National Supermarkets
Encyclopedia
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
and New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
areas of the United States. Both firms were owned by Loblaw Companies
Loblaw Companies
Loblaw Companies Limited is the largest food retailer in Canada, with over 1,400 supermarkets operating under a variety of regional banners, including the namesake Loblaws. LCL is headquartered in Brampton, Ontario...
of Canada, but in June 1995, they were sold by Loblaw to Schnucks Markets
Schnucks
Schnucks is a supermarket chain. Based in suburban St. Louis, the company was started in 1939 with the opening of a store in north St. Louis city and now operates 100 stores in five states throughout the midwest. Schnucks also runs stores under the Logli Supermarkets and Hilander Foods banners...
. Immediately after that, per the FTC
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
, Schnucks sold the National New Orleans division to Schwegmann Giant Super Markets
John G. Schwegmann
John Gerald Schwegmann, Jr., was a pioneer in the development of the modern supermarket. He owned eighteen stores in the Greater New Orleans area, based from Metairie, a large unincorporated city in Jefferson Parish...
of Metairie, Louisiana
Metairie, Louisiana
Metairie is a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States and is a major part of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area. Metairie is the largest community in Jefferson Parish. It is an unincorporated area that would be larger than most of the state's cities if it were...
, which later sold them to Great A&P
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, is a supermarket and liquor store chain in the United States. Its supermarkets, which are under six different banners, are found in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. A&P's liquor stores, known as...
, which finally sold them to Rouse Markets
Rouses
Rouses Supermarkets are a chain of grocery markets based in the U.S. states of Louisiana and Mississippi with more than 5,000 employees. The company had its start as the City Produce Company, founded in Thibodaux, Louisiana by J. P...
in 2007. National itself had cemented the number two spot in St. Louis by acquiring several former Kroger
Kroger
The Kroger Co. is an American supermarket chain founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It reported US$ 76.7 billion in sales during fiscal year 2009. It is the country's largest grocery store chain and its second-largest grocery retailer by volume and second-place general retailer...
locations and the Kroger distribution center in the market when the latter exited St. Louis in 1986. Kroger and National had been battling for the number two and three spots since the 1970s, swapping rankings several times over throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
New Orleans and St. Louis represented the last two divisions of National Supermarkets, aka National Tea, which originated in Chicago in 1899, making the chain one of the oldest in the USA. It was also one of the largest, ranking as the fifth largest in the late 1960s, only A&P, Safeway, Kroger, and Food Fair were larger. Loblaw bought the company in 1955. Among the chains National acquired were Miller's (Mobile, AL), Standard (Indianapolis), and Applebaum's (Minneapolis). Besides the National and Standard banners, Big D and Del Farm banners were used in the Midwest.
Former divisions existed in Denver, Sioux Falls, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, the Quad Cities, Indianapolis, Chicago, Youngstown, Memphis, and Nashville, making the chain the largest serving the Mississippi Valley. Major rivals included Jewel, Red Owl, Bettendorf-Rapp(Allied), Kroger, A&P, Dominick's, Eagle Food Centers, Hy-Vee, Marsh's, Winn-Dixie, Hill's, Fisher/Fazio's/Costa, Thorofare, and Safeway, depending on the market.
National's logo was Loblaw's logo turned upside down to look like an "N".
Slogans
At the height of their market share in the late 1960s, National Supermarkets' slogans used in television advertising included "Super National-Market" and "The Underpricer". In their final years in the 1980s and early 1990s, the National slogan in the St. Louis market was, "You Are Important to Us!"Failed resurrection
As a condition of buying National from Loblaws, Schnucks had to sell off 24 stores for antitrust reasons. In 1996, Family Company of America, a group led by Belleville, IllinoisBelleville, Illinois
Belleville is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city has a population of 44,478. It is the eighth-most populated city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area and the most populated city south of Springfield in the state of Illinois. It is the county...
financial consultant James R. Gibson, bought 23 stores from Schnucks and reopened them under the name National Markets. However, the new National was unable to make much headway against Schnucks, and disappeared for good in April 1999.
After the bankruptcy, it emerged that Gibson had financed the purchase with money embezzled from 183 clients of his investment company. Among his clients were orphans, accident victims who trusted Gibson to invest money from their settlements, and disabled people who trusted him with their life savings. In 2005, Gibson was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his crimes. He will not be eligible for release until 2036, when he is 91 years old--making it very likely that he will die in prison.
National Supermarket Murders
On September 4, 1987 at the National Supermarket at 4331 Natural Bridge Avenue in St. Louis, shortly after closing, two men disguised as the cleaning crew made their way into the store where employees were preparing for the next day. They shot seven employees execution-style as they laid on the floor, killing five. To this day, this is still known as one of the worst mass-murders in St. Louis history.National Supermarkets - New Orleans division
At the end of 1994, National operated 28 stores in the New Orleans area (in LouisianaLouisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, and Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
) under the following names:
- National
- Canal Villere (often referred to as "National/Canal-Villere")
- Superstore
- That Stanley!
- The Real Superstore
- The Real Superstore Express
- The Real Uptown Superstore
The former "The Real Uptown Superstore" building is still in operation as a Rouses
Rouses
Rouses Supermarkets are a chain of grocery markets based in the U.S. states of Louisiana and Mississippi with more than 5,000 employees. The company had its start as the City Produce Company, founded in Thibodaux, Louisiana by J. P...
supermarket.
Denham Springs, Louisiana
Denham Springs, Louisiana
Denham Springs is a city in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, United States, and part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area. Downtown Denham Springs has transformed itself from hardware stores, drug stores, doctor's offices, and a single movie theater to a collection of various and varied...
also had a National Supermarket (#18) that was simply known as "Superstore". The building still stands and is used as a home furnishings store.