Collections
| Back New Search Tips |
Roundup Grocery Company
| Name: | Roundup Grocery Company |
|---|---|
| Dates: |
1915 (Life/Active Dates)
|
| Biography/History: | Roundup was a wholesale grocery company, first listed in the Spokane Polk Directory in 1915 as Roundup Fisheries, specializing in imported fine fish and cheese. From 1915 through 1920, Roundup Fisheries was listed at 328 and 330 West Mallon Avenue. In August 1920 a building permit in the amount of $800 was issued to Roundup Fisheries to alter a warehouse at 216 West Pacific. In 1921 Roundup moved into the 30,000 square foot two-story warehouse (Commission Building) that had been built by the Washington Warehouse and Storage Company in 1906 and occupied by Rasher-Kingman-Herrin Company (fruit and vegetables wholesalers). Also in 1921, the Roundup Grocery Company was established with a new owner and became a fullfledged wholesale grocery. In 1935, Roundup became an affiliated I.G.A wholesaler, and after that was listed with the I.G.A. Headquarters at 216 West Pacific. Spokane’s first wholesale grocery had been Boothe-Powell Co., established in 1898, later changing its name to Boothe-McClintock in 1906, and again to McClintock-Trunkey Co. in 1907. (Coe, 1974) McClintock-Trunkey was purchased by Roundup in 1953, with operations being consolidated in McClintock-Trunkey’s building at 1212 E. Front (concrete block warehouse) that they had occupied since 1951. In 1942, Roundup in its affiliation with the Independent Grocers’ Alliance (IGA) voluntary chain, revised its basic methods of operation with wholesale-level billing plan and order handling that provided economies in selling and warehousing. The purpose of the innovative plan was to reduce distribution costs and make independent grocers competitive with the chain grocery companies. Roundup was purchased in 1964 by Fred Meyer Company of Portland, Oregon, and continued to operate as a division of Fred Meyer. Likewise, McClintock-Trunkey continued to operate as a division of Roundup. In 1974 Roundup consolidated its six locations in Spokane to a state of the art warehouse complex in the Spokane Valley. At that time Roundup was touted as having the largest distribution territory of any wholesale grocery in the United States.(Coe, 1974) Roundup was serving 350 retail stores between Yakima and Wenatchee to the west, Grangeville, Idaho and LaGrande Oregon to the south, and Billings and Great Falls, Montana on the east. The 93 tractors, 112 trailers, and 66 drivers based in Spokane would drive four million miles a year to deliver five million pounds of merchandise a week. Source: http://properties.historicspokane.org/_pdf/properties/property-1922.pdf |
| Related Objects: |
3058.4 (Box, Food Storage; Crate, Shipping, Roundup Grocery Company Apricot Box)
|