Hannaford Brothers Company

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Hannaford Bros. Co., LLC.
Hannaford
Company typeSubsidiary of Ahold Delhaize
IndustryRetail grocery store
Founded1883 (141 years ago) (1883) in Portland, Maine, U.S.
FounderArthur Hannaford
HeadquartersScarborough, Maine, U.S.
Number of locations
187 (2024)
Area served
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Eastern Upstate New York
Key people
Michael Vail, President[1]
ProductsBakery, dairy, deli, floral, frozen foods, grocery, liquor, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks, sushi, meal solutions, pet, baby, home needs, healthy & beauty care, special occasions.
ParentAhold Delhaize
Websitewww.hannaford.com

Hannaford is an American supermarket chain based in Scarborough, Maine.[2] Founded in Portland, Maine, in 1883, Hannaford operates stores in New England and New York. The chain is now part of the Ahold Delhaize group based in the Netherlands, and is a sister company to formerly competing New England supermarket chain Stop & Shop.[3]

History[edit]

Kingston, NY, Hannaford—formerly Grand Union
Falmouth, ME Hannaford

Hannaford was founded in 1883 by Arthur Hannaford as a small produce store along the Portland, Maine, waterfront.[4] In 1915, its location was 164–168 Commercial Street, a site now occupied by a Gorham Savings Bank.[5]

He was joined in 1902 by his brothers, Howard and Edward, and they incorporated Hannaford Bros. Co. By 1920, the company became a leading produce wholesaler in northern New England. Hannaford then relocated to a new five-story warehouse on Cross Street. In 1939, with the purchase of Tondreau Supermarkets Inc., sponsor of Red & White stores in Maine, Hannaford expanded into the wholesale grocery business. Late in 1944, Hannaford Co. opened its first retail outlet under an equity partnership arrangement with Adjutor Tondreau.[4]

Brunswick, ME Hannaford

By 1960, Hannaford Bros. had constructed a 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m2) distribution center in South Portland, Maine, to better service more retail stores. With the purchase of 31 Sampson's grocery stores in 1966 as well as the 1967 purchase of Progressive Distributors, Hannaford expanded its retail presence. By 1971, the company's earnings topped $1 million.[4]

Hannaford continued to rapidly expand throughout the 1970s and 1980s by opening a chain of Wellby Drug Stores, many of which were incorporated into Shop ’N’ Save retail stores. By 1987 the company had spread into New York and Massachusetts; that same year sales hit $1 billion.[4]

In the 1990s Hannaford began an expansion into the Southeast by purchasing a small Southeastern North Carolina supermarket chain, Wilson's Supermarkets, which served as the foundation of an expansion of Hannaford stores into the Carolinas and Virginia. In 2000, Delhaize America bought Hannaford; the purchase both eliminated an emerging competitor to its Food Lion chain in the Southeast and expanded Delhaize operations into the Northeast.[6][4]

Some Hannaford locations in North Carolina were sold to Lowes Foods upon the buyout by Delhaize while others were closed. However, the move ended up bringing an even bigger competitor into Food Lion's market when national chain Kroger bought 20 of the redundant stores.[citation needed]

The Hannaford name first took over from Shop 'N' Save on private labels in 1996. Five years later, stores in most of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont assumed the name. As of 2006, only a small number of locations continue to use the Shop ’n’ Save banner. Independently owned and operated franchises receiving merchandise through Hannaford's wholesale distribution continue to use the Shop ’n’ Save name, mainly in smaller communities. In 2001, five Grand Union stores in New York were purchased and converted into Hannaford stores. In 2004, 19 Victory Supermarkets in Massachusetts and New Hampshire also were purchased and converted to Hannaford stores.[4]

In 2006, Hannaford Supermarkets launched Guiding Stars, the first storewide nutrition navigation program. The concept of Guiding Stars was born from extensive consumer research that revealed a desire to live healthier lifestyles, but showed confusion understanding the volume and complexity of the nutrition-related information available in the media, advertisements and on food packaging. The rankings are based on U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines.[7]

In 2007, 4.2 million Hannaford customer credit card numbers were exposed as a result of a data breach perpetrated by a Russian/Ukrainian hacker group.[8]

On March 17, 2008, The Boston Globe reported that the company's credit-card processing servers had been compromised for three months. Some 4.2 million credit card numbers were stolen, at least 1,800 of which had been used fraudulently.[9] In August 2009, criminal computer hacker Albert Gonzalez was indicted for the crime.[10]

Delhaize America previously operated 104 Sweetbay Supermarket locations in Florida, which were modeled after Hannaford and sold Hannaford brand products.[11] These stores were sold by the parent company in 2013 to Southeastern Grocers and were converted to Winn-Dixie locations. In 2016, Hannaford’s parent company Delhaize merged with Ahold to create a new company, Ahold Delhaize.[12] Ahold was the owner of the competing New England–based Stop & Shop supermarkets, which become a sister company and brand to Hannaford as a result of the merger with Delhaize. Hannaford now sells Nature’s Promise private-label products which were originally only available at Stop & Shop.

Through the process of the merger, the Federal Trade Commission required 10 Hannaford stores to be divested to other retailers. Eight stores in eastern Massachusetts were sold to Big Y and two stores in the lower Hudson Valley in New York were sold to Tops Friendly Markets.[13]

Locations[edit]

Hannaford Supermarkets are found in Maine (which has the largest number of its stores), New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York (primarily eastern Upstate in the Capital District, the Mohawk Valley region and the North Country).

Until 2011, the company regularly marketed numerous products under its own private labels—including products by Richelieu Foods.[14] The company used the Delhaize-standard Home 360 brand from 2011 to 2014 but has now returned to using simply the "Hannaford" brand name as well as the name Taste of Inspirations. [15]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Vail to succeed Wise as Hannaford president". 6 March 2015. Archived from the original on 30 November 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  2. ^ "Contacts Archived 2012-05-22 at the Wayback Machine." Delhaize Group. Retrieved on May 17, 2012. "HANNAFORD 145 Pleasant Hill Road Scarborough – ME 04074 – U.S.A. "
  3. ^ Strom, Stephanie; Bray, Chad (2015-06-24). "Ahold-Delhaize Deal Would Create One of Largest Grocery Chains in U.S." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2020-11-19. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Making history at Hannaford". Hannaford Bros. Co. Archived from the original on 2011-08-18. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  5. ^ Chamber of Commerce Journal of Maine (1915)
  6. ^ Canedy, Dana (1999-08-19). "Food Lion to Acquire Hannaford Brothers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2018-02-06. Retrieved 2018-02-05.
  7. ^ Chain uses stars to rate food for nutrition Archived 2020-09-15 at the Wayback Machine, NBC News. September 7, 2006.
  8. ^ "Hannaford Brothers Co — Krebs on Security". Archived from the original on 2019-07-17. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  9. ^ Kerber, Ross (March 18, 2008). "Grocer Hannaford Hit by Computer Breach". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on April 9, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  10. ^ Zetter, Kim (August 17, 2009). "TJX Hacker Charged With Heartland, Hannaford Breaches". Wired. Archived from the original on April 24, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  11. ^ "Sweetbay FAQ". Archived from the original on 2013-03-25. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
  12. ^ "Ahold to acquire Delhaize; would form 6th largest US food retailer". Food Dive. Archived from the original on 2018-02-06. Retrieved 2018-02-05.
  13. ^ "8 Hannaford stores in Eastern Mass. to be sold to Big Y – The Boston Globe". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  14. ^ van der Pool, Lisa (February 23, 2009). "There's new appetite for peddlers of cheap eats". Boston Business Journal. Archived from the original on August 1, 2010. Retrieved June 13, 2010.
  15. ^ "Hannaford Heads to Home 360". Retrieved 3 June 2017.

External links[edit]