Clemens Markets was a supermarket chain 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 ...

area, founded in 1939. It was family-owned from the founding of its first store in Lansdale, Pennsylvania to the sale of the company in 2006.

History

Clemens was one of three independent supermarket chains to identify as "family markets" in Greater Philadelphia. Another was

Genuardi's Genuardi's Family Markets L.P. was a chain of supermarkets located in the Northeastern United States. Family-owned until purchased by Safeway in 2000, Genuardi's had its headquarters in the Bentwood Executive Campus in East Norriton Townsh ...

, which was sold to

Safeway Inc. 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, del ...

in 2000. The last one was Giunta's, which went out of business soon after Clemens. During the 1980s and 1990s, Clemens expanded by opening many new locations; eventually Clemens operated 20 supermarkets in three Pennsylvania counties, moving its headquarters to

Kulpsville, Pennsylvania Kulpsville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Pennsylvanias. The population was 8,194 at the 2010 census. It is located in Towamencin Township, which is part of the North Penn Valley region that is centered around the boro ...

in 1993. The chain eventually acquired many Thriftway/Shop 'n Bag franchises. Many of these were also former

Acme Acme is Ancient Greek (ακμή; English transliteration: ''akmē'') for "the peak", "zenith" or "prime". It may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Acme'' (album), an album by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion * Acme and Septimius, a fictional ...

, A&P, Food Fair, and Penn Fruit stores. Clemens later acquired many former

Shop 'n Save Shop ’n Save was a grocery store chain in the Greater St. Louis market with 36 stores at its peak. The company, headquartered in Kirkwood, Missouri, was a wholly owned subsidiary of SuperValu, based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. SuperValu also ...

stores which themselves started as

Super G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event ...

. In 1999, it introduced its upscale FoodSource division, which had three locations. One of these stores was a former Zagara's, a gourmet supermarket chain itself a division of Genuardi's and later Safeway.

Sale

In late 2006, Clemens was acquired by Giant-Carlisle, but several of its stores in Montgomery and

Bucks Bucks may refer to: Places * Buckinghamshire, England, abbreviated Bucks * Bucks, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community * Bucks, Illinois, United States, an unincorporated community * Bucks, Michigan, an unincorporated community ...

counties in Pennsylvania were sold to

Super Fresh 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 larg ...

. Two of the three FoodSource stores have been closed since the buyout. The remaining store is now owned by

Giant Food Stores The Giant Company (formerly known as Giant Food Stores) is an American regional supermarket chain that operates stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia and provides online shopping and delivery to New Jersey through ...

References

External links

Clemens Family Markets Website (archive)

Clemens Logo
{{Supermarkets of the United States Defunct supermarkets of the United States Companies based in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania American companies established in 1939 Retail companies disestablished in 2006 1939 establishments in Pennsylvania Retail companies established in 1939