Schnucks

Schnucks (originally "Schnuck's") is the 18th-largestfact|date=September 2008 privately held grocery store chain in the United States. Now based in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, the company was started in 1939 with the opening of a convert|1000|sqft|m2|sing=on store in north St. Louis city and now operates more than 100 stores in seven states throughout the mid-south and midwest.

History

Edwin and Anna Schnuck and sons Donald and Edward Schnuck founded Schnuck Markets, Inc., in St. Louis in 1939. In 1946, the first large scale retail store was opened, measuring convert|2700|sqft|m2. By 1952, the first major store was opened in Brentwood, a St. Louis suburb. The Schnucks symbol of a soldier was introduced in an advertising campaign in 1968 (during the Vietnam War). Schnucks continued to grow and acquire stores throughout Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Schnucks underwent a major expansion in 1995 when it purchased from Loblaws the National Supermarkets chain, also based in St. Louis. (A previous merger in 1970 had seen Schnucks acquire the Bettendorf-Rapp chain of grocery stores -- temporarily forming the "Schnucks-Bettendorf's" chain until the latter half of the combined name was dropped a couple of years later -- just as Bettendorf's had swallowed up the Rapp chain of stores to form "Bettendorf-Rapp's" in the 1960s.) Part of the Schnucks growth in the St. Louis grocery market also has to do with the abandonment of the St. Louis area by the A&P chain, also in the '70s, and the Kroger chain in 1986.

Expansion

Schnucks continues to rapidlyfact|date=September 2008 expand. In 2002, Schnucks agreed to buy 12 Seessel's stores in the Memphis metropolitan area from Albertson's. Six of the Seessel's supermarkets are less than three years old, and 10 have in-store pharmacies. Six of the stores also include gas stations, a new business venture for Schnuck's. Schnuck's first looked at Seessel's in 1992, but no deal was made until ten years later.fact|date=September 2008 Today, Schnucks operates 13 stores in the greater Memphis, Tennessee area (which includes the southern suburbs in Mississippi). In April 2008, Schnucks announced a new store opening in Downtown St. Louis in the spring of 2009. The new store will be located in the heart of the downtown business district. Downtown St. Louis has had a resurgence of new residential lofts, apartments, and condos.

Leadership

In 2006, Craig Schnuck announced he would become chairman of the executive committee while his brother Scott Schnuck assumed the role as chairman and CEO. Todd Schnuck is the current president. Craig Schnuck, former CEO, is still active in day-to-day decisions now as chairman of the executive committee. The company continues to be family owned, with the fourth generation now working for the company.

In 2007, the company decided to better challenge Wal-Mart and begin a new campaign called Recipe for Success. Also they started a new program where they would lower 10,000 prices across all markets to be more competitive with Wal-Mart. Scott, Todd and Craig Schnuck led this new plan.(1) They also led a charge to make all the employees knowledgeable on the topic of the food they sell.

Uniform

The Schnucks employees' uniform includes faded blue denim collared shirts with an embroidered Schnucks soldier. The uniform also requires employees to wear khaki pants, a brown or black belt, and white, tan, or brown shoes. Hair longer than shoulder length is to be pulled back in a ponytail. Any additional sweaters worn must have the Schnucks name embroidered on it.

External links

* [http://www.schnucks.com Schnucks]
* [http://www.schnucks.com/about.asp#history Official History of Schnucks]
* [http://www.robertstinnett.com/node/3 History of National Supermarkets]