fbpx
Wikipedia

AppleTree Markets

April 11, 2024

AppleTree Markets was a supermarket chain in Texas formed in 1969 when Safeway opened its first stores in Houston, which were spun off under the AppleTree name in 1988. The division once had 100 stores in Greater Houston and Greater Austin. By January 21, 2002, AppleTree had reduced its holdings to two stores in Bryan, Texas, where it had shifted its headquarters. One of the remaining locations was sold in 2009 and the final location, in Bryan at Highway 21 and Texas Avenue, closed in early 2012, marking the end of the chain.

History edit

Safeway edit

Safeway put its 18-year-old Houston division up for sale in 1988 in an effort to raise money to pay off debts from a $4 billion leveraged buyout in 1986.[1] On June 14, 1988, Safeway agreed to sell its Houston division to Texas Supermarkets Inc., a holding company formed by local investors Duncan Cook & Co. and the Sterling Group. The deal included 50 stores in Houston, 20 in Austin, stores in 23 other communities in East and Central Texas, along with a distribution center, frozen food warehouse, bread manufacturing plant and milk processing plant.[2] At the time of the $174 million (~$237 million in 2023) transaction, Safeway's 18 percent market share ranked third in the Houston market behind Kroger, with 27 percent, and Randall's Food Markets, with 21 percent.[3] M. Dean Gantt, the former Houston division manager, assumed the position of president and chief executive officer of Texas Supermarkets Inc., which initially owned only eight of the stores from the transaction and leased the rest from Safeway.[3] Texas Supermarkets was allowed to operate under the Safeway banner until June 28, 1989, but it would continue to do so until a new name began appearing in July 1989—AppleTree Markets.[4] Five stores were renamed Budget Stores, stores with slightly lower prices on some items and fewer specialty shops such as delis, bakeries, and floral shops. The last of the Safeway banners was replaced in September 1989.

Gantt retired abruptly in October 1989 and was replaced a month later by Arthur L. Patch, senior vice president of Dublin, California-based Lucky Stores Inc.[5]

Bankruptcy edit

The company struggled with the debt that originated from the 1988 leveraged buyout out Safeway's stores.[6] After failed attempts to restructure that debt,[7][8][9] AppleTree sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1992.[10] Soon after the filing, AppleTree announced its plans to begin closing stores.[11] Arthur Patch resigned his post in March 1992, and the chairman of the company's board, Fred R. Lummis, took the helm.[12] Also a growing problem was the chain's aging store base. The bulk of Safeway units in Houston dated from the late 1960s and early 1970s, and a logo change in 1981-1982 was the only alteration, if any, to most of such stores before the AppleTree split. Many former Weingarten's stores, which had been acquired by Safeway in 1983, were even older. A very small minority of Houston Safeways were built in 1986, but these were larger and had a more modern, conventional prototype. This was in contrast to the reinvention of Super Fresh beginning in the early 1990s, a chain which itself was spun off from A&P's Philadelphia division in 1982. Also in Philadelphia, many A&P as well as Acme and Food Fair (doing business as Pantry Pride in its later years, and not related to the current Houston chain of the same name), and Penn Fruit (acquired by Food Fair during the same period) stores closed and reopened as IGA and related chains Thriftway, Shop 'n Bag, O&O, Pick Well, Great Valu (SuperValu), and ShopRite. Philadelphia retail icon Thrift Drug was also absorbed into Eckerd in 1997, but many of its stores were relocated or closed soon after.

To cut costs and raise cash, AppleTree continued to close stores or sell its stores to competitors such as Fiesta Mart, Gerland's Food Fair, and Market Basket.[13][14] The company would also look to move its headquarters to a smaller facility,[15] as well as close its distribution warehouse.[16] AppleTree formerly had its headquarters in the Spring Branch area and in Houston.[17][18]

In its reorganization plan, AppleTree announced plans to close or sell 33 additional stores.[19][20][21][22] Ultimately, AppleTree announced in November 1993 it would sell its remaining 49 stores to competitors.[23][24][25][26]Randall's Food Markets acquired eleven locations in Greater Austin and three in Greater Houston. Eleven stores were sold to Kroger, five stores to Gerland's, four to Fiesta Mart, three stores to Rice Food Markets, and one store each to Cox's Foodarama, Big Chief Super Markets, Stanley Stores, and Super Warehouse Foods.[27] Some of the former Safeway stores Randall's purchased from AppleTree became part of Safeway once again when Safeway bought Randall's in 1999. One location at 8620 Stella Link became a Sellers Bros.

As a result of the reduction of stores, AppleTree's northwest Houston grocery distribution facility, which included a 119,000-square-foot (11,100 m2) refrigerated warehouse, a large bakery and a major milk plant, was larger than AppleTree's needs. The facility was still owned by Safeway, and it was sold to H-E-B.[28] As a result, AppleTree would buy its dairy products from a supplier and also relocated its headquarters to a building in northwest Houston.

Independent chain and closing edit

With the sales, AppleTree would be reduced to six stores; three in Bryan-College Station, two in Houston, and one in Huntsville. AppleTree chief executive Tony Kubicek purchased the last six AppleTree stores and planned to operate the stores as an independent, Houston-based chain bearing the AppleTree name.[29]

However, the chain did not fare well – after closing the lone Huntsville store and one of the two Houston locations, in 1997 AppleTree closed its other Houston location.[30] With the closing, AppleTree operated three stores in Bryan-College Station, where it would eventually relocate its corporate staff.

AppleTree further retrenched to its two Bryan locations after closing its College Station store in 2002.[31] In February 2009, AppleTree sold its Briarcrest Drive store in Bryan to local resident Jim Lewis. Lewis used the location to open a new grocery store, Village Foods and rehired all of the AppleTree employees who'd been left unemployed by the closing.[32][33][34] The final AppleTree location, in Bryan at Highway 21 and Texas Avenue, closed in early 2010.

There are currently three supermarkets operating under the Apple Tree banner in San Diego, California

References edit

  1. ^ Bivins, Ralph. "Local firm to buy 99 Safeway stores." Houston Chronicle. Tuesday June 14, 1988. Section 1, Page 1. Retrieved on July 1, 2010.
  2. ^ Bivins, Ralph. "Sale of local Safeways severs Texas ties." Houston Chronicle. Wednesday June 15, 1988. Business 1. Retrieved on July 1, 2010.
  3. ^ a b Bivins, Ralph. "Safeways drew $174 million/South Texas deal detailed." Houston Chronicle. Friday September 30, 1988. Business 1. Retrieved on July 1, 2010.
  4. ^ Bivins, Ralph. "Texas Safeway stores getting new name." Houston Chronicle. Thursday July 13, 1989. Business 1. Retrieved on July 1, 2010.
  5. ^ "Ex-Safeway exec to head AppleTree." Houston Chronicle. Thursday November 30, 1989. Business 8. Retrieved on July 1, 2010.
  6. ^ Narom, Beverly and Cynthia Shanley. "Supermarkets stocking up for major food fight." Houston Post. April 26, 1992. A1. Available at the Microfilm desk of the Jesse H. Jones Building of the Houston Public Library Central Library. "It had also been no secret that one of the largest Houston operators, AppleTree Markets, had been struggling under the heavy debt load of its 1988 leveraged buyout of Safeway's area stores."
  7. ^ Sixel, L.M. "AppleTree gets $10 million line of credit." Houston Chronicle. Wednesday June 19, 1991. Business 3. Retrieved on July 1, 2010.
  8. ^ Boisseau, Charles. "AppleTree gets $120 million loan." Houston Chronicle. Friday August 23, 1991. Business 2. Retrieved on July 1, 2010.
  9. ^ Proposed AppleTree buyout dissolves, Houston Chronicle, November 26, 1991.
  10. ^ AppleTree files for Chapter 11, Houston Chronicle, January 3, 1992.
  11. ^ AppleTree plans to close five stores, Houston Chronicle, January 31, 1992.
  12. ^ AppleTree chief resigns position/Grocery chain to close five stores, Houston Chronicle, March 21, 1992.
  13. ^ AppleTree selling 8 stores, including 4 in Houston area, Houston Chronicle, April 24, 1992.
  14. ^ AppleTree sells eight more stores, Houston Chronicle, May 28, 1992.
  15. ^ AppleTree to look for smaller home/Current headquarters too big, costly, Houston Chronicle, April 25, 1992.
  16. ^ AppleTree shutting warehouse/Grocery chain to ax 150 workers, Houston Chronicle, May 19, 1992.
  17. ^ "Directors and Executives." Standard & Poor's Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives, Volume 2. Standard & Poor's, 1995. 637. Retrieved from Google Books on July 1, 2010. "Appletree Markets, Inc., 4301 Windfern, Houston, TX 77041."
  18. ^ "Boundary Map[permanent dead link]." Spring Branch Management District. Retrieved on December 8, 2009.
  19. ^ AppleTree hopes to shed more stores/Reorganization plan would close 33 sites, Houston Chronicle, May 2, 1992.
  20. ^ Japanese may have slice of revamped AppleTree, Houston Chronicle, May 5, 1992.
  21. ^ AppleTree creditors accept plan/Japanese bank would be biggest shareholder, Houston Chronicle, September 18, 1992.
  22. ^ AppleTree revival plan gets boost/Japanese bank obtains approval to raise stake, Houston Chronicle, September 30, 1992.
  23. ^ Grocery wars uproot AppleTree/Chain selling all its supermarkets, Houston Chronicle, November 16, 1993.
  24. ^ Competitors carve up AppleTree/Nine rivals purchase 28 stores, Houston Chronicle, November 25, 1993.
  25. ^ AppleTree closings surprise some/New owners preparing to reopen, Houston Chronicle, January 6, 1994.
  26. ^ AppleTree store sold, Houston Chronicle, January 12, 1994.
  27. ^ Hassel, Greg. "AppleTree to hand over most stores this week." Houston Chronicle. Tuesday January 4, 1994. Business 1. Retrieved on December 1, 2011.
  28. ^ HEB buys Safeway warehouse/Chain expands in northwest area, Houston Chronicle, July 30, 1993.
  29. ^ Six stores to keep AppleTree name/Sites seen as seeds for growth, Houston Chronicle, August 4, 1994.
  30. ^ Last apple on the Houston tree/AppleTree cuts loose lone store, Houston Chronicle, July 23, 1997.
  31. ^ Bryan Grocery Stores (PDF) February 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Bryan Texas Utilities, March 2004.
  32. ^ . Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-11-22.
  33. ^ "Village Foods opens in former AppleTree". 19 March 2009.
  34. ^ . Archived from the original on 2014-12-24. Retrieved 2014-11-22.

External links edit

April 11, 2024
appletree, markets, supermarket, chain, texas, formed, 1969, when, safeway, opened, first, stores, houston, which, were, spun, under, appletree, name, 1988, division, once, stores, greater, houston, greater, austin, january, 2002, appletree, reduced, holdings,. AppleTree Markets was a supermarket chain in Texas formed in 1969 when Safeway opened its first stores in Houston which were spun off under the AppleTree name in 1988 The division once had 100 stores in Greater Houston and Greater Austin By January 21 2002 AppleTree had reduced its holdings to two stores in Bryan Texas where it had shifted its headquarters One of the remaining locations was sold in 2009 and the final location in Bryan at Highway 21 and Texas Avenue closed in early 2012 marking the end of the chain Contents 1 History 1 1 Safeway 1 2 Bankruptcy 1 3 Independent chain and closing 2 References 3 External linksHistory editSafeway edit Safeway put its 18 year old Houston division up for sale in 1988 in an effort to raise money to pay off debts from a 4 billion leveraged buyout in 1986 1 On June 14 1988 Safeway agreed to sell its Houston division to Texas Supermarkets Inc a holding company formed by local investors Duncan Cook amp Co and the Sterling Group The deal included 50 stores in Houston 20 in Austin stores in 23 other communities in East and Central Texas along with a distribution center frozen food warehouse bread manufacturing plant and milk processing plant 2 At the time of the 174 million 237 million in 2023 transaction Safeway s 18 percent market share ranked third in the Houston market behind Kroger with 27 percent and Randall s Food Markets with 21 percent 3 M Dean Gantt the former Houston division manager assumed the position of president and chief executive officer of Texas Supermarkets Inc which initially owned only eight of the stores from the transaction and leased the rest from Safeway 3 Texas Supermarkets was allowed to operate under the Safeway banner until June 28 1989 but it would continue to do so until a new name began appearing in July 1989 AppleTree Markets 4 Five stores were renamed Budget Stores stores with slightly lower prices on some items and fewer specialty shops such as delis bakeries and floral shops The last of the Safeway banners was replaced in September 1989 Gantt retired abruptly in October 1989 and was replaced a month later by Arthur L Patch senior vice president of Dublin California based Lucky Stores Inc 5 Bankruptcy edit The company struggled with the debt that originated from the 1988 leveraged buyout out Safeway s stores 6 After failed attempts to restructure that debt 7 8 9 AppleTree sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1992 10 Soon after the filing AppleTree announced its plans to begin closing stores 11 Arthur Patch resigned his post in March 1992 and the chairman of the company s board Fred R Lummis took the helm 12 Also a growing problem was the chain s aging store base The bulk of Safeway units in Houston dated from the late 1960s and early 1970s and a logo change in 1981 1982 was the only alteration if any to most of such stores before the AppleTree split Many former Weingarten s stores which had been acquired by Safeway in 1983 were even older A very small minority of Houston Safeways were built in 1986 but these were larger and had a more modern conventional prototype This was in contrast to the reinvention of Super Fresh beginning in the early 1990s a chain which itself was spun off from A amp P s Philadelphia division in 1982 Also in Philadelphia many A amp P as well as Acme and Food Fair doing business as Pantry Pride in its later years and not related to the current Houston chain of the same name and Penn Fruit acquired by Food Fair during the same period stores closed and reopened as IGA and related chains Thriftway Shop n Bag O amp O Pick Well Great Valu SuperValu and ShopRite Philadelphia retail icon Thrift Drug was also absorbed into Eckerd in 1997 but many of its stores were relocated or closed soon after To cut costs and raise cash AppleTree continued to close stores or sell its stores to competitors such as Fiesta Mart Gerland s Food Fair and Market Basket 13 14 The company would also look to move its headquarters to a smaller facility 15 as well as close its distribution warehouse 16 AppleTree formerly had its headquarters in the Spring Branch area and in Houston 17 18 In its reorganization plan AppleTree announced plans to close or sell 33 additional stores 19 20 21 22 Ultimately AppleTree announced in November 1993 it would sell its remaining 49 stores to competitors 23 24 25 26 Randall s Food Markets acquired eleven locations in Greater Austin and three in Greater Houston Eleven stores were sold to Kroger five stores to Gerland s four to Fiesta Mart three stores to Rice Food Markets and one store each to Cox s Foodarama Big Chief Super Markets Stanley Stores and Super Warehouse Foods 27 Some of the former Safeway stores Randall s purchased from AppleTree became part of Safeway once again when Safeway bought Randall s in 1999 One location at 8620 Stella Link became a Sellers Bros As a result of the reduction of stores AppleTree s northwest Houston grocery distribution facility which included a 119 000 square foot 11 100 m2 refrigerated warehouse a large bakery and a major milk plant was larger than AppleTree s needs The facility was still owned by Safeway and it was sold to H E B 28 As a result AppleTree would buy its dairy products from a supplier and also relocated its headquarters to a building in northwest Houston Independent chain and closing edit With the sales AppleTree would be reduced to six stores three in Bryan College Station two in Houston and one in Huntsville AppleTree chief executive Tony Kubicek purchased the last six AppleTree stores and planned to operate the stores as an independent Houston based chain bearing the AppleTree name 29 However the chain did not fare well after closing the lone Huntsville store and one of the two Houston locations in 1997 AppleTree closed its other Houston location 30 With the closing AppleTree operated three stores in Bryan College Station where it would eventually relocate its corporate staff AppleTree further retrenched to its two Bryan locations after closing its College Station store in 2002 31 In February 2009 AppleTree sold its Briarcrest Drive store in Bryan to local resident Jim Lewis Lewis used the location to open a new grocery store Village Foods and rehired all of the AppleTree employees who d been left unemployed by the closing 32 33 34 The final AppleTree location in Bryan at Highway 21 and Texas Avenue closed in early 2010 There are currently three supermarkets operating under the Apple Tree banner in San Diego CaliforniaReferences edit Bivins Ralph Local firm to buy 99 Safeway stores Houston Chronicle Tuesday June 14 1988 Section 1 Page 1 Retrieved on July 1 2010 Bivins Ralph Sale of local Safeways severs Texas ties Houston Chronicle Wednesday June 15 1988 Business 1 Retrieved on July 1 2010 a b Bivins Ralph Safeways drew 174 million South Texas deal detailed Houston Chronicle Friday September 30 1988 Business 1 Retrieved on July 1 2010 Bivins Ralph Texas Safeway stores getting new name Houston Chronicle Thursday July 13 1989 Business 1 Retrieved on July 1 2010 Ex Safeway exec to head AppleTree Houston Chronicle Thursday November 30 1989 Business 8 Retrieved on July 1 2010 Narom Beverly and Cynthia Shanley Supermarkets stocking up for major food fight Houston Post April 26 1992 A1 Available at the Microfilm desk of the Jesse H Jones Building of the Houston Public Library Central Library It had also been no secret that one of the largest Houston operators AppleTree Markets had been struggling under the heavy debt load of its 1988 leveraged buyout of Safeway s area stores Sixel L M AppleTree gets 10 million line of credit Houston Chronicle Wednesday June 19 1991 Business 3 Retrieved on July 1 2010 Boisseau Charles AppleTree gets 120 million loan Houston Chronicle Friday August 23 1991 Business 2 Retrieved on July 1 2010 Proposed AppleTree buyout dissolves Houston Chronicle November 26 1991 AppleTree files for Chapter 11 Houston Chronicle January 3 1992 AppleTree plans to close five stores Houston Chronicle January 31 1992 AppleTree chief resigns position Grocery chain to close five stores Houston Chronicle March 21 1992 AppleTree selling 8 stores including 4 in Houston area Houston Chronicle April 24 1992 AppleTree sells eight more stores Houston Chronicle May 28 1992 AppleTree to look for smaller home Current headquarters too big costly Houston Chronicle April 25 1992 AppleTree shutting warehouse Grocery chain to ax 150 workers Houston Chronicle May 19 1992 Directors and Executives Standard amp Poor s Register of Corporations Directors and Executives Volume 2 Standard amp Poor s 1995 637 Retrieved from Google Books on July 1 2010 Appletree Markets Inc 4301 Windfern Houston TX 77041 Boundary Map permanent dead link Spring Branch Management District Retrieved on December 8 2009 AppleTree hopes to shed more stores Reorganization plan would close 33 sites Houston Chronicle May 2 1992 Japanese may have slice of revamped AppleTree Houston Chronicle May 5 1992 AppleTree creditors accept plan Japanese bank would be biggest shareholder Houston Chronicle September 18 1992 AppleTree revival plan gets boost Japanese bank obtains approval to raise stake Houston Chronicle September 30 1992 Grocery wars uproot AppleTree Chain selling all its supermarkets Houston Chronicle November 16 1993 Competitors carve up AppleTree Nine rivals purchase 28 stores Houston Chronicle November 25 1993 AppleTree closings surprise some New owners preparing to reopen Houston Chronicle January 6 1994 AppleTree store sold Houston Chronicle January 12 1994 Hassel Greg AppleTree to hand over most stores this week Houston Chronicle Tuesday January 4 1994 Business 1 Retrieved on December 1 2011 HEB buys Safeway warehouse Chain expands in northwest area Houston Chronicle July 30 1993 Six stores to keep AppleTree name Sites seen as seeds for growth Houston Chronicle August 4 1994 Last apple on the Houston tree AppleTree cuts loose lone store Houston Chronicle July 23 1997 Bryan Grocery Stores PDF Archived February 3 2007 at the Wayback Machine Bryan Texas Utilities March 2004 Top 5 Grocery Store Closings of the Decade Houston Press Archived from the original on 2014 11 29 Retrieved 2014 11 22 Village Foods opens in former AppleTree 19 March 2009 Village Foods Celebrates Grand Opening Archived from the original on 2014 12 24 Retrieved 2014 11 22 External links edit nbsp Texas portal nbsp Companies portal nbsp Food portal Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title AppleTree Markets amp oldid 1174685429, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.