Weis Markets, Inc. ( doing business as Weis and stylized as weis) is a
Mid-Atlantic food retailer
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, and ...
headquartered in
Sunbury, Pennsylvania. It currently operates 199 stores with over 23,000 employees in
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, Ma ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), 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; ...
,
New York,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...
,
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...
, and
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 adjacen ...
.
History
Weis Markets was founded as Weis Pure Foods in 1912 in
Sunbury, Pennsylvania, by two brothers, Harry and Sigmund Weis.
Their store has been noted as "revolutionary", as it did not operate on credit; sales were only for cash. At the time, similar stores operated on credit, allowing customers to build a tab that would be paid periodically. Cash sales were a sign of a growing working class earning steady paychecks, and they also helped lower prices by up to 25%.
The second Weis store opened in 1915 in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in P ...
. Harrisburg would remain an important market for Weis, helping to anchor the
central Pennsylvania region that Weis would dominate for decades.
The Weis brothers expanded their chain rapidly, opening dozens of small, in-town grocery stores throughout central Pennsylvania. Their chain peaked at 115 stores in 15 central Pennsylvania counties by 1933. As the supermarket industry shifted to larger, self-service stores, Weis adapted the format of its stores. The company closed several corner grocery stores in Harrisburg in 1938, replacing them with their first self-service, consolidated supermarket. Over the next two decades, the company continued with this strategy, and it had consolidated all of its corner grocery stores into supermarkets, with 35 stores by 1955. In newspaper ads of the 1940s, Weis referred to its stores first as Weis Super Markets, then Weis Self-Service Markets, and finally Weis Markets.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Weis expanded its reach, first to
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...
and then
Lancaster by 1960. Weis expanded to
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), 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; ...
in July 1967, opening its first non-Pennsylvania store in
Hagerstown, followed by a store in
Frederick in August Its first store in the
Wilkes-Barre area opened in 1967. In November 1967, the company purchased the five-store Albany Public Markets chain based in
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Ci ...
, in an all-cash transaction. It operated Albany Public Markets as a subsidiary, keeping the company's management team intact. Weis closed its Albany Public Markets chain in October 1986, leasing the nine stores to
Grand Union.
Weis also expanded to
western Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania is a region in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, covering the western third of the state. Pittsburgh is the region's principal city, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic ...
, opening stores as far west as
Altoona,
Everett, and
Philipsburg, and expanded throughout
northeastern Pennsylvania. The company purchased two regional chains in the
Poconos
The Pocono Mountains, commonly referred to as the Poconos , are a geographical, geological, and cultural region in Northeastern Pennsylvania. They overlook the Delaware River and Delaware Water Gap to the east, Lake Wallenpaupack to the north, W ...
and
Lehigh Valley
The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the n ...
region: Mr. Z's, a 14-store chain of IGA supermarkets, in 1992,
["Weis Markets to Buy IGA Stores," Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, Pennsylvania), 28 November 1992] and King's, a six-store chain based in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...
, in 1994. Mr. Z's and King's were operated under separate banners for years before all stores were re-branded as Weis. The westernmost extent of Weis's expansion is along old route 220 with the two stores in Altoona, one on 7th street and one in Park Hills.
Weis's expansion into the
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
market was successful.
Expansions into the
Washington, D.C. market were less successful. Weis opened stores in suburban Washington, D.C. and
northern Virginia
Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...
before retreating from that market, first closing most of its stores in
Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County is the most populous county in the state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat and largest municipality is Rockville, although the census-design ...
, and finally closing all stores in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...
.
Weis also expanded into
northern New Jersey, beginning with a store opened in
Newton in 1992.
In 2000, another store opened in
Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...
; it closed in 2002, two years after its opening. Weis re-entered Flanders in 2014, in a former
A&P store adjacent to the location of its first Flanders store. On July 19, 2018 Weis Markets opened a second store in
Morris County NJ in the
town of Randolph (where a former A&P used to operate before A&P's bankruptcy in 2015).
In 2009, Weis expanded into the
Southern Tier
The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York region of New York (state), New York State, consisting of counties west of the Catskill Mountains in Delaware County, New York, Delaware County and geographically situ ...
of New York with the acquisition of the 11-store
Giant Markets
Giant Markets, also known as Giant Food Markets, was a supermarket chain based in Binghamton, New York. Founded in 1933 by Metrie and George Akel, it was the first self-service supermarket in New York. The company eventually employed over 1,000 e ...
chain. Weis closed one former Giant Market in
Binghamton in 2012, along with two others in 2014. Eight former Giant Markets continue to operate.
Eastern expansion continued in 2012 as Weis acquired three former
Genuardi's stores from
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, de ...
, in the
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
suburbs of
Conshohocken,
Doylestown and
Norristown, on June 16. A former
Superfresh
SuperFresh is a supermarket brand owned by Key Food Stores which operates in New York City and its New Jersey suburbs. The company currently operates twenty supermarkets.
The name previously belonged to a chain of stores run by A&P, based large ...
store in
Towson, Maryland, opened as a Weis in 2012. Weis entered
central New Jersey with the purchase of a former
Pathmark store in
Hillsborough
Hillsborough may refer to:
Australia
*Hillsborough, New South Wales, a suburb of Lake Macquarie
Canada
*Hillsborough, New Brunswick
*Hillsborough Parish, New Brunswick
* Hillsborough, Nova Scotia, in Inverness County
*Hillsborough (electoral d ...
in August 2013. In November 2013, Weis opened its closest store to Philadelphia after acquiring a former Pathmark store in
Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. In July 2015, Weis purchased the location and assets of Nell's Shur-fine Market from C&S Wholesale Grocers in
Penn Township, York County, Pennsylvania and followed that up in October 2016 with the purchase of a second Nell's location in
East Berlin, Pennsylvania.
In May 2016, Weis Markets announced the purchase of five stores from
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmos ...
in
Baltimore County, Maryland, after that chain announced it was closing all its stores. In July 2016, it was announced that Weis Markets entered into a purchase agreement with
Ahold and
Delhaize Group for 38
Food Lion locations in
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), 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; ...
,
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 adjacen ...
,and
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...
as part of the divestiture of stores to gain clearance from the
Federal Trade Commission for the impending Ahold/Delhaize merger. On October 5, 2016, Weis announced the purchase of Nell's Shur-fine Market in East Berlin, PA from C&S Wholesale Grocers. The company completed the acquisition and conversion of the 44 stores in early November 2016.
On March 9, 2017, Weis Markets opened a store in
Hampden Township, Pennsylvania, that features a pub, ice cream parlor, expanded takeout food selection, a drive-thru pharmacy, and a beer cafe selling 900 varieties of beer and 500 varieties of wine. In late September 2019, Weis acquired two Thomas' Food Market stores, one in
Dallas, Pennsylvania and another in
Shavertown, Pennsylvania, reopening the Dallas location under the Weis banner and closing the Shavertown location.
Legal case
The Weis supermarket located in Park Hills Plaza along
U.S. Route 220 in
Altoona, Pennsylvania
Altoona is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the Altoona Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The population was 43,963 at the time of the 2020 Census, making it the eighteenth most populous city in Pennsylvania. ...
, was the subject of a key 1960s
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...
case concerning the "public forum doctrine." The Court held that a union picket in the supermarket parcel pickup area and parking lot was permissible because the "shopping center here is clearly the functional equivalent to the business district" of a city. At the time of the picketing, the Weis store was located in
Logan Valley Mall, the Park Hills Plaza was not built until the mid-1970s, at which time Weis moved across U.S. Route 220 to its current location.
Banners
In addition to the Weis Markets banner, the company once operated supermarkets under the King's and Mr. Z's banners. Those two banners were centered primarily in the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos, respectively, and were acquired in 1993 (Mr.Z's) and 1994 (King's).
Since their acquisitions, these stores have been remodeled or replaced. In 2009, they were rebranded to the Weis banner, as was its Cressler's store in Shippensburg. In 2011, it converted its three Scot's Lo-Cost stores, a warehouse store concept, located in Montoursville, Mill Hall, and Coal Township, to the Weis banner.
At one time, the company operated a few stores as Big-Top Market, but as of 2006, no more stores exist under this banner.
Additionally, Weis Markets owned a majority-stake in, and operated, a chain of pet supply warehouse stores called SuperPetz. The first SuperPetz store opened in 1991 in Dayton, Ohio. Weis Markets acquired an 80% stake in the chain in late 1993. Some stores included grooming services, dog training, and veterinary clinics. While their now-defunct website indicated they had 33 pet stores in eleven states in 2003, their footprint shrunk to only seven stores in June 2011, all of which were in Pennsylvania. None remain today.
Private brand labels
Weis Markets sells a variety of house brands under the following private brand labels:
*Weis Quality (Advertised as equivalent to national brands)
*Weis Organic (Organic Fruits and Vegetables)
*Weis Signature (Premium)
*Weis Quality Premium Meats (Deli Meat)
*Paws Premium (Dog food)
*TopCare (Health and Beauty Care Products)
*Full Circle (Fair-Trade Certified food)
*Weis 360 (Organic staples such as oatmeal and bread)
*Weis Simply Great
References
*DeKok, David. "The Weis Dynasty." ''The Patriot-News'', February 20, 1994.
*Southall, Brook. "Old-Line Weis Plans Basket of Changes." ''Central Penn Business Journal'', June 14, 1996.
*Weis Markets Annual Report, 196
External links
Weis Markets Corporate Site
{{Authority control
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
American companies established in 1912
Retail companies established in 1912
Supermarkets of the United States
Companies based in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania
1912 establishments in Pennsylvania
1960s initial public offerings
Sunbury, Pennsylvania
Economy of the Northeastern United States
Family-owned companies of the United States