Rosauers
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| Rosauers Supermarkets, Inc. | |
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| Type | Grocery |
| Founded | 1936 (Spokane, Washington) |
| Headquarters | Spokane, Washington |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks, liquor |
| Parent | URM Stores |
| Website | www.rosauers.com |
Rosauers is a chain of Supermarkets based in Spokane, Washington and founded by J. Merton Rosauer in 1936. The company is now owned by URM Stores. Jeff Philipps is the current CEO and president of Rosauers. Currently there are 21 Rosauers stores operating under the Rosauers, Super 1 Foods, and Huckleberry's names. Rosauers currently has stores in Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon. The company has recently expanded with the acquisition of 3 locations of the defunct Tidyman's chain in 2006 and recently opened a new location in Bozeman, Montana in late 2007.
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[edit] History
[edit] Origins
In 1936, Merton J. Rosauer started a small grocery store in Spokane, Washington with a loan of $1,000 dollars from his parents right when he got out of school. He started the store in risky times due to the great depression; as a result, it took him 4 years to pay off the loan out of the stores profit. Just four years after the opening of the store, he sold it but to reinvest his money in another store. A little while later he repeated this process. In 1949, Merton opened the Companies first supermarket, which also happened to be the first supermarket in Spokane. Since this time Rosauers has expanded to include conventional Supermarkets, Food and Drug Centers and Super Stores, Price Impact Warehouse Super Stores, and Natural and Organic Super Stores.
[edit] URM Stores
In 1984, Mr. Rosauers sold the company to URM Stores. He did this to ensure that the company he created would continue to thrive. Then on July 27 URM sold Rosauers back to the employees, a triumph for all of them. They became the new owners of fifteen stores, one freestanding pharmacy, an ice cream plant and the corporate office building.
Since 1990, Rosauers has purchased Market Time Drug in Lewiston, Idaho and Drug Fair drug store in Moscow Idaho. In 1994, Rosauers bought the Super 1 Food store in Spokane. Then in 1996 they bought Monroe Street Market and Spokane Wine Company and converted them in to Huckleberry’s Natural Market featuring Spokane Wine Company. In 1997, Rosauers attained the Super 1 Foods in Colville, Washington.
In February 2000, URM announced its plan to buy back Rosauers and expand its presence in the wholesale and retail grocery industries. Employees of Rosauers voted for the sell. With this sell, the combined company made up the fourth largest employer in Spokane county with over 2500 employees.
