Corporate Office HQ

Checksmart Corporate Office

Checksmart

Community Choice Financial Inc. operates 430 stores in 14 states under the names CheckSmart and California Check Cashing Stores.

History

The company issues unsecured payday loans of up to $1,000, typically charging $8 to $15 per $100 borrowed in addition to interest. Interest rates vary by state but generally exceed 395% APR.

The Better Business Bureau has listed a warning of government action against the parent company in January 2019.

After Ohio passed a law in September 2019 which restricted how these types of financial companies can operate, CheckSmart said that it would no longer provide payday loans in Ohio. The company does still offer these loans in other states, however.

Community Choice Financial Inc. is the parent company of CheckSmart, and it issues title loans and prepaid MasterCard debit cards as well as offers check cashing services, money transfers, bill payments, and money orders.

Community Choice Financial Inc. operates 430 stores in 14 states under the names CheckSmart and California Check Cashing Stores. The company issues unsecured payday loans of up to $1,000, typically charging $8 to $15 per $100 borrowed in addition … [Continue reading] about Checksmart Corporate Office

Trader Joe’s Corporate Office

Trader Joe's

Trader Joe’s was founded by Joe Coulombe in 1958 as a convenience store chain called Pronto Market. The stores were similar to 7-Eleven stores. Coulombe felt that direct competition with 7-Eleven would be ruinous, so he changed the concept of his stores.

After a vacation in the Carribean, Coulombe decided that a “Tiki” theme would be pleasing. He noticed that more and more people were returning from their vacations with food items they enjoyed. Coulombe decided that he would experiment by ordering food and wines that were not easily found in regular supermarkets. This is still true today and one of the reasons why Trader Joe’s is such as success.

History

The first “Trader Joe’s” opened in 1967 on Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena, California. The first stores featured fresh meat from butchers who leased space in the stores, freshly squeezed orange juice, fresh cut cheese, and sandwich shops.

Theo Albrecht of Aldi Nord bought Trader Joe’s in 1979 and began to expand the company beyond California.

Between 1990 and 2001 the chain quintupled store numbers and multiplied its profit by ten. Trader Joe’s sales for 2015 were estimated to be as much as $13 billion.

Trader Joe’s supermarkets have about 4,000 products, compared to about 50,000 in an average supermarket. 80% of these products are private label brands. Trader Joe’s stocks gourmet foods, organic foods, vegetarian foods, unusual frozen foods, imported foods, domestic and imported wine and beer, and staples like bread, eggs, cereal, and produce.

Trader Joe’s has an excellent reputation as a fair employer, paying above union wages. It was also part of MSN Money’s Customer Service Hall of Fame in 2009 and 2010.

The company is the exclusive retailer of Charles Shaw Wines, often referred to as Two Buck Chuck because of its original $1.99 price tag.

Beginning in 2008, the company began phasing out products from China due to customer concerns about purity and quality. Trader Joe’s sells many items under its own private labels, at a significant discount to brand-name equivalents, and requires its brand-name suppliers not to publicize this business relationship.

Post pandemic shopping habits have changed and Trader Joe’s might suffer because of it.

In September 2020, Whole Foods took the #1 spot over Trader Joe’s as the best workplace for graduates according to Forbes.

Today Trader Joe’s has 474 stores in 43 states, with the heaviest concentration in California. The company is constantly expanding, with many stores carrying as much as 50,000 items. Headquarters remain in Monrovia, California.

Trader Joe's was founded by Joe Coulombe in 1958 as a convenience store chain called Pronto Market. The stores were similar to 7-Eleven stores. Coulombe felt that direct competition with 7-Eleven would be ruinous, so he changed the concept of his … [Continue reading] about Trader Joe’s Corporate Office

Big Y Corporate Office

Big Y Foods

Brothers Paul and Gerry D’Amour bought the Y Cash Market in Chicopee, MA in 1936. Y Cash Market was at an intersection where two roads converged to form a Y.

In 1947 the D’Amour brothers opened a second Y Cash Market store. In 1952 the brothers opened a 10,000 square foot store in Chicopee, MA, near the Westover Air Base. Because the store was bigger and more modern than other supermarkets in the area, the brothers named the store “Big Y Supermarket.”

In 1960 the brothers expanded to Northampton, Massachusetts with a 30,000 square foot store, the biggest in Western Massachusetts at the time. By 1968 the company had six locations.

History

Big Y turned 50 in 1986; on this anniversary the chain had 21 locations and 1,600 employees.

Today Big Y has 60 locations in Massachusetts and Connecticut, many of which are located in the metropolitan areas of Springfield, Worcester, and Hartford. Big Y is one of the largest independently-owned supermarket chains in New England and employs 8,500 people.

Brothers Paul and Gerry D'Amour bought the Y Cash Market in Chicopee, MA in 1936. Y Cash Market was at an intersection where two roads converged to form a Y. In 1947 the D'Amour brothers opened a second Y Cash Market store. In 1952 the brothers … [Continue reading] about Big Y Corporate Office

Associated Supermarkets Corporate Office

Associated Food Stores

Associated Supermarkets, also known as Associated Food Stores, was founded in 1940 by Donald P. Lloyd, president of the Utah Retail Grocers Association, along with 34 other retailers.

Lloyd was concerned that small independent retailers would be adversely affected by large corporate stores and could only survive by uniting and facing the competition with their collective bargaining power.

Lloyd along with the 34 other retailers each gave $300 to build an independent and associated warehouse.

History

Today Associated Food Stores supplies 500 independently owned retail supermarkets and operates corporate stores under five different names: Fresh Market, Macey’s, Lin’s, Dick’s Market, and Dan’s.

Associated Food Stores has 1,400 employees and had $1.9 billion in revenue in 2011.

Associated Supermarkets, also known as Associated Food Stores, was founded in 1940 by Donald P. Lloyd, president of the Utah Retail Grocers Association, along with 34 other retailers. Lloyd was concerned that small independent retailers would be … [Continue reading] about Associated Supermarkets Corporate Office

Piggly Wiggly Corporate Office

Piggly Wiggly

Piggly Wiggly was founded by Clarence Saunders in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee. It was the first true self-service grocery store.

Piggly Wiggly Corporation secured the self-service format and issued franchises to hundreds of grocery retailers for the operation of its stores. In this self-service format, customers entered the store through a turnstile and chose merchandise while walking through the store’s 4 aisles of products.

At the company’s peak in 1932, Piggly Wiggly operated 2,660 stores with annual sales of $180 million.

History

Saunders lost control of Piggly Wiggly in 1922 after he lost most of his assets in a bad stock deal. The company was then divided into strategic units and sold to regional grocery chains.

The now-smaller Piggly Wiggly Corporation continued to prosper as a franchiser for hundreds of independently-owned grocery stores that are licensed to do business under the Piggly Wiggly name.

Today Piggly Wiggly has more than 600 independently-owned Piggly Wiggly stores in 17 states.

Piggly Wiggly was founded by Clarence Saunders in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee. It was the first true self-service grocery store. Piggly Wiggly Corporation secured the self-service format and issued franchises to hundreds of grocery retailers for … [Continue reading] about Piggly Wiggly Corporate Office