WinCo Foods, Inc. is a privately held, majority employee-owned American supermarket chain based in Boise, Idaho with retail stores in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington. It previously operated stores as Waremart Food Centers and Cub Foods (under a franchise agreement) until 1999. As of March 2017, it has 114 retail stores and five distribution centers with over 15,000 employees.
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Overview
WinCo Foods is based in Boise, Idaho. It was founded in 1967 and most of the company ownership is held by current and former employees through an employee stock ownership plan. WinCo currently operates five distribution centers in Woodburn, Oregon; Myrtle Creek, Oregon; Boise, Idaho; Phoenix, Arizona; and Modesto, California, and has a total of just over 15,000 employees company-wide.
It reduces operation expenses by purchasing directly from manufacturers and farmers; accepting cash and debit cards, but not credit cards; having basic, no-frills stores; and not providing bagging service.
History
In 1967, it was founded in Boise, Idaho as Waremart by Ralph Ward and Bud Williams. In 1985, an employee stock ownership plan purchased a majority interest of Waremart from the Ward family, giving Waremart employees an ownership stake in the company.
In January 1991, Waremart opened an 82,000 square-foot store in Boise to replace the two older Boise stores. At the time, Waremart was operating 16 stores in the Northwest and had reported annual sales of more than $300 million.
In 1999, Waremart changed its name to WinCo Foods. According to the company, the name WinCo is a portmanteau of Winning Company; however, the company also claims (as a "fun fact") that it also refers to the five states where the company originally operated stores (Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California, and Oregon). One store in Independence, Oregon retains the Waremart name; unlike WinCo branded stores, it is not open 24 hours a day.
In 2007, WinCo Foods accused a competing chain, Save Mart, of directing a lawsuit filed by a neighborhood group Tracy First of Tracy, California, to oppose city approval of a WinCo store. That same year, WinCo Foods opened up in Pittsburg CA.
In early 2009, it opened its first two stores in the Spokane, Washington, area. In October, 2009, WinCo expanded to Utah, adding two stores in West Valley City and Midvale. An additional Utah store opened in Roy on June 28, 2010. bringing the total number of stores expanded to Utah to five. WinCo previously operated stores in Utah under the Waremart banner prior to company's name change.
In January 2011, WinCo began signing leases for an expansion to Southern Nevada and Arizona. The chain opened stores in Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada, on March 4, 2012. The company's first two stores in Arizona opened on April 1, 2012 in the Phoenix area. The company has opened multiple locations in Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In late 2014 it was announced that WinCo will enter the Oklahoma City metro market, starting with a store in Midwest City with plans to open multiple locations in the metro. In March 2017, WinCo opened its 114th store in Moses Lake, Washington.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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