When Cub Foods opened its first store 40 years ago, it was short on frills and big on savings for consumers in Fridley, Minn.
Cashiers at the 27,000 square-foot store used 10-key adding machines to tally the purchases of consumers who used grease pencils to copy the cost of products marked on store shelves. Cub, which stands for "Consumers United for Buying," focused on delivering low prices every day to its shoppers by buying in volume.
The original store was successful and within two years the founders, including brothers Jack and Charlie Hooley, Culver "Cub" Davis and Bob Thueson, opened a second location in Brooklyn Park. At the time, the store boasted the largest frozen food department of any grocery store in the Twin Cities.
Today, as part of Supervalu, Cub maintains its focus on meeting the needs of its customers at its 76 locations.
"Consumers have continued to embrace the store's commitment to high-quality goods at low prices, and a diverse range of communities welcomed the addition of a warehouse grocer," said Brian Huff, president, Cub Foods, in a company press release.
"Over the years, we've listened carefully to consumers," he said. "The marketplace is always changing and so are customers' tastes. We strive to stay attuned to those developments and satisfy our increasingly diverse customer base."
Discussion Questions: Was Cub Foods a revolutionary concept, as some have suggested, in its early years? What is your assessment of the chain's place in grocery retailing today?