[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 137 (Wednesday, November 12, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1537]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNIZING SAVE MART SUPERMARKETS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JEFF DENHAM

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 12, 2014

  Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and congratulate 
Save Mart Supermarkets, who will be inducted as a member of the 
Stanislaus County Ag Hall of Fame's ``Legends in Agriculture'' during a 
ceremony in Modesto, California, on November 13, 2014.
  Save Mart Supermarkets, a California corporation, owns and operates 
221 stores in Northern and Central California and Northern Nevada under 
the Save Mart, S-Mart Foods, Lucky, and FoodMaxx banners. A privately-
owned retail food company, it is sustained by a familial corporate 
culture. The company has always believed in supporting local suppliers 
and producers, and is actively engaged with the charities and causes of 
the communities where its stores do business.
  Their long history began when the first Save Mart opened in Modesto, 
California on January 17, 1952. Over the next four decades, many 
changes took place. Long known for innovation, Save Mart was one of the 
first supermarkets to offer customers pre-packaged meats, yard and 
garden supplies, plants, fresh-cut flowers and gift items, all creative 
concepts for the 1950s, and relatively unheard of for the area until 
Save Mart introduced them. In 1984, major growth occurred for Save Mart 
Supermarkets with the opening of eight new stores and a new partnership 
established to produce Sunnyside Farms dairy products. The company 
expanded throughout the 1980s including the acquisition of twenty-seven 
Fry's supermarkets located in the East Bay area in 1989; 1997 saw the 
acquisition of 10 Lucky stores in the Central Valley.
  With their success, the company developed its own warehouse concept 
under the name FoodMaxx, which it owns independently. In 2003, Save 
Mart Supermarkets acquired 25 Food 4 Less stores and rebranded them 
FoodMaxx. The FoodMaxx division is now 50 stores strong.
  Still growing, in 2007 Save Mart Supermarkets acquired Albertsons 
stores in the Metro Sacramento area, San Francisco Bay Area, and 
Northern Nevada, and converted them to Lucky and Save Mart stores. 
Today, the company operates stores throughout the Central Valley, San 
Francisco Bay Area, and Northern Nevada.
  Save Mart Supermarkets is committed to being a responsible corporate 
citizen--conducting business ethically and giving back to the 
communities that it serves. The company has partnered with a number of 
organizations and established giving programs that can deliver both 
tangible and intangible benefits to the communities served by Save Mart 
Supermarkets' stores. Some of the partners include American Heart 
Association, City of Hope, Children's Hospitals: Madera, Oakland, San 
Francisco, and Sacramento and local food banks.
  One event that the company has made its own is the Toyota/Save Mart 
350. Ranked as one of the top ten annual NASCAR races by Maxim 
magazine, the Toyota/Save Mart 350 is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event 
held every year in June at Sonoma Raceway. Save Mart Supermarkets has 
sponsored this race since 1989, when it attracted only 20,000 
spectators. The annual event now draws a crowd of approximately 110,000 
and raises money for the company's charities and Save Mart CARES.
  Mr. Speaker, please join me in praising Save Mart Supermarkets for 
their significant contributions to agriculture and to the people of our 
local community.

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