located in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. The population was 29,181 at the 2020 census, up from 28,043 at the 2010 census, and accounting for over a third of Upper Darby's population. G ...

, when Burns Supermarkets joined the cooperative. One of the stores was converted to the ShopRite name while the others retained the Fresh Grocer name. The banner has since been adopted by stores operated by other members of the cooperative. Wakefern supplies all of its members' ShopRite stores as well as the Price Rite and Fresh Grocer chains, and Dearborn Market. In July 2007, the cooperative announced that for the first time it was offering its wholesale services to third-party supermarket operators, in the Northeastern United States and other areas of the country. Since then, Wakefern has announced deals to supply the

Gristedes Gristedes is a New York City-based chain of supermarkets. It serves a mostly urban customer base. History Gristede Brothers: 1891-1987 Charles Gristede and his brother Diedrich came to the United States from Germany in 1888, found work in gro ...

and

Morton Williams Morton Williams Supermarkets, founded in 1952, is a family-owned and operated food retailer with sixteen stores in the New York City Metropolitan area. Morton Williams features ShopRite products as its private-label brand, supplied by ShopRite' ...

chains of supermarkets in the New York City area,

Heinen's Fine Foods Heinen's Grocery Store is a family-owned and operated regional supermarket chain in Northeast Ohio and in the Chicago metropolitan area. History Heinen's was founded in 1929 in Cleveland, Ohio when Joe Heinen opened a small meat market on K ...

chain in Ohio, as well as The Market Place in

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. Wakefern also provides its members' stores with services such as computer services, insurance, advertising, marketing, merchandising and procurement. Member stores include the publicly traded Village Super Market. Wakefern currently has a total of seven warehouses in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

References

External links

*
ShopRite Official WebsiteWakefern Corporate SitePrice Rite Supermarkets WebsiteThe Fresh Grocer Official Website
{{Supermarkets of the United States American companies established in 1946 Retail companies established in 1946 Food and drink companies based in New Jersey Companies based in Middlesex County, New Jersey Economy of the Northeastern United States Supermarkets of the United States Retailers' cooperatives in the United States 1946 establishments in New Jersey Retail companies based in New Jersey

History

Meaning of the Wakefern name

Cooperative overview

See also

References

External links