is a major
Supermarket Chain in the
Southern California area. It is the oldest such chain west of the
Mississippi River . Ralphs Grocery Company is the largest supermarket division of
Cincinnati, Ohio -based
Retail conglomerate
Kroger .
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In addition to Ralphs supermarkets, the Ralphs Grocery Company operates stores under the Cala, Bell Markets,
Food-4-Less , and
FoodsCo names in California as well as PriceRite stores in Nevada. PriceRite stores either closed or converted to
Food-4-Less .
Ralphs Grocery Company was founded in
1873 in
Downtown Los Angeles by George Albert Ralphs. In the twentieth century it became a grocery pioneer, offering self-service markets with checkout stands in distributed locations. In the
1980s it created a chain of hybrid supermarket/warehouse stores call The Giant (unrelated to
Northeastern chain
Giant Food ) which failed, but the concept returned with the company's merger with the
Food 4 Less discount chain. Ralphs Grocery Company merged with
Fred Meyer , Inc in
1997 . In
1999 Fred Meyer, Inc, parent company of Ralph's merged with The
Kroger Co.
The company slogan is ''First in California.''
Ralphs Grocery Company has contracts with the
United Food And Commercial Workers , the largest grocery union in the United States. In late 2003 and early 2004, Ralphs
Locked Out its workers who were members of the UFCW in sympathy with competitor
Vons (owned by
Safeway Inc. ) in Southern California, after the UFCW had declared a strike against Vons. The issues in contract negotiations included healthcare benefits and wage structure, which the supermarkets contended were necessary to reduce their costs and make themselves competitive with discount chains such as
Wal-Mart . In March 2004, the strike ended with a settlement regarded as a victory for the grocery chains: new hires would be on a much lower pay scale than existing workers and receive far less generous health benefits.
