User:Caldorwards4/UL Food
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| UL Food Stores Inc. | |
| Type of Company | Public (NYSE: USLF) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1966 Colorado, Montana |
| Headquarters | Uston, Montana |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks, liquor |
| Website | www.ulfoodanddrug.com |
- This is a article of a fake grocery store. Do not edit.
UsLay Corporation is grocery and general merchandise company that operates under several retail names. UL was founded in 1966 by Paul U. Layton in Colorado, Montana. UsLay Corporation is currently headquartered in Uston, Montana.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Beginnings
In 1961, Paul U. Layton founded a five and dime store in Texaco, Montana named Layton's 5 & 10 which operated 3 stores in Montana and Idaho. Couple years later in 1966, Paul U. Layton opened the first UL (short for UsLay) in Colorado, Montana. The grocery store operated 10 stores by the end of 1966, three in for Layton's stores. In 1968, UsLay Corporation was formed. Between the years of 1970 to 1980, UL opened 60 stores in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota and Oregon. In 1974, Paul U. Layton was killed while driving in Uston, Montana when his car was crushed by a semi-truck. Paul U. Layton was buried in his home town Cascade, Montana.
In 1979, UL created UL Drug. A drug store chain which by the end of 1980 operated 15 stores in Montana and North Dakota. In 1981, UL opened 10 stores including their 100th store in Montana and Washington.
[edit] Acquisions
In 1985, UL made it's biggest aquistions which placed the company in a near death moment. The first acquision was The Kay Cee Company, a New York City, New York based grocery company which was in bankruptcy. The second was Owl's Discount City Inc., a Shilo, Idaho based chain of discount stores which also operated toy stores, catalog showrooms and drug stores. The last one was Mead Gas & Oil Companies, a Seetoge, Oregon based gas company. UsLay Corporation changed it's name to UL&KC Inc. only to change it back in 1997. By the end of 1989, UL had begain rapily expanding Owl's and KC's Market adding at least 30 stores for each chain.
[edit] Major Expansion
In 1990, UL decided to merge it's two drug chains together, by converting all the UL Drug stores to BB Grocery stores which gave the chain 30 more stores. In 1992, in an attempt to boost the proffits UL started to offer franchizes for their KC's Market stores which manage to give KC's Market a major boost in locations. In 1995, UL to closed 50 of its 600 UL stores.
In 1997, UL tested 6 new concept stores with SuperUL being the most popular, however the company kept 2 of its 6 concept stores and liquidated the 4 others.
In a later part of 1997, UL aquired Power Express Foods Inc., a Cort, Idaho based company which operates resturants under 4 names. The desperatly in need of more office space the company purchased a vacant Montgomery Ward store in 1998, UL declared they were going to move their 5 headquarter buildings to Uston which included expanding and remodeling the former Montgomery Ward store. In 2000, UL officaly opened their 1,000th store in Luen, California.
[edit] Bankruptcy
In 2003, UL announced that the company would be filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed 250 UL stores, 13 Owl's, 1 SuperUL and 45 KC's Market. UL succefuly merged out of bankruptcy in 2005.
[edit] After Bankruptcy
Shortly after the bankruptcy, UL converted all SuperUL stores into UL Marketplace stores in way to turn normal supercenters into special retail stores.
In February 2006, UL aquired the bankrupt Barney Food & Drug Stores Inc., a Burbank, California based grocery company. The company later announced that they will put Barney Food & Drug up for sale in May and in June, UL completed the sale of the Barney Food & Drug stores to Ralphs.
[edit] Chains
[edit] UL Food & Drug division
- UL Food & Drug: UL is a chain of supermarkets operating in the Western United States mostly in strip malls or free-standing though in Montana they also operate in shopping malls. UL locations range from 20,000 square feet to 60,000 square feet.
- KC's Market: KC's Market is a chain of supermarkets operating in the Eastern United States mostly in strip malls or free-standing. KC's Market locations range from 25,000 square feet to 40,000 square feet.
- Owl's: Owl's is a chain of discount department stores operating in the Western United States in free-standing locations. Owl's locations range from 40,000 square feet to 70,000 square feet.
- UL Marketplace: UL Marketplace is a chain of hypermarkets that operate in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Texas and California in free-standing locations. UL Marketplace locations range from 170,000 sqaure feet to 205,000 square feet.
- CoKo Furniture: CoKo Furniture is a chain of furniture store that operates in Florida, New York, Montana and California. CoKo locations range from 25,000 square feet to 96,000 square feet.
