Our second Food Store Focus section covers Stop & Shop, a tenant at America's second shopping mall. The chain originated with Jacob & Julius Rabinovitz, who founded the Economy Grocery Stores Company, in Somerville, Massachusetts, in May 1914. This concern should not be confused with the Economy Grocery Company (a division of First National Stores), whose corporate offices had been in East Hartford, Connecticut.
Photo from ajhsboston.org
The self-service store format, patented by the Piggly Wiggly chain, was adopted by Economy Grocery Stores in 1918. At this time, there were thirty-two units. In 1929, the store count stood at 368, with thirty of these stores having meat departments. A Stop & Shop Foodmart, the chain's first supermarket, opened -in Cambridge, Massachusetts- in October 1935.
Photo from Stop & Shop, Incorporated Annual Report 1965
An interior view of an early Stop & Shop supermarket. Units of the time averaged between 10,000 and 15,000 square feet. The chain expanderd by acquiring existing grocery store enterprises. Rood & Woodbury came under the corporate umbrella in 1929, Grey United Stores in 1932 and Brockelman Brothers in 1953.
Photo from Stop & Shop, Incorporated Annual Report 1946
The Economy Grocery Stores Corporation expanded into Connecticut in 1941. By 1946, over 90% of all stores were supermarkets operating under the Stop & Shop brand. As a result, the corporate name was changed to Stop & Shop, Incorporated in 1947, with all remaining Economy Grocery Stores being either rebranded or shuttered.
Graphic from Stop & Shop, Incorporated
By 1954, Stop & Shop was overseeing ninety-six stores. Seventy-nine were self-service supermarkets, eight self-service grocery stores, five full service grocery stores and four bakeries. The first Rhode Island stores were dedicated in 1956. The unit seen above opened -in Cranston, Rhode Island- in 1959. With its completion, the company was operating 107 stores.
Photo from Stop & Shop, Incorporated Annual Report 1959
The Framingham, Massachusetts Stop & Shop was added to the 10-year-old SHOPPERS' WORLD mall. This store, a relocation of an earlier unit in the shopping center, encompassed 30,000 square feet and opened for business in October 1961. In the same year, Stop & Shop bought two existing supermarket companies, Park 'N Shop and Tedeschi.
An updated logo made its first appearance in 1964. At this time, Stop & Shop was operating 143 supermarkets in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Photo from Stop & Shop, Incorporated 
In 1970, the Stop & Shop store count was 139. In spite of economic doldrums, the chain expanded to 156 stores by 1975. Store numbers declined to 119 in 1985 and 118 in 1992. Several units in New Jersey and New York State had been either sold or shuttered. On a lighter note: the first Super Stop & Shop store were unveiled -in Pembroke, Massachusetts- in 1982. Super Stores covered between 45,000 and 80,000 square feet.
Photo from Stop & Shop, Incorporated Annual Report 1992
Stop & Shop survived a hostile takeover attempt in February 1988. To insure its survival, it merged with New York City's Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company in March of the same year and was taken private. Stop & Shop became a publicly-traded company again in 1991. An expansion mode in 1995 added new Super Stores in Greater New York City. Moreover, existing chains were acquired. These included Purity Supreme, of Massachusetts, and Melmarkets, of Long Island.
Graphic from Stop & Shop, Incorporated
Graphic from Stop & Shop, Incorporated
STOP & SHOP JUNIOR-ANCHORED SHOPPING MALLS:
*NORTHSHORE CENTER, Peabody, MA (1958)
*CONNECTICUT POST CENTER, Milford, CT (1960)
*SOUTH SHORE PLAZA, Braintree, MA (1961)
