 _logo.png){kind=logo} Lucky and Lucky California logo used by the Save Mart-owned stores but not the Albertson-owned stores which uses inverse colors | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail (Grocery) |
| Founded | 1935 as Peninsula Stores Limited in San Leandro, California, U.S. |
| Founder | Charles Crouch |
| Headquarters | Modesto, California, U.S. (Save Mart) Boise, Idaho (Albertsons) |
Number of locations | 66 (Save Mart in California) 4 (Albertsons in Utah) |
Areas served | California (Save Mart) Utah (Albertsons) |
| Products | Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks, liquor |
| Owner | The Save Mart Companies (under license from Albertsons) Albertsons |
| Parent | Independent (1935–1988) American Stores Company (1988–1998) Albertsons (2006–present) The Save Mart Companies (2006–present) |
| Website | www www |
Lucky Stores are a pair of American supermarket chains plus a defunct historical chain. The original chain was founded in San Leandro, California and operated from 1935 until 1999. The Lucky brand was revived circa 2007 and is now operated as two distinct chains: Albertsons operates Lucky in Utah and Save Mart Supermarkets operates Lucky California in Northern California.
In 1998, American Stores, the corporate parent of the original Lucky chain, was taken over by Albertsons, and by 1999 the Lucky brand had been retired.
In January 2006, SuperValu, CVS Pharmacy and an investment group led by Cerberus Capital Management announced they had agreed to acquire Albertsons for $17.4 billion. Existing Albertsons stores were divided between Supervalu and the Cerberus-led group. The Cerberus-acquired stores became Albertsons, which then sold its Northern California and Northern Nevada stores to Save Mart Supermarkets. It was not until June 2006 before the complex deal was finalized.
Around the same time that the acquisition was occurring, an independent Northern California retailer called Grocery Outlet decided to rebrand one of its stores with the Lucky brand and filed a lawsuit in Federal court against Albertsons claiming that Albertsons had previously abandon the trademark in 1999. The rebranded store opened on April 1, 2006. Albertsons filed a counter suit to prevent Grocery Outlet from opening additional stores and for Grocery Outlet to remove signage from its existing Lucky-branded store.[1][2][3] On January 4, 2009, a federal judge ruled against Grocery Outlet, finding that Albertsons had continued to use the name Lucky even after the re-branding of its stores.[4]
To strength its claim to the Lucky trademark, Albertsons, through its legally successor Supervalu, opened three Lucky branded stores in Southern California in July 2006. As part of the sale of its Northern California Albertsons division to Save Mart in November 2006, Albertsons also gave Save Mart the right to use the Lucky brand in any location that it had the right to use the Albertsons name, namely Northern California. Save Mart did not begin their conversion of some of its Albertsons stores to the Lucky brand until July 2007. Ultimately, the courts ruled in Albertsons favor by January 2009.
Albertsons attempt to have Lucky branded stores survived in the competitive Southern California and Las Vegas marketplaces eventually failed while the four Lucky branded stores in and near Salt Lake City in Utah still survives.
Save Mart changed most of its Albertsons stores in the San Francisco Bay Area to the Lucky California brand, most of which still survives.
- ^ "Grocery Outlet Disputes Save Mart Use of LUCKY Name". Business Wire. July 20, 2007. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017.
- ^ "Amended ORDER Granting Summary Judgment for Grocery Outlet Inc. v. Albertson's, Inc. et al :: Justia Dockets & Filings". Docs.justia.com. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
- ^ Grocery Outlet v. Albertson's, 497 F.3d 949 (9th Cir. 2007).
- ^ Johnson, Kelly (January 4, 2009). "Judge rules against Grocery Outlet in dispute over use of Lucky name". Sacramento Business Journal. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011.