 | |
| Formerly | Waremart (1967–1998) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Private,employee-owned |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1967 (1967) |
| Founders | Ralph Ward and Bud Williams |
| Headquarters | Boise, Idaho, U.S. |
Number of locations | 138[1] |
Area served | 10 U.S. states |
Key people | Gary Piva,Chairman Grant Haag,President/CEO Nathan Tucker,COO Isaac Kimball,CFO |
| Products | Bakery, grocery, produce, delicatessen, seafood, bulk foods, snacks, health and beauty products, general merchandise[2] |
| Services | Supermarket |
| Revenue | US$8.2 billion (2021)[3] |
Number of employees | 20,000[4] |
| Website | www.wincofoods.com |
WinCo Foods, Inc. is aprivately held, majorityemployee-owned[5][6][7] Americansupermarket chain based inBoise, Idaho, with retail stores inArizona,California,Idaho,Montana,Nevada,Oklahoma,Oregon,Texas,[8]Utah, andWashington. It was founded in 1967 as a no-frillswarehouse-style store with low prices. The stores feature extensivebulk food sections.
Until 1998, it operated as Waremart andCub Foods, the latter under afranchise agreement. However, WinCo began re-establishing Waremart Foods in 2017. As of 2022[update], WinCo has 138retail stores and sixdistribution centers, with over 20,000 employees.[1][9][10] As of May 2022, WinCo Foods was No. 46 inForbes.com's list of the largest privately owned companies in the United States.
WinCo Foods is based inBoise, Idaho. It was founded in 1967, and the company is mostly owned by current and former employees through anemployee stock ownership plan. WinCo operates distribution centers in the following locations:[1]
The company reducesoperating expenses bypurchasing directly from manufacturers and farmers, operating basic no-frills stores, and not providing abagging service.[11] In addition, the company does not accept credit cards for payment due to transaction fees (debit andWIC/EBT cards are accepted).[12]
The company, originally called Waremart, was founded in Boise, Idaho, in 1967 by Ralph Ward and Bud Williams as a no-frills,warehouse-style grocery store focusing onlow prices.[7][13] In 1985, Waremart employees established anemployee stock ownership plan and purchased a majority stake of Waremart from the Ward family, making the company employee-owned.[7][13]
In January 1991, Waremart opened an 82,000-square-foot (7,600-square-meter) store in Boise to replace the two older Boise stores.[14] At the time, Waremart was operating 16 stores in theNorthwest and had reported annual sales of more than $300 million.[14]
In October 1998, Waremart changed its name to WinCo Foods, citing confusion with retailersKmart andWalmart as reason for the new name.[15] The name is aportmanteau of "winning company".[15] Nonetheless, three Oregon stores — those inIndependence,Keizer, andOntario — are branded as "Waremart by WinCo".
The idea that the company name is an acronym consisting of the first letters of the company's original five states of operation (Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California, and Oregon) is false. Michael Read, WinCo's VP of Public and Legal Affairs, called the theory "part of the folklore".[16]
In 2007, WinCo Foods accused a competing chain,Save Mart, of directing a lawsuit filed by a neighborhood groupTracy First ofTracy, California, to oppose city approval of a WinCo store. That same year, WinCo Foods opened inPittsburg, California.[17]
In early 2009, WinCo opened its first two stores in theSpokane, Washington, area.[18] In October, 2009, WinCo expanded to Utah, adding two stores inWest Valley City andMidvale.[13][19][20] An additional Utah store opened inRoy on June 28, 2010.[21][22] bringing the total number of stores expanded to Utah to five.[23] WinCo previously operated stores in Utah under the Waremart banner prior to the company's name change.[13][24]
In January 2011, WinCo began signing leases for an expansion to Southern Nevada and Arizona.[25] The chain opened stores inLas Vegas andHenderson, Nevada, on March 4, 2012.[26] The company's first two stores in Arizona opened on April 1, 2012, in thePhoenix area.[27] The company opened multiple locations in Texas, primarily in theDallas–Fort Worth area, beginning in 2014 after it completed a distribution center in the area.[28][29]
WinCo was named as the sponsor for theWinCo Foods Portland Open in June 2013.[30]
In late 2014, WinCo announced that it would enter theOklahoma City metro market, starting with stores inMoore andMidwest City, with plans to open two other locations.[31]
In May 2018, Grant Haag was made president and CEO of WinCo Foods.[32]
WinCo was sued in 2023 for the use of excessive force on multiple occasions in the handling of shoplifters.[33] WinCo also faced significant criticism in the treatment of a teenage girl accused of shoplifting at theirVancouver, Washington, store in 2017.[34]
WinCo paid a class action settlement of $3.6 million in 2023. It was alleged that WinCo stores inPortland, Oregon, charged a hidden clean energy surcharge on non-grocery items.[35]
In October 2024, engineering firm JSA Civil filed a proposal for the first WinCo Foods location in Seattle.[36]
Eighty percent of the company is employee owned.
In Tracy, California, WinCo accused Save Mart in 2007 of directing a lawsuit filed by neighborhood group Tracy First against the city for approving a new WinCo store, according to a state court document.
WinCo opened a distribution center in Boise late in 2009, and it said at the time it needed 10 stores in Utah to make that facility efficient. It has opened five of those stores already, so it seems it is looking to capitalize on the move into Utah and then go into other areas before refocusing its efforts on Southern California.
North Richland Hills is the third North Texas location selected by the company. A store at Sycamore School and Crowley roads in south Fort Worth is expected to open early next year, along with another in McKinney. The company had focused its business in seven Western states, including California, Oregon and Washington.
