- Brookshire Grocery Company
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Brookshire Grocery Company 
Type Private Industry Retail (Grocery) Founded Tyler, Texas, 1928 Headquarters Tyler, Texas USA Number of locations 151 Key people Rick Rayford, President and CEO Employees 12,700 Divisions Brookshire's Food Stores
Super 1 Foods Stores
Olé Foods Stores
ALPs StoresBrookshire Grocery Company is a Tyler, Texas-based supermarket chain with 151 stores operating in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Until recently[when?], the company had operated 4 stores in Mississippi but recently pulled out with a sale to Kroger and a local chain, Food Depot. The company was founded in 1928 by Wood T. and Louise Brookshire, when they opened their first 25 x 100-foot (30 m) store on Tyler’s downtown square. Brookshire's was originally part of the Brookshire Brothers chain, which was founded seven years earlier in Lufkin, Texas. The companies split in 1939, when Wood T. Brookshire took control of the Tyler-area stores in exchange for his share in the Brookshire Brothers partnership.[1] The companies are no longer related except by name.
Contents
History
In the 1940s, the company expanded to other neighboring communities and opened its first shopping center location. Brookshire’s first warehouse opened in Tyler in 1953.
The 1960s saw the company's expansion into Louisiana and the construction of a 175,000-square-foot (16,300 m2) distribution center in Tyler.
The company opened several Super 1 Foods stores in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in the late 1990s and early 2000s, some of which were replacements for nearby Brookshire's locations. The company sold all metro area stores to (now defunct) Fleming, which re-branded them as Rainbow Foods. All Rainbow stores were closed when Fleming went out of business.
The Brookshire Grocery Company also opened FRESH by Brookshire's in Tyler, TX on February 16, 2011.
Today
Today the company has more than 13,795 employee/partners serving customers in four store formats.
The company has long been known for its benevolent contributions and community service. Brookshire Grocery Co. is a loyal supporter of local food banks, schools, and various charitable organizations. Each year the company organizes an effort known as the Spirit of Christmas Food Drive that collects and delivers enough food to provide several meals for some 15,000 households of people in need. Brookshire’s Benefit Golf Tournament raises upwards of $230,000 annually for the Children's Miracle Network and other children’s charities. The company’s Adopt-A-School Program teams up employee/partners with neighborhood schools and students to provide support for everything from mentoring programs to fundraisers. In 2005, partners built their first Habitat for Humanity house in Tyler. In all, the company contributes to more than 800 organizations each year.
Leaving Mississippi
In 2002, Brookshire's bought four Albertsons stores in Mississippi.
On February 11, 2010; after a decline in market grocery shares against Kroger and Walmart, Brookshire's exited Mississippi with a sale of two stores (in Flowood and Ridgeland) to Kroger and closure of two other stores (both in Jackson). In late 2011, Brookshire's sold their South Jackson store at 2861 Terry Road to Kosciusko, MS based supermarket chain known as FOOD DEPOT. The North Jackson location is still closed, but could find a buyer soon.
External links
References
- ^ "Brookshire Grocery Company." The Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved on February 13, 2011.
2. http://freshbybrookshires.com/
Categories:- Companies based in Texas
- Tyler, Texas
- Economy of Arkansas
- Economy of Louisiana
- Economy of Mississippi
- Southern United States
- Supermarkets of the United States
- Companies established in 1928
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