Big Star was an Americansupermarket chain founded in 1937 as part of the David Pender Grocery Company.[1]
The Big Star stores were self-service supermarket operations which began to replace the small full-service stores Pender's had operated up to that point. By the late 1940s the entire company had rebranded under theColonial Stores name. The Big Star name was revived around 1968 for a new discount chain owned by Colonial; eventually all stores were closed or converted to the Big Star name.Grand Union purchased the chain in 1978.[2] TheNorth Carolina,South Carolina, andVirginia stores were sold toHarris Teeter in 1988,[3] while theGeorgia stores were sold in 1992, with most of theAtlanta locations going toA&P. These stores were heavily remodeled, but eventually sold toPublix in 1999. Stores currently operating under the Big Star name in places likeAlabama,Arkansas,Mississippi, andTennessee, were part of a franchise operation that was never directly connected to the Big Star chain proper.
Alex Chilton andChris Bell named theirMemphis rock band of the same name after the supermarket chain.[4]
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