History
Associated Food Stores,
Inc., headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a cooperatively owned wholesale
distributor to almost 600 independently owned supermarkets in an eight state
region.Since its organization
in 1940, Associated Food Stores has not only delivered groceries to independent
grocers, but has also helped them battle national chains and razor-thin
profits. With the assistance of Associated, most of these independent retailers
have become exceptional supermarkets turning in respectable profits. Industry headlines
today read in much the same fashion as they did 60 years ago. Large chain
stores were forcing the small independent grocers out of business. The stores
that weren’t bought up by the chains were coerced to buy groceries
from suppliers at a more expensive cost because they didn’t have the
buying power of the chains. The big chains illegally compelled the suppliers
to sell at a higher price to the independent operators by threatening to
pull their business if the suppliers didn’t comply. As a result, the
independent stores had inadequate and unreliable sources of supply and no
one to defend their cause.Early in 1940, Donald
P. Lloyd, who was president of the Utah Retail Grocers Association, predicted
impending doom for the independent retailers unless they could unite to
take on the competition and increase their collective buying power.
He persuaded 34 retailers
to contribute $300 each to help organize an independent warehouse, and Associated
Food Stores was born. One by one the problems of unfair and illegal trade
practices, under capitalization and competitive conspiracy were surmounted.Today, Associated Food
Stores champions the cause of independent supermarket owners and is the
only independent wholesale distributor headquartered in the Intermountain
West, employing over 1,400 people and shipping over 750 truckloads of groceries
each week.
