 | |
| Hannaford | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Retailgrocery store |
| Founded | 1883 (142 years ago) (1883) inPortland, Maine, U.S. |
| Founder | Arthur Hannaford |
| Headquarters | Scarborough, Maine, U.S. |
Number of locations | 189 (2024) |
Area served | Maine,New Hampshire,Vermont,Massachusetts andEastern Upstate New York |
Key people | Michael Vail, President[1] |
| Products | Bakery, dairy, deli, floral, frozen foods, grocery, liquor, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks, sushi, meal solutions, pet, baby, home needs, healthy & beauty care, special occasions. |
| Parent | Ahold Delhaize |
| Website | www |
Hannaford is an Americansupermarket chain based inScarborough, Maine.[2] Founded inPortland, Maine, in 1883, Hannaford operates stores inNew England andNew York. The chain is part of theAhold Delhaize group based in theNetherlands, and is a sister company to formerly competing New England supermarket chainStop & Shop.[3]
Hannaford was founded in 1883 by Arthur Hannaford as a small produce store along thePortland,Maine waterfront.[4] In 1915, its location was 164–168Commercial Street, a site now occupied by a Gorham Savings Bank.[5] The company's warehouse was at today's 25 Market Street.[6]
Arthur was joined in 1902 by his brothers, Howard and Edward, and they incorporated Hannaford Bros. Co. By 1920, the company became a leading produce wholesaler in northernNew England. Hannaford then relocated to a new five-story warehouse on Cross Street. In 1939, with the purchase of Tondreau Supermarkets Inc., sponsor of Red & White stores in Maine, Hannaford expanded into the wholesale grocery business. Late in 1944, Hannaford Co. opened its first retail outlet under an equity partnership arrangement with Adjutor Tondreau.[4]
By 1960, Hannaford Bros. had constructed a 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m2) distribution center inSouth Portland, Maine, to better service more retail stores. With the purchase of 31 Sampson's grocery stores in 1966 as well as the 1967 purchase of Progressive Distributors, Hannaford expanded its retail presence. By 1971, the company's earnings topped $1 million.[4]
Hannaford continued to rapidly expand throughout the 1970s and 1980s by opening a chain ofWellby Drug Stores, many of which were incorporated into Shop ’N’ Save retail stores. By 1987 the company had spread intoNew York andMassachusetts; that same year sales hit $1 billion.[4]
In the 1990s Hannaford began an expansion into the Southeast by purchasing a small SoutheasternNorth Carolina supermarket chain, Wilson's Supermarkets, which served as the foundation of an expansion of Hannaford stores into the Carolinas andVirginia. In 2000,Delhaize America bought Hannaford; the purchase both eliminated an emerging competitor to itsFood Lion chain in the Southeast and expanded Delhaize operations into the Northeast.[7][4]
Some Hannaford locations in North Carolina were sold toLowes Foods upon the buyout by Delhaize while others were closed. However, the move ended up bringing an even bigger competitor into Food Lion's market when national chainKroger bought 20 of the redundant stores.[citation needed]
The Hannaford name first took over from Shop 'N' Save on private labels in 1996. Five years later, stores in most ofMaine,New Hampshire,Massachusetts, andVermont assumed the name. As of 2006, only a small number of locations continue to use the Shop ’n’ Save banner. Independently owned and operated franchises receiving merchandise through Hannaford's wholesale distribution continue to use the Shop ’n’ Save name, mainly in smaller communities. In 2001, fiveGrand Union stores in New York were purchased and converted into Hannaford stores. In 2004, 19Victory Supermarkets in Massachusetts and New Hampshire also were purchased and converted to Hannaford stores.[4]
In 2006, Hannaford Supermarkets launchedGuiding Stars, the first storewide nutrition navigation program. The concept of Guiding Stars was born from extensive consumer research that revealed a desire to live healthier lifestyles, but showed confusion understanding the volume and complexity of the nutrition-related information available in the media, advertisements and on food packaging. The rankings are based onU.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines.[8]
In 2007, 4.2 million Hannaford customer credit card numbers were exposed as a result of adata breach perpetrated by a Russian/Ukrainian hacker group.[9]
On March 17, 2008,The Boston Globe reported that the company's credit-card processing servers had been compromised for three months. Some 4.2 million credit card numbers were stolen, at least 1,800 of which had been used fraudulently.[10] In August 2009, criminal computer hackerAlbert Gonzalez was indicted for the crime.[11]
Delhaize America previously operated 104Sweetbay Supermarket locations inFlorida, which were modeled after Hannaford and sold Hannaford brand products.[12] These stores were sold by the parent company in 2013 toSoutheastern Grocers and were converted toWinn-Dixie locations. In 2016, Hannaford’s parent company Delhaize merged withAhold to create a new company,Ahold Delhaize.[13] Ahold was the owner of the competing New England–basedStop & Shop supermarkets, which become a sister company and brand to Hannaford as a result of the merger with Delhaize. Hannaford now sellsNature’s Promise private-label products which were originally only available at Stop & Shop.
Through the process of the merger, theFederal Trade Commission required 10 Hannaford stores to be divested to other retailers. Eight stores in eastern Massachusetts were sold toBig Y and two stores in thelower Hudson Valley in New York were sold toTops Friendly Markets.[14]
Hannaford has faced criticism regarding its commitment to sourcing 100% cage-free eggs. In March 2016, Hannaford Supermarkets publicly pledged to transition its entire shell egg assortment to cage-free by 2025, emphasizing its commitment to sustainability and animal welfare.[15] However, the company later deferred this deadline to 2032, a seven-year extension.[16] This decision has drawn public criticism from animal advocacy organizations, including Mercy For Animals, which launched campaigns directly calling on Hannaford to take urgent action on its nearly decade-old cage-free commitment.[17] Local residents and news outlets in Portland, Maine, Hannaford’s primary market, have highlighted the company’s backtracking, expressing concern over the prolonged confinement of hens and the perceived broken promise to customers.[18][19]
Hannaford Supermarkets are found inMaine (which has the largest number of its stores),New Hampshire,Vermont,Massachusetts, andNew York (primarily eastern Upstate in theCapital District, theMohawk Valley, theHudson Valley and theNorth Country).
Until 2011, the company regularly marketed numerous products under its own private labels—including products byRichelieu Foods.[20] The company used the Delhaize-standard Home 360 brand from 2011 to 2014 but has now returned to using simply the "Hannaford" brand name as well as the name Taste of Inspirations.[21]
