Modesto, Calif. — The Save Mart Companies (TSMC), California’s largest regional, family-owned grocer, is marking its 70th anniversary. The Save Mart Companies, which operates more than 200 stores throughout California and Northern Nevada, started with Save Mart in the Central Valley and has grown to include the FoodMaxx value format and Lucky California in the San Francisco Bay Area — all with the focused dedication to fulfill the evolving needs of shoppers.
“I am incredibly grateful of our 70-year history established by our founding families and continued by our current family of extraordinary store managers and team members,” says Chris McGarry, chief executive officer.
To mark the anniversary, TSMC is donating $70,000 to partner food banks, strengthening its commitment to neighborhoods and communities.
The Save Mart Companies humbly started in the Central Valley in 1952 with its first Save Mart supermarket and today employs more than 14,000 team members across its 200 stores, distribution centers and in the store support centers.
The 1980s saw the creation of FoodMaxx, the company’s value-format style grocery stores. FoodMaxx is proudly a non-conventional grocery store, beating the competition’s prices with its innovative procurement and hyper-efficient operations, including its ability to buy in bulk, stock shelves directly from delivery trucks, and having customers bag their own groceries — all of which allows FoodMaxx to offer budget-friendly solutions and pass along additional savings to its customers.
In 2007, The Save Mart Companies acquired and restored the Lucky banner in 66 stores located in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2015, the company embarked on a brand re-positioning of Lucky stores to Lucky California. Today, Lucky California provides fresh, quality groceries with a hyper-local product assortment reflecting the neighborhood’s tastes and preferences, always with everyday lower prices and great weekly promotions.
The Save Mart Companies continually explores new ways to better serve its shoppers. Through its partnership with Instacart, the home delivery service, the company was the first conventional grocer in Northern California to offer electronic benefit transfer (EBT) payments, allowing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries to utilize Instacart’s same-day grocery delivery and pickup services at Save Mart, Lucky California and FoodMaxx locations.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jay Sousa
In 2020, the company launched an innovative, on-demand grocery delivery service to its customers in partnership with leading San Francisco-based robot delivery company Starship Technologies. The Save Mart Companies was the first grocer in the U.S. to launch the Starship autonomous robot delivery service (pictured at right) at the Save Mart flagship store in Modesto. This same robot delivery service recently debuted at Lucky California’s flagship store in Pleasanton.
For more than 70 years, The Save Mart Companies has proudly been rooted in communities and neighborhoods, throughout California and Northern Nevada. In addition to its retail operation, the company also operates Smart Refrigerated Transport and is a partner in Super Store Industries (SSI), which owns and operates a distribution center in Lathrop and the Sunnyside Farms dairy processing plant in Turlock. For more information, visit www.TheSaveMartCompanies.com.
SOURCE: The Save Mart Companies