Weingarten's was a supermarket chain in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

until it was acquired by

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

in 1983. J. Weingarten, Inc. had its headquarters in what is now the East End in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

History

Hersch Harris Weingarten, a poor Jewish immigrant from

Łańcut Łańcut (, approximately "wine-suit"; yi, לאַנצוט, Lantzut; uk, Ла́ньцут, Lánʹtsut; german: Landshut) is a town in south-eastern Poland, with 18,004 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (si ...

(what was then

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) and his son, Joseph, opened a grocery store in Downtown

in 1901. A second store opened in 1920. Advertising "Better Food for Less," Joseph Joe Weingarten pioneered self-service and cash-and-carry shopping. Weingarten's chain of stores in Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana grew by 1926 to six; by 1938 the company had 12 stores; by 1951 there were 25 stores; and by 1967 the chain operated 70 stores. To concentrate on real estate development for retail shopping centers, Weingarten Incorporated sold its stores, which had grown to a chain of 104 stores in five states, to

Grand Union A grand union is a rail track junction where two double-track railway or tramway lines cross at grade, often in a street intersection or crossroads. A total of sixteen railroad switches (sets of points) allow streetcars (or in rarer instal ...

in 1980. In 1980 Weingarten had 18% of the Houston area grocery market share.Sit-DuVall, Mary.
`Right' store was ripe for picking / Randalls joins trend with deal
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

''. Saturday July 24, 1999. Business 1. Retrieved on December 1, 2011. Grand Union then resold most of the stores to

(Safeway, which later left the Houston market, acquired 43 of the stores),

Randalls Randalls operates 32 supermarkets in Texas under the ''Randalls'' and ''Flagship Randalls'' banners. The chain consists of 13 stores located around the Houston area and 15 stores located around the Austin area as of May 2020. Randalls today form ...

(purchased by Safeway when they reentered Houston, but at that time, an independent company), and

Gerland's Food Fair Gerland Corporation was a retail company headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States; the company operates various grocery stores, gas stations, and check cashing stores within the Greater Houston Area. History A. J. Gerland founded the ''Ge ...

in 1983, including 55 stores in the Houston area. However, lease provisions at several locations barred the automatic transfer of leases between operators. Because Weingarten's and Rice Food Markets could not agree on a disposition of the Post Oak Center lease, Weingarten's continued to operate the store at that location until the end of March 1986.Crown, Judith. "The last Weingarten 's: It's now a Rice". March 30, 1986 Houston Chronicle

References

External links

Weingarten Realty InvestorsWeingarten, Joseph

The Handbook of Texas Online The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). History The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President Wa ...

. {{Supermarkets of the United States Defunct supermarkets of the United States Companies based in Houston Retail companies established in 1901 Retail companies disestablished in 1983 Defunct companies based in Texas

History

See also

References

External links