AT ONE TIME THIS WAS ONE OF THE GREAT CHAINS.

THE NATIONAL TEA COMPANY

Based in Chicago, the first National Tea store opened in 1899. Number of locations peaked in 1929 at 1627. Consolidation had reduced this number to 883 by 1957. During the 1950s, National acquired numerous chains including:

• C.F. Smith Stores (St. Louis)
• Northwest Piggly Wiggly
• G.T. Smith's Market Basket
• Dale Supermarkets
• Food Center stores (selected locations)
• Capital Stores (Baton Rouge)
• Ashton's (Gulfport)
• H.A. Smith (Memphis)
• Montag's (Memphis)
• Maker's (Michigan)
• Illinois Valley Stores (selected locations)
• Devan's (Mobile AL)
• Logan's (Nashville TN)
• Council Oak Stores (Minnesota)
• Miller's Supermarkets (Colorado)
• Standard Supermarkets (Indiana)

National itself was acquired by Loblaw Companies of Canada in 1955, and stores contuinued to operate under the National and Loblaw names. Stores also operated under the "Big D" banner. in 1964, the chain was operating all over the Midwest, the South, and the Great Plains.

In the 1970s, Loblaw started divesting unprofitable stores, starting with 250 Chicago, Syracuse, and California stores in 1976. Indianapolis was sold in 1982, Minneapolis in 1983, and all remaining U.S. assets by 1995. St. Louis and New Orleans were the last regions to be sold.

Loblaw's is still an active retailer in Canada, operating stores under its own names as well as under the Zehr's, Fortino's, and Atlantic Superstores banners.

FROM THE NATIONAL TEA COMPANY CAME THESE STORES,

National Supermarkets was the second largest grocery chain in both the St. Louis, Missouri and New Orleans, Louisiana areas of the United States. Both firms were owned by Loblaw Companies of Canada, but in June 1995, they were sold by Loblaw to Schnucks Markets.^[1] Immediately after that, per the FTC, Schnucks sold the National New Orleans division to Schwegmann Giant Super Markets of Metairie, Louisiana, which later sold them to Great A&P, which finally sold them to Rouse Markets in 2007. National itself had cemented the number two spot in St. Louis by acquiring several former Kroger locations and the Kroger distribution center in the market when the latter exited St. Louis in 1986. Kroger and National had been battling for the number two and three spots since the 1970s, swapping rankings several times over throughout the '70s and '80s.

New Orleans and St. Louis represented the last two divisions of National Supermarkets, aka National Tea, which originated in Chicago in 1899, making the chain one of the oldest in the USA. It was also one of the largest, ranking as the fifth largest in the late 1960s, only A&P, Safeway, Kroger, and Food Fair were larger. Loblaw bought the company in 1955. Among the chains National acquired were Miller's (Mobile, AL), Standard (Indianapolis), and Applebaum's (Minneapolis). Besides the National and Standard banners, Big D and Del Farm banners were used in the Midwest.

Former divisions existed in Denver, Sioux Falls, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, the Quad Cities, Indianapolis, Chicago, Youngstown, Memphis, and Nashville, making the chain the largest serving the Mississippi Valley. Major rivals included Jewel, Red Owl, Bettendorf-Rapp(Allied), Kroger, A&P, Dominick's, Eagle Food Centers, Hy-Vee, Marsh's, Winn-Dixie, Hill's, Fisher/Fazio's/Costa, Thorofare, and Safeway, depending on the market.

National's logo was Loblaw's logo turned upside down to look like an "N".

Failed resurrection

As a condition of buying National from Loblaws, Schnucks had to sell off 24 stores for antitrust reasons. In 1996, Family Company of America, a group led by Belleville, Illinois financial consultant Jim Gibson, bought 23 stores from Schnucks and reopened them under the name National Markets. However, the new National was unable to make much headway against Schnucks, and disappeared for good in April 1999.^[2]

After the bankruptcy, it emerged that Gibson had financed the purchase with money embezzled from 183 clients of his investment company. Among his clients were orphans, accident victims who trusted Gibson to invest money from their settlements, and disabled people who trusted him with their life savings. In 2005, Gibson was sentenced 40 years in prison for his crimes.

National Supermarket Murders:

On September 4, 1987 at the National Supermarket at 4331 Natural Bridge Avenue in St. Louis, shortly after closing, two men disguised as the cleaning crew made their way into the store where employees were preparing for the next day. They shot seven employees execution-style as they laid on the floor, killing five. To this day, this is still known as one of the worst mass-murders in St. Louis history