Genuardi's

Genuardi's Family Markets L.P.

Company type	Privately held company
Industry	Supermarket
Founded	1920
Fate	Acquired by Safeway in 2000; stores sold or closed by 2015
Headquarters	East Norriton Township, Montgomery County , United States
Area served	Northeastern United States (Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania)
Products	Bakery, dairy, deli, floral, frozen foods, groceries, meat, produce, seafood, snacks, Starbucks coffee, Western Union services
Parent	Safeway (from 2000)

Genuardi's Family Markets L.P. was a privately held supermarket chain operating in the Northeastern United States. Established in 1920, it became part of Safeway in 2000. The corporate headquarters were situated in East Norriton Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

This chain primarily served customers in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, providing a range of goods and services such as bakery items, dairy products, deli selections, floral arrangements, frozen foods, general groceries, meats, fresh produce, seafood, snacks, Starbucks coffee offerings, and Western Union services. After Safeway's acquisition, numerous Genuardi's outlets were either sold off or shut down. The final store under the Genuardi's banner operated by Safeway was located in Audubon, Pennsylvania until its closure in May 2015.

20th century

The origins of the business trace back to 1920 when Gaspare and Josephine Genuardi managed a farm near Norristown, Pennsylvania, delivering fruits and vegetables to local customers. Their five sons—Charlie, Frank, Tom, Joe, and Jim—became known collectively as the "Genuardi brothers" and played a key role in growing the family enterprise. The first supermarket was launched in Norristown in 1954 and remained the oldest location until it eventually closed. In addition to supermarkets, the family operated a nursery and florist business in Norristown.

The Genuardi brothers expanded their supermarket presence throughout western suburbs of Philadelphia, including counties such as Bucks, Delaware, Chester, and Montgomery, deliberately avoiding stores within Philadelphia city limits. In 1975, they acquired former Pantry Pride (initially Food Fair) and A&P locations. Later in 1985, they added some ex-A&P stores that were turned down by Super Fresh.

Expansion beyond Norristown started during the 1980s. By the late 1980s, control passed to the third generation—Jim Jr., Joe Jr., Charles A., Larry, Tom Jr., Michael, Anthony, Skip, and David Genuardi—with Charles A. assuming the role of President and CEO. The company also ran a discount grocery brand named Mad Grocer. By the late 1990s, Genuardi's extended its footprint into Delaware and New Jersey. Marketing campaigns typically used an anglicized pronunciation of the brand name despite its Italian origins.

21st century

In February 2001, ownership transferred from the Genuardi family to Safeway. By mid-2004, all stores located in Delaware were rebranded as Safeway following unionization efforts; Safeway already had operations in southern Delaware at that time. This transition met with community resistance due to increased prices, replacement of many products with Safeway’s private labels, and introduction of a loyalty program not previously offered by Genuardi's. Aside from the Delaware conversions, Genuardi's stores remained non-union despite Safeway’s unionized presence elsewhere.

Grocery delivery services began at select stores in 2005 through online ordering fulfilled by truck deliveries. That same year saw closures of underperforming locations in East Windsor, New Jersey and Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania—the latter site later converted into a ShopRite.

By 2010, Safeway had shut several more poorly performing stores across Pennsylvania (in Newtown Square, Glen Mills, Chesterbrook, Lansdale) and New Jersey (Voorhees), choosing not to renew leases at those sites.

In September 2011, Safeway initiated discussions about divesting part or all of Genuardi's; this led to an agreement with Giant-Carlisle. On January 5, 2012 Giant acquired fifteen Genuardi's stores throughout Philadelphia for $106 million (~$ in ). Giant proceeded to reopen five former Genuardi’s locations weekly through July 2012.

In February 2012 Weis Markets purchased three stores situated in Montgomery and Bucks counties; these reopened on June 16. The Newtown store transitioned to McCaffrey's Food Markets on July 15 after failing to reach a deal with Giant.

The Cherry Hill location ceased operations on August 4, 2012; it was subsequently converted into a Whole Foods Market. Stores in Barnegat and Egg Harbor Township/Northfield closed on December 12, 2012. Barnegat reopened as Acme Markets in February 2016 following Albertsons’ acquisition of Safeway; Egg Harbor Township became JR's Fresh Market in 2015 before closing in 2018 and later transforming into a Lidl store in 2021.

The Marlton outlet shut down on February 12, 2013. The final remaining store in Audubon closed on May 27, 2015; it later reopened as a Redner's location in 2019.

Sources

• Genuardi Family Markets Employee Manual, 1995.

External links

• (Archived version)