Rainbow Foods

Rainbow Foods

File:Rainbow Foods Logo.jpg
Company type	Subsidiary (1994–2018), Privately held (1983–1994)
Industry	Retail, Grocery
Founded	October 1, 1983 (October 1, 1983)
Defunct	Template:End date and age
Headquarters	Stillwater, Minnesota
Products	Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks
Parent	SuperValu (2014–2018), Roundy's (2003–2014), Fleming Companies (1994–2003)
Website	Archived official website at the Wayback Machine (archived February 12, 2014)

Rainbow Foods was a supermarket chain based in Minnesota. Established in 1983, the company operated over 40 outlets statewide at its height, ranking as the second-largest grocery retailer in the Twin Cities region after Cub Foods. The expansion of competitors such as Aldi and Hy-Vee throughout the 2000s and early 2010s led to a reduction of Rainbow Foods locations to 27 by May 2014. Shortly following this period, nine stores were shuttered, while eighteen others were sold by then-owner Roundy's; only six retained the Rainbow Foods branding.

History

In 1983, Sid Applebaum and D. B. Reinhart of Gateway Foods launched Rainbow Foods, which grew to become the second-largest grocery retailer within the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The chain was acquired by Texas-based wholesaler Fleming Companies in 1994. Throughout the 1990s, Rainbow expanded by constructing multiple stores throughout suburban areas of Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Following its acquisition by Roundys in 2003, Rainbow began integrating Leeann Chin restaurants into several of its locations. The first two Leeann Chin establishments opened within the Maple Grove and Bloomington stores in July 2004; over the subsequent years, ten such restaurants operated inside Rainbow Foods stores; however, by 2007 only two remained and these eventually ceased operations.

Decline

The downturn of Rainbow Foods is often traced back to the year 2000, when Fleming placed Rainbow along with several other supermarket chains on the market. Potential purchasers at that time included major grocery corporations such as Safeway and Albertsons. Albertsons came close to acquiring Rainbow Foods but ultimately withdrew from the transaction. When Fleming finalized the sale of Rainbow Foods in 2003, Albertsons again expressed interest but pulled out once more.

In 2003, Fleming Companies sold leases for 31 Rainbow Foods locations to Milwaukee-based Roundys for $82.5 million. Fleming chose to shutter the remaining 12 stores it still operated and exited the chain entirely.

Unexpectedly, on May 7, 2014, Roundys declared the sale of 18 Rainbow Foods outlets to a group of local competitors and businesses for $65 million. This group included Lunds and Byerlys, SuperValu—the owner of Minnesota’s leading grocery chain, Cub Foods—as well as Jerry's Enterprises, Haug Enterprises, and Radermacher Enterprises.

Unable to secure buyers for nine remaining stores, Roundys closed these locations on July 22, 2014.
The stores acquired by the consortium were rebranded as Cub and Lunds and Byerlys, while six outlets continued operating under the Rainbow name, managed by different consortium members.

In September 2014, just four months after purchasing the West St. Paul Rainbow location, Jerry's Enterprises announced plans to close that store in November. In correspondence with city officials, Jerry's cited "business considerations" as the basis for shutting down its Rainbow store at 1660 S. Robert St. The Minneapolis Lake Street Rainbow was also scheduled for closure according to Jerry's statements. These closures followed nine other Rainbow supermarkets that ceased operations in July 2014 after Roundys exited the Twin Cities market. Following these shutdowns, only four Rainbow stores remained.

Both the Lake Street and Robert Street locations were slated to close by November 9, 2014, leaving just four Rainbow stores operational. In July 2016, a Plymouth location was converted into a Cub store, which itself closed two years later and has since become a Hy-Vee store. After this transition, three Rainbow stores remained. On September 21, 2017, the Midway Shopping Center location in St. Paul closed due to demolition required for construction of a soccer stadium, which necessitated removal of the store and part of the mall.

In March 2018, the Richfield HUB location near 66th Street ceased operations, leaving just one remaining Rainbow Foods store in Maplewood. On September 14 of that year, it was announced that this final Maplewood outlet would close on September 17, marking the official conclusion of Rainbow Foods after a 35-year presence. The building was later transformed into a Hy-Vee store that opened in June 2021. At closing time, SuperValu owned and operated the Maplewood location; SuperValu also controlled the Cub store located across the street.

External links

• Official website