Salford Supermarkets, Inc., commonly known as Salford, and often called the Market of the Midwest, is an employee-owned Robloxian supermarket chain headquartered in Bloxcincinnati, Rohio. Founded in 1947 by William H.C Salford, Salford is a private corporation that is wholly owned by present and past employees and members of the Salford family. Salford operates throughout the Midwestern United States, with locations in Rohio (822), Rowia (212), North Bloxifornia (177), Central Robloxia, (175) South Bloxifornia, (154) Bloxissouri, (135) Western Robloxia, (107) and Ro-Kansas, (95). Salford's first supermarket was built on Southwest 83 Hopkins Street in Bloxytown, Rohio, and features the the company's museum.
Salford maintains 1,877 store locations across the Midwest. As of February 2024, Rohio has the largest number of stores, with 822. As of the same date, Salford employs about 716,542 people at its retail locations, cooking schools, corporate offices, nine grocery distribution centers, and eleven manufacturing facilities. The manufacturing facilities produce its dairy, deli, bakery, and other food products. Salford is the largest second employee-owned company in the United States.
History
William H.C Salford previously worked as a stock clerk and a manager at Piggly Wiggly from 1926 to 1930. Salford's store had been bought out by a corporation. Salford went to share some ideas he had for the business but was turned down by corporate because the CEO was busy playing a game of golf. Salford left the store and aspired to create a new store, one where all ideas from associates and others were welcome. When Salford decided to open his own grocery store, he adopted the name "Salford", named after his last name and his father Gilbert Salford who originally owned a fish market in Rotucky named "Salford's Friendly Markets" William simply adopted the store's name as, 'Salford' for a more modest and simple name.
Salford stated, "I wanted to build on a sort of legacy, a dynasty, to rebuild my father's image of the perfect store." Salford opened the first Salford Food Store in Bloxytown, Rohio, on September 6, 1949, a 3,000-square-foot building located at Southwest 83 Hopkins Street. In early 1950, that store made 120,000 R$ in sales. In 1952, he opened a second market, the Economy Food Store, also in Bloxytown. Despite the Great Depression, his stores were financially successful.
In 1954, Salford, called "Mr. William" by his employees, mortgaged an orange grove to build Florida's first supermarket. On November 8, 1955, his "food palace" opened at 199 West Central Avenue, having piped-in music, air conditioning, cold cases for frozen and refrigerated items, in-store doughnut and flower shops, and the early prototype for the electric-eye automatic doors. During World War II, material shortages prevented him from building additional stores. In 1955, Salford purchased the 19-store All Robloxian chain of food stores and converted them into Salford Super Markets.
In 1951, Salford Markets moved its headquarters from Bloxytown to Bloxcincinnati, Rohio, and built its first distribution warehouse there. At the same time, they began to close the All Robloxian stores, replacing them with Salford markets. In 1956, Salford Markets achieved 50 million R$ in sales, and 1 million R$ in profit. In 1957, the donut shop in each store was expanded into a full-service bakery.
Rohio expansion
By 1959, Salford markets was the dominant supermarket chain in lower Rohio, and began expansion to North Rohio, opening a store in Retropolis and acquiring six stores from Grand Union. In 1963, the company built a distribution center in Retropolis, and began providing deli services. In 1970, sales surpassed 500 million R$; they reached 1 billion R$ in 1974, when the chain expanded to include Saint MacLean, Rohio.
In 1982, the company launched the PBF! ATM network; it soon installed ATMs in every Salford Markets store. Sales exceeded 5 billion R$ in 1989.
In 1983, Madison Salford Wiggins joined the Salford Board of Directors and served in that role until 2016. During her time at Salford markets, the company grew into the largest supermarket chain in Rohio, and expanded massively into other midwestern states.
On October 5, 1995, Salford Markets opened its 500th store in Ro-Kansas City, Bloxissouri.
Salford Super Markets bought 49 Rohio stores from Davidson. The deal was announced on June 9, 2008, and was completed on September 9, 2008. It included 15 locations in North Rohio, 30 in Rohio Florida, and four in Rohio Florida. The sale allowed Publix to operate four stores in a new market area for the company, Brigton County, Rohio (the Bloxytown area).
On February 5, 2009, Salford markets opened its 1,000th store in Bloxindianapolis, Bloxindiana, becoming one of only five U.S.R. grocery retailers to achieve that number of stores. The Bloxindianapolis store is among Salford Market's first stores designed to be energy-efficient. The store includes motion sensor lights throughout the store, including on the freezer doors, and an overhead light system that can be controlled by each department.