United Supermarkets is a North Americansupermarket grocery store chain. With headquarters in Lubbock, Texas, its roots go back to 1916, when H.D. Snell opened his first United Cash Store in Sayre, Oklahoma. Today, the chain has grown to include 95 stores in 30 Texas cities and over 10,000 workers.
History
United Supermarkets has 94 stores located in Texas and New Mexico. While it shares the same name as United Supermarkets based in Oklahoma, it technically does business as The United Family to differentiate from the Oklahoma chain, as they are separate grocery entities. Today, United Supermarkets is run by the Albertsons chain, and operates as a division of Albertsons. The United Family operates five distinct retail banners:
United Supermarket - traditional grocery offerings at a competitive price
Market Street - features take-home cuisine, restaurants, gourmet, and everyday grocery items in one store
Amigos United - an international-format store offering a blend of American fare and international cuisine
United Express - a wide variety of on-the-go food options, made-to-order barista specialty coffee and fast access to fuel
Albertsons Market - merges everyday convenience with innovative on-trend products
They each share a single mission: deliver ultimate service, display superior performance and make a positive impact every single day. Dan J. Sanders, who became CEO in June 2004, published a book, Built to Serve, with McGraw-Hillin September 2007. Built to Serve is a management book that stresses the principles on which United was supposedly founded. It focuses on putting people before profits. The foreword was written by Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and the afterword was written by Ken Blanchard, author of The One Minute Manager. Dan stepped down in February 2010 and Robert Taylor was named CEO. On April 1, 2009, United opened its 50th store in Plano, Texas. On January 9, 2013, United opened its newest store in Lubbock. This new Market Street store is much larger and features a much wider selection of products and services. The purpose of this store was to replace an older United Supermarkets store and to be open 24 hours. Most United Supermarkets stores operate from 6 or 7 am until 11 pm, seven days a week. As of February 1, 2016, four stores operate 24 hours a day, including the pharmacy: two stores in Lubbock, one in Wichita Falls, and one in Frisco. Two stores were open 24 hours a day temporarily after the opening of the new store. Both were located in Lubbock.
Acquisition
On September 9, 2013, United Supermarkets LLC was sold to Albertsons LLC. On February 4, 2014, the FTC voted 4–0 to approve the deal. The acquisition deal cost Albertsons $385 million and required Albertsons to sell its single stores in the Amarillo and Wichita Falls, Texas, markets. As part of the acquisition, several Albertsons locations in Eastern New Mexico, which were re-branded as "Albertsons Market", were added to the new United division of Albertsons-Safeway. Expansion in New Mexico continued with the purchase of several Lawrence Brothers locations, and the transfer of stores in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, and Taos, to the United division.
