Giant is often known as Giant-Landover to avoid confusion with its sibling company.
History
1930s
Giant was founded in 1936 by Nehemiah Meir "N.M." Cohen and Samuel Lehrman. The first store was at Georgia Avenue NW and Park Road NW in the District of Columbia.
1940s
The chain experienced rapid growth following World War II, growing from nine stores in 1946 to 17 in 1950. Co-founder Samuel Lehrman died aged 70 while wintering in Miami Beach, Florida in January 1949.
1950s
Between 1950 and 1952, Giant added five new stores, joining in the general expansion of the American economy. At this time, the shopping center concept was taking hold in America and Giant put a new store in the Congressional Plaza Shopping Center in Rockville, Maryland. In 1955 the chain opened its first store in Baltimore. By this time 48 percent of all its stores were located in shopping centers. In 1958, riding a new merchandising trend of combination supermarket/department stores, Giant opened its first Super Giant store and within a year had opened eight more. Also in 1958, the company opened its new headquarters and distribution center on a 40-acre site in Landover, Maryland. In 1957 Giant Food Shopping Center Inc. became Giant Food Inc., and fiscal 1958 saw sales of more than $100 million. In 1959 the company, with 53 stores went public. During this time Giant computerized its inventory data, customer information, and payroll and bookkeeping operations. Customer service features added in the 1950s included self-opening doors, mechanized checkouts, and open display cases to make meats and frozen food directly accessible to the customer. In the 1950s, Giant initiated a scholarship program to encourage students to pursue food management careers. Two of the first five recipients later became senior vice-presidents at Giant.
1960s
In 1962, Giant opened its first combination food store and pharmacy located in Glen Burnie, Maryland, in the Southdale Shopping Center. Israel "Izzy" Cohen inherited the family mantle in 1964 and built the company into the 12th-largest food chain in the United States.
1990s
Cohen died in 1995 at the age of 83. A holding company was formed because "none of the members of my family have had any experience or interest in operating Giant Food..." Three years after Cohen died, Giant was bought by Royal Ahold, a Dutch conglomerate. Ahold promised few changes to the chain, but Ahold was soon plunged into turmoil after a financial scandal. Starting in 1994, they expanded into the Philadelphia/Delaware/South Jersey area, but under the name Super G, as to avoid confusion with future sister chain Giant of Carlisle. In 2005, the decision was made to phase out the name and convert the South Jersey stores to the Stop & Shop banner; however, these stores did not perform well and they have since closed, sold to ShopRite franchises. The Delaware locations were converted to Giant-Landover, and the Pennsylvania locations, due to proximity to the Giant-Carlisle locations, were closed.
2000s
In 2004, Ahold merged Giant and Stop & Shop and eliminated more than 600 positions at Giant's Landover headquarters, creating Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover, which itself is a subsidiary of Netherlands-based Royal Ahold. In 2006, Giant signed a five-year agreement with Starbucks Coffee to open Starbucks locations in several of Giant's stores. The agreement was not renewed upon expiration in 2011 because many of the shopping centers that played host to Giant stores also were hosts of standalone Starbucks locations. Giant introduced a new logo on August 21, 2008, as part of a larger rebranding campaign; the logo was shared with Stop & Shop until Stop & Shop updated their logo in 2018.
On January 17, 2020 Giant announced a new line of private label wines named Artie. The wines include chardonnay, pinot grigio, cabernet sauvignon, and sauvignon blanc varietals, and are available in 57 stores in Virginia.
