Grocery chains can feel permanent until the sign over the door changes. Some of America’s biggest grocers once had hundreds or even thousands of stores, only to disappear after sales, mergers, bankruptcy, or years of trouble. A few names later came back in revived forms, but the original chains behind them are gone.
Alpha Beta
Albert Gerrard opened Alpha Beta Store No. 1 in Pomona, California, in 1917. His brother Hugh opened Store No. 2 later that year. The chain grew to more than 300 stores at its peak. Yucaipa Companies completed its purchase of Ralphs in 1995 and converted Alpha Beta locations to Ralphs, retiring the old banner.
Grand Union
Grand Union was once a major name across the Northeast and Southeast. After years of financial trouble, the company liquidated most of its stores. A smaller group kept the Grand Union name until Tops converted the last old-banner locations in 2013. C&S revived the Grand Union banner again in 2022, opening new stores in New York and Vermont.
Kash n’ Karry
Kash n’ Karry grew from a fruit and vegetable wagon Salvatore Greco started in Tampa in 1914. Delhaize bought the chain in 2001 and later introduced the Sweetbay name. Nearly 100 former Kash n’ Karry stores were converted over three years. The final location, in Crystal River, became a Sweetbay in August 2007.
Dominick’s
Dominick’s grew from a Chicago family grocery into one of the city’s major supermarket chains. Safeway bought the business in 1998. In 2013, Safeway decided to leave Chicago, where it operated 72 Dominick’s stores. The company sold or closed all of them during the fourth quarter of that year.
A&P
Few grocery chains ever matched A&P’s size. The company reached a peak of 15,737 U.S. stores in 1930. Its footprint fell for decades, and A&P filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010. It returned to bankruptcy in 2015 with 296 stores under several banners. All were set to close by late November unless sold to another operator.
Pathmark
Pathmark took its name in 1968 after Supermarkets General left the ShopRite cooperative and renamed its stores. The chain later became part of A&P, and the old Pathmark network disappeared during A&P’s 2015 bankruptcy. Allegiance Retail Services later bought the banner and relaunched it. A new Pathmark Daily opened on Long Island in May 2026.
Genuardi’s
The Genuardi family business began with Gaspare Genuardi selling vegetables door to door from a horse and wagon in the early 20th century. His family built the business into a supermarket chain across the Philadelphia area. Safeway bought Genuardi’s in 2001, then sold, converted or closed its stores. The last Genuardi’s location closed in May 2015.
Fresh & Easy
Tesco opened Fresh & Easy in the western United States in 2007. The chain grew to more than 200 stores but never found a lasting formula. Tesco later left the business, and Yucaipa took over. By 2015, the remaining 97 stores were headed for liquidation, bringing the Fresh & Easy experiment to an end.
Marsh Supermarkets
Marsh became a familiar grocery name across Indiana and parts of Ohio. It also earned a place in retail history when a Marsh store in Troy, Ohio, handled the first supermarket checkout scan of a UPC-marked product in 1974. Marsh filed for bankruptcy in May 2017. Some stores were sold, and all Marsh locations were closed by mid-July.
National Tea
National Tea grew into one of America’s biggest grocery chains and was once the nation’s third largest. Trouble deepened in the 1970s, and the company pulled out of major markets over time. By 1995, its remaining U.S. supermarkets were sold to Schnucks, with some locations transferred to Schwegmann, ending National Tea as a U.S. chain.
Penn Fruit
Three Philadelphia businessmen founded Penn Fruit in 1927. By the 1950s, it was one of the country’s most successful supermarket chains and had the nation’s highest average sales per store. Penn Fruit filed for bankruptcy protection in 1975. Its stores were sold or closed, and the chain disappeared by the end of the decade.
When Grocery Giants Disappear
Big grocery chains can vanish even when their old storefronts keep selling food. Sometimes another operator takes over the building, and sometimes an old name returns years later. The company that made that name familiar, though, may be long gone.