Gelson's is a regional

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more lim ...

chain operating in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

. It operates service-oriented stores mostly in upscale neighborhoods. The Mayfair Connection actually began years before Gelson's did. Estimates put the genesis of the chain sometime around the stock market crash of 1929. In 1948, Arden Farms Company owned both Mayfair Markets and 48 California Van Markets. Arden created a new chain of stores: a new "Mayfair Markets", from the two existing chains. In the mid-1960s, the chain had extended to neighboring states: Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Washington state, and Nevada, with more than 250 stores in total. Arden-Mayfair gradually sold off most of the stores, as the market favored supermarket formats that were larger in size. Over time, all the more upscale Mayfair stores were renovated and became branches of Gelson's.

History

The first Gelson's supermarket was opened in July 1951 by Bernard and Eugene Gelson. The second store opened in 1960 in Encino and the third store opened in 1965 in North Hollywood. In 1966, Arden Group acquired Gelson's. In February 2014, Arden Group sold Gelson's to

TPG Capital TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American investment company based in Fort Worth, Texas. The private equity firm is focused on leveraged buyouts and growth capital. TPG manages investment funds in growth ...

for $394 million. In 2015, the company acquired 8 stores from

Haggen Haggen Food & Pharmacy is a grocery retailer in Washington (state), 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 ...

for $36 million. In November 2017,

Bob Mariano Robert Joseph Mariano (born June 5, 1957Bob Mariano page
at

joined the board of directors of the company.

References

External links

* {{Supermarkets of the United States 1951 establishments in California Encino, Los Angeles Supermarkets of the United States