Even in the earliest days of the suburban shopping complex, it was not uncommon for a particular center to have more than one grocery. Kansas City, Missouri's COUNTRY CLUB PLAZA opened, in the 1920s, with a Wolferman's gourmet grocery. This was followed by new Kroger and Muelback On The Plaza food stores in 1946.

Whitehall, Ohio's TOWN & COUNTRY DRIVE-IN CENTER opened Kroger, its first supermarket, in 1949. By early 1952, the strip complex also included Albers and Big Bear grocery stores. One of the nation's first Two Market Malls was Southern California's LAKEWOOD CENTER (1951), which -in 1952- featured Hiram's and The Boys supermarkets.