Grace's offers catering and gift baskets. Due to popular demand the company has opened a second location, on Long Island, and a takeout shop in La Guardia Airport. The market was opened in 1985 by Joseph and Grace Balducci Doria (whose parents founded Balducci's) and is now run by their children.Grace quite easily makes the final cut in the "Mother of the Year" contest. Grace's Marketplace offers gourmet foods through its storefront in the Upper East End of New York City and also operates Italian eatery, Grace's Trattoria, on the same city block. In addition to its deli items, fresh-baked goods and meats.

Great Harvest Franchising acquired Montana Mills from doughnut-maker Krispy Kreme in 2005. The six-store bakery chain in upstate New York was converted to Great Harvest locations in early 2006. Founded by Pete and Laura Wakeman in 1978, Great Harvest was sold in 2001 to a group of North Carolina investors, including Mike Ferretti, who became CEO.Great Harvest Franchising (dba Great Harvest Bread Company) helps entrepreneurs not only bake bread but earn it. The company franchises its name and baking techniques to more than 210 bakeries in some 40 US states. In exchange for sending 7% of their sales to Great Harvest, owners receive bread recipes, baking techniques, and advice about accounting and store design.

Grocery Outlet founded in 1946, the third-generation family-owned company sold an equity stake to the Boston-based private equity firm Berkshire Partners in fall 2009. Grocery Outlet Inc. Company Profile Grocery Outlet operates about 135 deep-discount supermarkets in a half dozen western states, primarily California, Oregon, and Washington. The stores, which average about 20,000 square feet, sell a wide range of name-brand products, including groceries, wine and beer, fresh produce, household items, health and beauty care products, and over-the-counter drugs at up to 60% less than traditional supermarket chains. More than 50 of Grocery Outlet's stores are located in California.

Guyenne et Gascogne and Carrefour jointly own Sogara, which operates about a dozen Carrefour hypermarkets in southwest France. In addition, Sogara owns about 8% of Centros Comerciales Carrefour (Carrefour's Spanish subsidiary), which operates some 165 Carrefour hypermarkets and 100-plus Carrefour Express supermarkets and Carrefour City stores. The Beau family owns about a fifth of Guyenne et Gascogne.Guyenne et Gascogne cares for Carrefour. Established in 1913, Guyenne et Gascogne is a leading franchise operator for French-based supermarket giant Carrefour. Guyenne et Gascogne (named after two ancient French provinces) runs 30-plus Carrefour hypermarkets and Champion supermarkets in southwestern France.

Haggen showers shoppers in the Pacific Northwest with salmon, coffee, and other essentials. The area's largest independent grocer, Haggen operates 30-plus combination supermarkets throughout Washington and Oregon. Most upscale Haggen Food & Pharmacy stores feature specialty departments, while the TOP Food & Drug outlets emphasize savings; however, both may offer such amenities as Starbucks coffee shops, Blockbuster video outlets, or child-care centers. To keep up with the Joneses of supermarket fame and fortune, Haggen partnered with ShopEaze.com (an e-commerce service provider), which failed, leaving Haggen without an online store. Brothers and co-chairmen Don and Rick Haggen own the chain.

Hannaford Bros. may have started as a fruit and vegetable stand in 1883, but it has expanded from its Maine roots to become an upscale grocer with more than 170 stores under the Hannaford Supermarkets banner throughout Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, upstate New York, and Vermont. Still, produce continues to be a major focus at the Hannaford supermarkets, as are expansive meat selections and natural food products. More than 75% of the Hannaford stores are combination grocery stores and pharmacies. The stores average about 48,500 sq. ft. Maine's largest supermarket chain, Hannaford Bros. is owned by Delhaize America (parent of Food Lion), which in turn is owned by Belgium's Delhaize Group.

Harps operated as a family-run chain until 2001 when it became an employee-owned business.It's tough to survive in the face of Arkansas giant Wal-Mart, but Harps Food Stores (founded when Sam Walton was 12 years old) is putting up a fight. The company, which got its start when Floy and Harvard Harp put down $500 cash and opened the first Harp's Cash Grocery in 1930, operates more than 60 grocery stores, mostly in Arkansas but also in Missouri and Oklahoma. Its stores, operating under the Harps Food Stores and Price Cutter Food Warehouse banners, range in size from 13,000 to 63,000 sq. ft. and often feature bakeries, pharmacies, and meat departments

Homeland still has struggled as a result of stiff competition from Wal-Mart and other rival chains.Shoppers who call Oklahoma home shop at Homeland Stores' supermarkets. The regional grocery chain, a division of grocery distributorAssociated Wholesale Grocers (AWG), operates more than 45 stores throughout Oklahoma and a single store in Kansas. AWG operates Homeland stores through its Associated Retail Grocers subsidiary and supplies the majority of the products sold in Homeland stores. The stores sell groceries and general merchandise; most have delicatessens, pharmacies, and some have specialty departments (ethnic foods, floral services, seafood).

Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg founded the employee-owned firm in 1930. It takes its name from a combination of its founders' names.Give Hy-Vee a high five for being one of the largest privately owned US supermarket chains, despite serving some modestly sized towns in the Midwest. The company runs more than 200 Hy-Vee supermarkets in eight Midwestern states: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. About half of its stores are in Iowa, as are most of its two dozen Hy-Vee drugstores. It distributes products to its stores through several subsidiaries, including Lomar Distributing (specialty foods) and Perishable Distributors of Iowa (fresh foods).

IGA grocers are independent, but not alone. The world's largest voluntary supermarket network, IGA has 6,200 stores in more than 40 countries worldwide, including about 1,350 in the US. Collectively, its members are among North America's leaders in terms of supermarket sales. IGA (which stands for either International or Independent Grocers Alliance, the company says) is owned by about 35 worldwide distribution companies, including SUPERVALU. Members can sell IGA-brand private-label products (over 2,300 items) and take advantage of joint operations and services, such as advertising and volume buying. Some stores in the IGA alliance, which primarily caters to smaller towns, also sell gas.

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