Buttrey Food & Drug

Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = Buttrey Food & Drug
company_
slogan =
fate = Acquired by Albertsons, some locations sold
successor = Albertsons (with some stores sold to Smith's Food and Drug and Save-A-Lot)
foundation = 1896
defunct = 1998
location = Great Falls, Montana, USA
industry = Retail, Grocery
key_people =
products = Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks, liquor
num_employees =
parent = Jewel Companies (1966-1984), American Stores (1984-1998)
subsid =

Buttrey Food & Drug was a chain of grocery stores founded in Havre, Montana, United States.

History

Buttrey Department Store

Buttrey Food & Drug was founded in 1896 by Frank A. Buttrey when Frank opened The Fair Store in Havre, Montana. The original store was destroyed by fire in 1904 which caused him re-open his store but this time under a new name Buttrey Department Store. Then in early 1940s Frank Buttrey starting opening grocery stores and soon became the market leader in Montana, serving some of the state's smallest and biggest towns. During the time when the grocery stores were opened the department stores were named Buttrey Suburban. Frank Buttrey died in 1949. In 1966, the company sold its department store subsidiary when the company was acquired by Jewel. The department stores eventually closed in the 1970s.

Buttrey first ventured outside Montana in 1962, when they built a 40,000 square foot "Superstore" in Boise, Idaho. That Boise store was a resounding success, and for many years the Hillcrest Plaza store was Buttrey's one of the company's highest grossing store.

Jewel Companies

Buttrey's was acquired by Jewel Companies of Chicago in 1966, and many of the stores were converted to Jewel's combination store format and bannered as Buttrey-Osco, with common checkout stands but separate store management, all under one roof. Soon Jewel Companies financed a far-flung expansion plan. At its peak in the early 1980s, Buttrey operated stores in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, western Minnesota, Wyoming, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, Utah, and Idaho, approximately 60 stores spread thinly over a 2,000-mile-wide territory.

American Stores

When Jewel was acquired by American Stores in 1984, the Buttrey stores were renamed Buttrey Food and Drug, and the food and drug management functions were merged with American's Utah "Skaggs-Alpha Beta" stores. American put Buttrey and Philadelphia-based supermarket chain Acme on the market soon after acquiring Jewel, to raise money to pay down American's staggering debt load from the Jewel acquisition. Neither chain received an acceptable offer, so American continued to operate them, but did not invest heavily in remodeling or new construction.

Buttrey retreated from several markets, closing the Skaggs Alpha-Beta stores in Utah, and all its stores in the Fargo-Moorhead market, then Boise and Pocatello, Idaho, then Idaho Falls and Twin Falls, Idaho, and finally Tri-Cities, Yakima, Moses Lake and Wenatchee, Washington. By the early 90s, Buttrey operated 34 stores in its core market in Montana, plus 8 in Wyoming and Williston and Dickinson, North Dakota.

Albertsons

Buttrey was finally spun off to its management in the early 1990s. The company was acquired by Albertsons in 1998, and most Buttrey locations were converted into Albertsons stores; 7 were sold to Fred Meyer to address anti-trust concerns and were converted to Smith's Food and Drug stores. 2 were sold to Supervalu and converted to Save-A-Lot stores. [ [http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1998/09/albertso.htm FTC Negotiates Settlements in Albertson's/Buttrey Merger to Keep Supermarket Prices Competitive in Montana and Wyoming] ]

References