Lucky Stores

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Lucky Stores
Type	Subsidiary of Supervalu
Founded	1935 San Leandro, California
Headquarters	Buena Park, California
Area served	Southern California, Las Vegas, Nevada
Industry	Retail
Products	Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks, liquor
Website	LuckyStores.com

Lucky Stores was a grocery chain founded in San Mateo County, California in 1935. In 1998, it was taken over by Albertsons and by 1999, the Lucky brand disappeared. In 2006, Supervalu, who acquired most of Albertsons' operations and the Lucky trademark, and Northern California retailer Grocery Outlet engaged in a legal battle since both companies tried to revive the Lucky brand.

Supervalu positioned Lucky as "'true neighborhood stores,' meaning they meet the unique needs of communities by providing the right products and assortment at the right price."[1]

Contents 1 History 1.1 Beginning 1.2 Subsidaries 1.3 1980s 1.4 Albertsons 1.5 Return 2 References 3 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Beginning

Lucky Stores first began in San Mateo County, California when Charles Crouch expanded his "lucky stores" to the East Bay in 1935. Stores were first grouped in Oakland and surrounding areas. Lucky had a big influence in transitioning from small store to supermarket.

Its first flagship store opened in 1947 in San Leandro, California. It featured a coffee shop and other conveniences. It was the last Lucky Store to be rebranded after the takeover by Albertsons.

Through the years Lucky acquired Cardinal Stores, Jim Dandy, and Food Basket among others.

[edit] Subsidaries

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Lucky Stores operated the Gemco and Memco (on the East Coast) department stores. In 1983 Lucky closed five Houston area Gemco discount stores. Lucky aquired Hancock Fabrics in 1972. Due to a 1986 hostile takeover bid by Asher Edelmanof, Gemco/Memco stores were sold or closed, while Hancock Fabrics and Kragen Auto Parts were sold as public companies.

[edit] 1980s

Lucky Stores operated 22 Houston-area Eagle Supermarkets until March 1985, when it was decided to exit the market altogether. Twenty stores were sold to competitors and two were closed. Eagle Supermarkets had a 6 percent share of supermarket sales in Houston one year earlier. That put it behind Kroger, Safeway, Randall's Food Markets and Fiesta Mart, but ahead of Rice Food Markets and Gerland's Food Fair.

By 1988, Lucky became a part of American Stores Company, along with Jewel, Jewel-Osco, Acme Markets, Alpha Beta, Food Basket, and Sav-On Drugs. The Alpha Beta stores in Northern California became Lucky Stores. A number of Southern California branches were either sold or merged with Ralphs. As a result of the American Stores takeover, most of Gemco and Memco were sold to Dayton Hudson and became part of Target Stores. Some Lucky Stores changed their name to Lucky-Sav-On as part of the merger.

[edit] Albertsons

In 1998, American Stores was bought out by Albertsons, which became the second largest grocery retailer in the United States. In the year that followed, all Lucky Stores took the Albertsons name, and the Lucky brand was phased out. In Central California, many Lucky Stores were bought by Save Mart Supermarkets and now operate as Save Mart.

[edit] Return

In 2006, Berkeley, California-based Grocery Outlet closed its Rocklin, California location, only to re-open the store with the Lucky name and the classic Lucky logo. On April 1, 2005, the Sacramento Bee, interviewing Grocery Outlet President and COO Bob Tiernan, reported that the "company believes the Lucky brand has value. And the new store format, with an 'every day low pricing' strategy, 'reminds us of Lucky,'". Grocery Outlet lawyer Peter Craigie noted that Albertson's has indicated its belief that it continues to own the Lucky brand. However, Grocery Outlet believes that Albertson's failure to utilize the brand means the company has effectively surrendered the trademark. Grocery Outlet has pre-emptively filed a lawsuit against Albertsons seeking a declaration from Albertsons that the company has surrendered the brand.[2]

On the next day, April 2, Albertson's filed a request for a temporary restraining order for Grocery Outlet's usage of the Lucky mark.[3] At the same time, on the Albertson's homepage, the Lucky trademark re-appeared, seemingly as evidence for the mark's use.

The request was denied by the District Court on April 5. Albertsons had argued that it did not intend to abandon the Lucky brand and that Lucky shopping carts still remained at some of its stores. District Judge Jeffrey White ruled that Albertsons failed to demonstrate that the use of the Lucky brand demonstrated unfair competition and that the burden to prove otherwise was wholly the responsibility of Albertsons.[4]

On July 20, the District Court ruled in Albertsons favor, granting a preliminary injunction preventing Grocery Outlet from using the Lucky name. Grocery Outlet asked the judge to put the order on hold and appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.[5]

In another attempt, Supervalu-owned Albertson's, which owns the Lucky trademark and runs Albertsons supermarkets in Southern California and Nevada, planned to rename five Albertsons stores in that region in May 2006. Grocery Outlet obtained a temporary restraining order preventing Albertson's from renaming the stores.[6]

In July 2006, Max Foods stores in Alhambra, El Centro, and San Ysidro were rebranded as Lucky by Supervalu. The Max Foods store in Montebello, California, is pending rebranding to Lucky, since there is an Albertsons store one block away.

By October 2006, one Albertson's in North Las Vegas, Nevada, had been rebranded as a Lucky, as well as another in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[edit] References

• "Supervalu resurrects Lucky brand in California", retailnet.com, July 28, 2006.
• "Supervalu to Get Lucky in Vegas", progressivegrocer.com, July 28, 2006.

[edit] External links

• Groceteria.com: History of Lucky Stores
• Supervalu Website
• Supervalu's Lucky Page