It All Started in 1860

Shaw’s is one of the oldest continuously-operated supermarkets in the United States. Its New England roots were planted firmly in May of 1860, when George Clinton Shaw opened a small retail grocery store, located at 285 Middle Street in Portland, Maine. The store stocked 100 items, most of which were not available from local farmers. In 1919, Mainer Maynard A. Davis moved to Massachusetts, founding a group of small downtown grocery stores in the Brockton and New Bedford areas called Brockton Public Markets, or BPM stores. These entrepreneurs showed the seeds that would one day becomeShaw’s Supermarkets, Inc. In later 1919, Davis purchased the George C. Shaw Company of Portland, Maine, choosing to operate the two grocers independently. Over the past 150 years, the growth of Shaw’s can be attributed directly to the ingenuity of these pioneering grocers, and their core value of offering unparalleled service and quality products.

Historic Strides in the 20thCentury

In 1941, both Shaw’s and BPM stores adopted a bold new business model, converting to self-service grocery. In 1948, Shaw’s/BPM instituted the New England Food Buyers Association, a member-owned food co-op, to stay competitive with the “house brands” offered by large grocery chains. This association would later become Topco associates of Chicago. Throughout the 1950s, Shaw’s/BPM markets kept pace with grocers across the United States, building and anchoring some of New England’s first “shopping centers” in Portland, Maine and Brockton, Massachusetts. By 1965, the company expanded, opening new Shaw’s locations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The 1970s were an era of unprecedented growth and expansion, adding larger distribution centers with greater capacity and scanning cash registers to provide shoppers greater convenience and expediency. In 1979, George C. Shaw & Company officially merged with BPM to form Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc. The 1980s saw Shaw’s Supermarkets Inc. continuing to expand, opening new, larger-capacity distribution centers and more locations to serve New England shoppers. Historic strides included the unveiling of the Shaw’s SuperStore, the acquisition of Iandoli’s Supermarkets, expansion into Rhode Island, and becoming a subsidiary of the UK’s J Sainsbury plc. Throughout the 1990s, Shaw’s continued to expand into other New England states, adding Cerretani’s Supermarkets, Almacs Supermarkets, andStar Market to its growing roster.

Shaw’s Today—You’re in For Something Fresh!

Today, Shaw’s and its sister company Star Market continue to thrive and are working to become the favorite food and drug retailer of every state in which they operate. Shaw’s operates 150 stores throughout New England, which is part of a 2,200+ store operation that employs approximately 265,000 people nationwide. In 2013, our parent company, AB Acquisition LLC, acquired Shaw’s from SUPERVALU, a transaction bringing all Albertsons stores under singular ownership again. This merger added Jewel-Osco, ACME Markets, and Star Markets to the growing food and drug retailer.

All our stores—no matter under which banner they operate—were founded on the philosophy of offering customers the products they want at a fair price, with lots of tender, loving care. We still open our doors every day today with that core value in mind—and because of it, we run really great stores.

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