Finast

Finast was a retail supermarket brand in the northeastern United States until being absorbed by Edwards and its Dutch parent Royal Ahold in the mid-1990s. Its name was an acronym for "First National Stores Inc." Even after the store name was shortened, many still referred to the store as "The First National". Finast was originally based in Somerville, Massachusetts, prior to their switch over to the Edwards name. The base was then moved to Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

The stores not absorbed into Edwards, mostly in the Cleveland, Ohio metropolitan area, retained the Finast name through the end of the decade, when Ahold remodeled them into Tops Friendly Markets, its Buffalo, New York-based unit. Ahold continued to use the "Finast" name on its private-label products in its other grocery chains, including Giant, after retiring the Finast banner, but it phased out that name in favor of products matching each chain's name.

Trivia

The Finast store in Orleans, Massachusetts in Cranberry Commons, even after the name shortening, retained its original "First National Stores" sign until it closed in the late 1980s. The site is now home to a Staples office supply store.

Senator John Kerry worked as a stocker for First National in Acton and Ayer, MA during the summers while attending St Paul's and Yale.