Re: Mayfair Markets - Geography and History
Posted: 23 Apr 2017 00:11
I would side with FundingUniverse, as company histories tend to distort their own history. I did a bit of research on Tom Thumb (the Texas supermarket owned by Safeway/Albertsons, not the Florida gas station owned by Kroger) and found that the grocery chain tried to rewrite history a la Ray Kroc and McDonald's.klkla wrote:There is an interesting article about Mayfair's history and legal problems here:
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company- ... c-history/
Interesting thing is their description of Mayfair's history: "The company's history may be traced as far back as the 1933 incorporation of Western Dairies, Inc., a small California dairy operation that gradually expanded its geographic scope and product line to become a grocery retailer known as the Arden Farm Company beginning in 1940. By 1964, Arden Farms was ready for growth through acquisition. In October of that year Arden acquired Mayfair Markets, a chain of supermarkets in Los Angeles, creating Arden-Mayfair, Inc., later a subsidiary of the Arden Group. At the same time, Arden acquired a small chain of supermarkets from the Gelson Brothers. The Gelsons had opened their first store in North Hollywood in the late 1940s. "
But on the Gelson's website they have their own description: "We like to say there’s a little bit of Mayfair in every Gelson’s — its gusto, its cand-do spirit, its love for the customer — even though the last Mayfair Market recently became a Gelson’s. 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, eight existing California stores run by the Mayfair Companies were merged with 43 California Van’s Markets, both owned by Arden Farms Co., to create a new chain of stores: Mayfair Markets."
Don't know which version is accurate but I would assume it's Gelson's.