When was Brewers Retail Inc founded?
The Beer Store
The company began in 1927, with the end of prohibition in Ontario. Although prohibition had proven to be unsuccessful, the provincial government still needed to placate angry temperance advocates and agreed that beer would be sold through a single network of stores. However, the government did not want to operate this network itself (as was done in some other Canadian provinces), and so permitted brewers to organize the Brewers Warehousing Company Ltd., which later became Brewers Retail/The Beer Store.
L. S. Ayres
As urban populations shifted outward to suburban areas, Ayres moved closer to its customers by establishing branch stores in Indianapolis and Lafayette, Indiana. In 1959 Ayres also opened a large warehouse facility and service center on Hillside Avenue in Indianapolis. In 1965 a new branch store opened in the Greenwood Shopping Center, ten miles south of the Indianapolis flagship store. In 1966 Ayres opened a new branch store at Glenbrook Square in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In addition to building new branch stores in Indiana, Ayres acquired a retail subsidiary, The John Bressmer Company in 1958, located in Springfield, Illinois, and created Ayr-Way, a chain of self-service discount stores. In 1969 Ayres expanded into Louisville, Kentucky, with the acquisition of Kaufman-Straus Company, a retail division of City Stores Corporation. The declining downtown Louisville store was not profitable and Ayres closed it within two years of its purchase. In 1973 Ayres installed an Ayr-Way discount store in the downtown Louisville location, but it also failed and closed in 1975. Two suburban Louisville locations were later merged into Ayres's Indianapolis operations. The City Stores deal also included the acquisition of Wolf and Dessauer (W&D), a leading department store in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. In the late 1960s Ayres also entered the field of specialty retailing with the establishment of the Sycamore Shops and Cygnet Shops to cater to young adults.
De Beers
The company was founded in 1888 by British businessman Cecil Rhodes, who was financed by the South African diamond magnate Alfred Beit and the London-based N M Rothschild & Sons bank. In 1926, Ernest Oppenheimer, an immigrant to Britain and later South Africa who had earlier founded mining company Anglo American plc with American financier J.P. Morgan, was elected to the board of De Beers. He built and consolidated the company's global monopoly over the diamond industry until his death in 1957. During this time, he was involved in a number of controversies, including price fixing and trust behaviour, and was accused of not releasing industrial diamonds for the U.S. war effort during World War II.
Lion Brewery, Inc.
Lion Brewery, Inc. started as the Luzerne County Brewing Company with the acquisition of land from Delaware and Hudson Company in 1905. The land was purchased for one dollar on the terms that the company would build a brewery capable of producing 100,000 barrels per year in just the first year and sell each barrel for no less than a dollar a piece. If the terms were not met, the land would return to the Delaware and Hudson Company. The Luzerne County Brewery survived the terms of sale and was able to remain strong through the Prohibition years, 1920-1933, by brewing cereal beer. Cereal beer is more commonly known as "near beer", as it has an alcohol content of about 0.5%, which is about a tenth of most beers. Ted Smulowitz purchased the Luzerne County Brewery after Prohibition in 1933 and renamed it The Lion Brewing Company. The Smulowitz family privately owned and operated the brewery until 1993.
Safeway Inc.
In 1926, Charles E. Merrill, the founder of the Merrill Lynch brokerage firm, saw an opportunity to consolidate the West Coast grocery industry. Towards this end, he purchased the 322-store Safeway chain of W.R.H. Weldon, who wished to exit retailing and concentrate on wholesale. Then, in June 1926, Merrill offered Skaggs either $7 million outright or $1.5 million plus 30,000 shares in the merged firm. Skaggs took the latter. On July 1, 1926, Safeway merged with the 673 stores from Skaggs United Stores of Idaho and Skaggs Cash Stores of California. On completion of the Skaggs/Safeway merger, M. B. Skaggs became the Chief Executive of the business. Two years later, Skaggs listed Safeway on the New York Stock Exchange. In the 1930s, Safeway introduced produce pricing by the pound, adding "sell by" dates on perishables, nutritional labeling, and some of the first parking lots.
C. Brewer &amp; Co.
C. Brewer & Co., Ltd. was a Honolulu-based company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company did most of its business in agriculture.
The company was founded by Captain James Hunnewell (1794–1869) of Massachusetts in 1826, making it the oldest of Big Five companies. The company originally traded sandalwood with China. Henry A. Peirce joined in 1828 as a clerk, and worked his way up to a partner. Peirce took over when Hunnewell left in 1830. Charles Brewer (1804–1885), the master of Peirce's ships, became a partner in December 1835 and the business was known as Peirce & Brewer.
Swinkels Family Brewers
About 9 percent of the total beer production consists of alcohol-free and low-alcoholic beer (less than 3.5%). The share of beer in the 2017 turnover is almost 80 percent.
Swinkels Family Brewers owns two malt houses, one in Lieshout and one in Eemshaven. The annual capacity totals 245,000 tons of malt, a third of which is used by Swinkels Family Brewers itself. One third of the production is sold to third parties in Europe and one third goes to countries outside Europe, mainly to Latin America, South America and Japan. Sales of malt contribute to around thirteen percent of Swinkels Family Brewers sales.
The company produces approximately 830,000 hectoliters of soft drinks per annum, of which almost 95 percent as private label products. Swinkels Family Brewers itself uses the brand names 3ES and B52.
The soft drink activities account for almost seven percent of total sales.
The history of Swinkels Family Brewers can be traced back to 1680. In that year Dirk Vereijken owned a brewery at the Kerkdijk (Church Dike Road) in Lieshout, proof of which can be found in an account of the municipal tax records of that year. This brewery was transferred from father to daughter for three consecutive generations. The names of the new brewing families were Van Moorsel and Moorrees. In 1764 Brigitta Moorrees married Ambrosius Swinkels. After her mother's death in 1773, Brigitta and her husband became the full owners of the brewery. Since then, the brewery has been owned by the Swinkels family.
Breakfast cereal
Early in the 20th century, the Quaker Oats Company (formed in 1901 to replace the American Cereal Company) jumped into the world market. Schumacher, the innovator; Stuart, the manager and financial leader and Crowell, the creative merchandiser, advertiser, and promoter, doubled sales every decade. Alexander Anderson's steam-pressure method of shooting rice from guns created Puffed rice and puffed wheat. Crowell's intensive advertising campaign in the 1920s and 1930s featured promotions with such celebrities as Babe Ruth, Max Baer, and Shirley Temple. Sponsorship of the popular "Rin-Tin-Tin" and "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" radio shows aided the company's expansion during the depression. Meat rationing during World War II boosted annual sales to $90 million, and by 1956 sales topped $277 million. By 1964 the firm sold over 200 products, grossed over $500 million, and claimed that 8 million people ate Quaker Oats each day. Expansion included acquisition of Aunt Jemima Mills Company in 1926, which continues as a leading brand of pancake mixes and syrup, the sport drink Gatorade in 1983, and in 1986, the Golden Grain Company, producers of Rice-A-Roni canned lunch food. In 2001 Quaker Oats was itself bought out by PepsiCo.
Edelweiss (beer)
Edelweiss beer, a brand of lager beer brewed by Schoenhofen (Peter) Brewing Co. in Chicago, with no relationship with the former:
Peter Schoenhofen, a Prussian immigrant, was in Chicago working in the brewing trade by the 1850s. In 1861, he started a partnership with Matheus Gottfried; they were soon operating a brewery at Canalport Avenue and 18th Street where, during the early 1860s, they made about 600 barrels of lager beer a year. In 1867, Schoenhofen bought out his partner, and the company became the Peter Schoenhofen Brewing Co. By 1868, annual output had increased to about 10,000 barrels. During the 1890s, when the business was owned by the City Contract Co. of London, England, annual output reached 180,000 barrels. Around 1900, the Schoenhofen family regained control of the company, which employed about 500 people at its brewery on West 12th Street by 1910. During this time, the company was also known as the National Brewing Co. The company's "Edelweiss" brand of beer was a big seller. Operations shut down during Prohibition except for making Green River soda. By 1933, after the national ban on alcohol production was lifted, the company was back in business as the Schoenhofen-Edelweiss Co. Edelweiss was popular among German immigrants as late as the late 1940s in Calumet City, IL. After being purchased by the Atlas Brewing Co. in the late 1940s, Schoenhofen became part of Drewry's Ltd. of South Bend, Indiana, in 1951, and thereafter assumed the Drewry's name, although the Edelweiss name was still marketed into the 1960's. The slogan "EDELWEISS Beer, Always a Case of Good Judgement!" is fondly remembered from the radio, T.V. and print advertising of the era. By the beginning of the 1970s, there was nothing left of its Chicago operations, although Drewry's reintroduced the famous Edelweiss brand in 1972 after nearly a decade-long hiatus. It doesn't seem to be produced nowadays.
Buttrey Food &amp; Drug
Buttrey Food & Drug was a chain of grocery stores founded in Havre, Montana and formerly headquartered in Great Falls, Montana. The company was founded in 1896 as a chain of department stores branded Buttrey Department Store. The company opened grocery stores in 1935 and sold off its department store division following a 1966 acquisition by The Jewel Companies, Inc. Jewel was sold to American Stores in 1984 and Buttrey was sold off as a separate company in 1990. The company was sold to its main competitor, Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons, in January 1998 and the Buttrey name was retired. At that time, Buttrey was operating 44 stores in Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota with a revenue of $391.4 million. As of today, most former Buttrey stores continue to operate under the Albertsons banner.
Breyers
Breyers is a brand of ice cream started in 1866 by William A. Breyer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Herberger's
G. R. Herberger's Inc. was a department store chain founded in 1927 with locations throughout the Midwestern United States. The chain was sold in the late 1990s amid growing consolidation in the department store industry, while continuing to operate as a separate nameplate and later sharing a corporate division headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with Carson's, Bergner's and other regional chains by the close of the century. The company's parent company Bon-Ton filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and liquidated.
Pittsburgh Food &amp; Beverage Company
The Pittsburgh Food & Beverage Company was a holding company created in 1991 by entrepreneur Michael P. Carlow to manage a pair of struggling but iconic companies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally joining the candymaker D. L. Clark Co., maker of the Clark Bar, with the Pittsburgh Brewing Company and their Iron City Beer, it expanded to add further regional businesses: Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania's L. E. Smith Glass Company, the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Wayne Candies, Inc., and Pittsburgh's City Pride Bakery. Its 1995 collapse in bankruptcy and the subsequent conviction of Carlow for using a check kiting scheme said to have defrauded a local bank of more than $31 million was reported nationally.
Bealls (Florida)
Bealls Inc. is a United States retail corporation of over 500 stores founded in 1915 in Bradenton, Florida. Bealls consists of three chains, Bealls Stores, Bealls Outlet Stores, and Bunulu. Bealls Inc. serves as the parent corporation. The group is not affiliated with Bealls Texas, although the two overlap in some markets. Where there is overlap, Bealls Outlet operates as Burkes Outlet. The CEO of Bealls Inc. is Steve Knopik. Bealls (FL) Stores, Inc. and Bealls Outlet Stores, Inc. are headed by Presidents Dan Love and Dave Alves, respectively. They are still owned by the founding family, all are headquartered in Bradenton.
Caleres
After doing well in the 1960s, in 1969 Brown's earnings dropped 25% after a wealth of imports flooded the US shoe industry the year before. W. L. Hadley Griffin became the company's president in 1969, and began diversifying into areas beyond shoes. In 1970 Brown acquired the importer Italia Bootwear, Ltd. After acquiring Eagle Rubber Company, Kent Sporting Goods, and other companies, in 1972 it changed its name to the Brown Group, Inc. It continued to acquire companies in children's products and sports and recreation. In the 1970s, Brown operated Famous Footwear, Cloth World fabric stores, Bottom Half jeans stores, and Meis department stores. In February 1979, it was reported that Brown Group, then the largest American producer of namebrand footwear, was petitioning for price relief from the federal government.
Kmart
Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States.
The company was incorporated in 1899 as S. S. Kresge Corporation and renamed to Kmart Corporation in 1977. The first store with the Kmart name opened in 1962. At its peak in 1994, Kmart operated 2,323 discount stores and Super Kmart Center locations in the United States. After declaring bankruptcy in 2002 and emerging the following year, the chain's management purchased Sears for $11 billion in 2004, forming a new corporation under the name Sears Holdings Corporation.
Firestone Walker Brewing Company
Firestone Walker Brewing Company was formed in 1996 in Santa Barbara County by Adam Firestone, son of Brooks Firestone and great-great grandson of Harvey Firestone who started the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, and his brother-in-law David Walker. The brewery started on the Firestone family vineyard in Los Olivos, California and moved to Paso Robles in 2001. The company has expanded twice in six years. In 2001, Firestone Walker purchased former SLO Brewing Company located in Paso Robles and added 17 interior fermenters, four 500 bbl exterior fermenters, a KHS keg line, and Krones bottling line. Firestone Walker later acquired Humboldt Brewing Company and changed the name to Nectar Ales in 2005. In 2006, its Firestone Pale Ale was named "Best Beer in America" by "Men's Journal" and in 2008, the company released Union Jack, an India Pale Ale. Firestone Walker began the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival in 2011, which brings together select breweries from around the United States and other countries that do not distribute to the West Coast. In 2012, the company sold Nectar Ales to Total Beverage Solution.
Naturally Fresh, Inc.
Naturally Fresh, Inc. was founded in 1966 as Eastern Foods by Robert H. Brooks, the founder of Hooters of America, to sell coffee and cream to the airline industry. It is currently one of the largest manufacturers of sauces and salad dressings in the United States. The company also manufactures dressings, sauces and dips for a number of different restaurants and institutions, including Hooters. In 1980, Eastern Foods launched the Naturally Fresh brand and 2002 the company name was changed to reflect the brand.
Courage Brewery
In January 2007, the rights for the production, marketing and sales of the Courage brands were sold to Wells & Young's Brewing Company of Bedford which reverted to Charles Wells once Wells bought out Young's shares in the venture. This is managed by a venture called Courage Brands Ltd Heineken retained a 17 per cent stake in the venture until 2011, when Wells & Young's acquired complete control. The Berkshire Brewery closed in April 2010. Courage Best has undergone a significant decline in sales from almost 421,000 hectolitres (9.3 million gallons) in 2003 to under 142,000 hectolitres (3.1 million gallons) in 2012. The decline of Courage Directors has levelled off at around 60,000 hectolitres (1.3 million gallons), which is down from 140,000 hectolitres (3.1 million gallons) in 2003. Wells & Young's reintroduced the historic brew, Courage Imperial Russian Stout, which was first brewed in the 18th century by Thrale's brewery. but it has mainly proved to be produced for distribution in the US, with limited amounts available in the UK.
In 2017, Marston's Brewery acquired the brand as part of its acquisition of Charles Wells's Eagle Brewery.
Younkers
A series of additions, enlargements, and mergers resulted in the company changing its name to Younkers Incorporated. The department store in downtown Des Moines was purchased in 1912. The company started growing in the 1920s by acquiring other department stores throughout Iowa, including Wilkins Department Stores (1923), Harris-Emery (1927), and J. Mandelbaum and Sons (1928). The Iowa-based retailers Brintnall's of Marshalltown and Davidson's of Sioux City were acquired in 1948 and Yetters of Iowa City was acquired in 1949. Younkers began expanding outside of Iowa during the 1950s and opened its first shopping mall store in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1955. (It acquired another Omaha department store, Kilpatrick's, in 1961.) By 1978 Younkers had 28 stores in five states.
Drewrys
The South Bend-based brewery was merged with Associated Brew Co. in 1963, making the Associated/Drewry's plants one of the largest breweries in the U.S. The plant was sold to G. Heileman Brewing Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1972. Heileman eventually chose to close the plant. The last cases of beer left the South Bend plant in November 1972. The Muessel-Drewry Brewery at South Bend was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. Heileman owned the brand until it was sold to the Evansville Brewing Co. of Evansville, Indiana. This plant was closed in 1997 and the brand was bought along with others by Pittsburgh Brewing Company, though it was never manufactured.
Oriental Brewery
Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri,it has grown to become one of the highest selling beers in the United States, and is available in over 80 markets worldwide—though, due to a trademark dispute, does not necessarily do so under the Budweiser name. It is made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt. Produced in various breweries around the world, Budweiser is a filtered beer available in draft and packaged forms.
Schreiber Foods
Schreiber Foods was founded in 1945 when L.D. Schreiber, in partnership with Merlin G. Bush and Daniel D. Nusbaum, started the L.D. Schreiber Cheese Company with its original plant in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In 1950, Schreiber Foods opened a second cheese plant in Carthage, Missouri. Schreiber added two more plants in the 1970s in Logan, Utah, and Monett, Missouri. In 2000, Schreiber purchased the Beatrice Foods plant in Waukesha, Wisconsin. It closed that plant employing 170 in 2002. Schreiber purchased Pinnacle Cheese in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2000. It closed the plant employing 100 in 2003. Schreiber purchased Raskas Foods in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2002. It closed the St Louis plant employing 220 in 2005, while maintaining plants in Texas and Pennsylvania.
Finzels Reach
Brewing originated at the western end of the site, where in 1788 the Porter Brewery on Bath Street was acquired by a consortium which became the Philip George Bristol Porter and Beer Company. In 1796 the company built a pale ale brewery next to the porter one. In 1861 the company became Georges and Company, and became a public company in 1888. By the early 20th century the Georges Bristol Brewery employed around 170 workers. In 1919 and 1924 more land along Bath Street and Counterslip Street was acquired and by 1933 the brewery developed into a complex, the largest brewery in south west England. After absorbing its local rivals, the company became the dominant brewer in Bristol, but in 1961 it was taken over by Courage, Barclay & Simonds and was renamed Courage (Western). After Courage itself subsequently passed through various owners, the brewery was closed in October 1991 by Scottish & Newcastle.
SABMiller brands
Castle Brewery was founded in Johannesburg in 1894. It later merged with other breweries to form South African Breweries (SAB) which subsequently became SABMiller. Castle Brewery is still a division of SAB but is now owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV.This company (Dreher Sörgyárak) in Budapest was owned by SABMiller.
After acquiring SABMiller, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV agreed on 21 December 2016 to sell Dreher to [Asahi Breweries] of Japan.Kompania Piwowarska (which in Polish means "Brewing Company") is a brewing company established in Poland in 1999 as a result of the merger of two SABMiller owned Polish breweries, the Lech brewery in Poznań, and the Tyskie Górny Śląsk brewery in Tychy, which was founded in 1629. The company also owns the Dojlidy Brewery in Białystok. The three breweries have a total capacity of 15.1 million hectolitres. 
SAB purchased a majority share in the Lech and Tyskie breweries in 1995. Kompania Piwowarska currently controls 45% of the Polish beer market.
Brewers Investment Corporation
The company’s projects included the purchase and refurbishment of the Adam & Eve in 1889.
Miller Brewing Company
Miller Brewing Company was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller after his emigration from Hohenzollern, Germany in 1854 with a unique brewer's yeast. Initially, he purchased the small Plank Road Brewery in Milwaukee for $2300 ($66,736 in 2018). The brewery's location in the Miller Valley in Milwaukee provided easy access to raw materials produced on nearby farms. In 1855, Miller changed its name to Miller Brewing Company, Inc. The enterprise remained in the family until 1966.
Robert Berning
Berning was hired by Pronto Markets, a chain of convenience stores based in Los Angeles in 1965. Pronto Markets was in the midst of its transformation from a convenience store to the Trader Joe's specialty grocery chain, which would officially be founded in 1967. Wines became a very important focus of the newly founded Trader Joe's and Berning would play a key part in that success. Joe Coulombe, the founder of Trader Joe's, said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that Berning was brought into the company's main office in 1970 because he had expressed interest in wines. 1970 also coincided with the time that Trader Joe's began its "aggressive wine merchandising," which meant that Trader Joe's began offering wines at lower prices than had been previously available in the marketplace.
Bavarian Brewing Company
Bavarian Brewing Company was a brewery established in Covington, Kentucky, in 1866 by Julius Deglow, but became known as the Bavarian Brewery in the 1870s. The brewery was originally located on Pike Street and the business expanded to include the 12th street property by 1877. The company also operated as the John Meyer Brewery and the Meyer-Riedlin Brewery before becoming incorporated at Bavarian Brewery Co. in 1889 by William Riedlin. The company was family owned until it was acquired by International Breweries, Inc.(IBI) in 1959. However, it operated as the Bavarian Division of IBI and continued to produce its flagship beer, Bavarian's, until the facility closed in 1966. The property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 and rehabilitated shortly thereafter.
Robb Royer
Robb Royer and Jimmy Griffin co-founded Bread with David Gates in 1968. Maria Yolanda Aguayo once again contributed to the band’s history when she revealed a trend she noticed as (Record Producer) Gary Usher’s desk girl at CBS Records – band managers generally waited in the lobby but attorneys generally had immediate access to the executives at CBS. The trio quickly hired Al Schlesinger to represent them and he pitched their group to three labels in their search of a recording contract: Elektra Records, The Beatles' Apple Records and Atlantic Records, but Apple did not have clear leadership and was quickly eliminated from the process while Atlantic had recently signed two supergroups – Crosby Stills & Nash and Led Zeppelin – and they were based on the East Coast. Elektra was the label for The Doors, but were becoming embroiled in Jim Morrison’s legal battles. When both Atlantic and Elektra offered recording deals to Bread, the group chose the Elektra deal because they had a local headquarters in L.A. and the group felt Elektra would more actively promote them, given Atlantic’s other recent signings.
Molson Brewery
Molson Coors Canada is part-owner of The Beer Store in Ontario (Brewers Retail Inc.), operating as a beer distribution and retail chain, which (protected by legislation) has an over 85% market share of total Ontario industry beer sales. Molson Coors Canada owns 50% of Brewers Distribution Limited in Western Canada.
Wells Enterprises
Fred H. Wells Jr. opened a milk route in 1913 in Le Mars after purchasing a horse, delivery wagon, and a few cans and jars for $250 from local dairy farmer Ray Bowers.
Williamsburg AleWerks
Alewerks Brewing Company is a craft brewery in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. It was established in 2006 by Chuck Haines on the site of the old Williamsburg Brewing Company. It is the oldest microbrewery still running in Williamsburg, recently celebrating their 10th anniversary. The brewery utilizes a direct fired brick-clad Peter Austin brew house which distinguishes it from many larger breweries which use a steam based process. The brewery offers tours of the facility and tasting sessions, and talks about the history of beer. Currently, they have 16 running taps in house with 6 core yearly beers, 4 seasonal selections, and 12 Brewmaster Reserve small batch selections distributed in Virginia, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.
Betts Group
Yoel Breckler, a Russian immigrant, founded the boot repair store Breckler Brothers in Fremantle, Western Australia, in 1892. This family business that he had established was continued by his wife Fanny Brecker (née Masel, 1877–1942) and two sons, Cecil and Alec, after his death in 1912. Fanny opened the first store in Hay Street in the 1920s. The company has since changed its name at various times in its long history, including Cecil Bros, and Betts. In 1985, Andrew and Danny Breckler took over the family's business. The recent introduction of major suburban retail shopping centres had brought in competition from both national and international players. This development had created a difficult situation for local retailers, and put pressure on sales and margins. To combat this, Andrew started to expand the operations into the states of Victoria, New South Wales and the Northern Territory, with the aid of numerous acquisitions the company had made in the 1980s and early 1990s. During this time, Andrew helped the company become the "largest privately owned footwear group in Australia". At the turn of the millennium, Danny, who was faced with a second surge of increased competition, repositioned the Betts Group, thereby changing it into a "vertically integrated business that could design and source its own products". The brand Zu Shoes was established in March 2003, and Danny soon started designing and developing footwear products and accessories for manufacture in China. To reduce the level of third-party involvement in acquiring product from Chinese manufacturers, he also developed the Betts Group China Resource Centre, which handled quality control and transportation.
Milwaukee Brewers
Originating as an expansion team in 1969, in Seattle, Washington, as the Seattle Pilots, the club played for one season in the American League West Division before being acquired in bankruptcy court by Bud Selig, who then moved the team to Milwaukee. They would continue to play in the West Division for two more years. Before the beginning of the 1972 season the Brewers agreed to switch over to the American League East to make room for the Texas Rangers who had relocated from Washington. Beginning in 1994, due to divisional re-alignment, the Brewers moved to the newly created American League Central division. In all, the Brewers were part of the American League from their creation in 1969 through the 1997 season, after which they moved to the National League Central Division. Milwaukee had previously been a National League city when its team was the Milwaukee Braves (1953–1965).
Leura Collins
Weingarten Inc. was founded in 1948 as a retailer. By 1972, Weingarten Inc. operated 100 stores, some of which included "lunch counters", and others which included "lobby food operations." These counters/lobbies provided eat-in or carry-out dining options for customers. Collins was employed from 1961-1970 at store #2 as a "lunch counter" sales person. She transferred to store #98 where she was a sales person at the "lobby food operation."
Brown Derby (liquor company)
The Brown Derby is a chain of liquor stores located in and around Springfield, Missouri. The first Brown Derby was opened in Springfield in 1937 by John A. Morris. The Brown Derby is famous for being the first retail location for fishing lures and other fishing accessories sold by John L. Morris, the son of the Brown Derby's founder, and the future proprietor of the Springfield-based Bass Pro Shops. John L. Morris began selling fishing and other outdoor products from an by section of his father's store and eventually incorporated Bass Pro Shop in 1972.
Pierre Celis
After Tomsin closed his brewery in 1955, wit beer disappeared from Hoegaarden. Celis, who became a milkman after he married, took up beer making in 1965. The first year he started out with a wash tub in the barn of his father. With a loan from his father he bought equipment that came from an abandoned brewery in Heusden-Zolder. His first batch of Hoegaarden beer was made on 19 March 1966 and he opened Brouwerij Celis (Celis Brewery). In 1980 he opened Brouwerij de Kluis as he transferred the production to new buildings. In 1985 his brewery burned down partially, and because the buildings were not insured and all the profits he put back into the brewery, he was forced to sell his company to Interbrew, now AB Inbev. He then founded the Celis Brewery in Austin, Texas, which was managed by his daughter Christine. Because Celis Brewery couldn't follow demand, Miller Br. approached Celis Br.to create partnership. Celis Br.was sold 100% to Miller in 2000 and closed in 2001. Miller sold equipment and name to Michigan Br. who went bankrupt in 2011. Pierre Celis never worked for Michigan Br.! Christine Celis started the new Celis Brewery in Austin, TX in 2017 where all the original beers are being brewed.
De Beers
De Beers Diamond Jewellers (DBDJ) was established in 2001 as a 50:50 joint venture between The De Beers Group of Companies and LVMH, the French luxury goods company. The first De Beers boutique opened in 2002 on London's Old Bond Street as the brand's flagship store. Since then, stores have opened in various cities around the world. In March 2017, The De Beers Group of Companies acquired LVMH's 50% shareholding in DBDJ and new name De Beers Jewellers was unveiled.
Pearl Brewing Company
The site owned and operated by the Pearl Brewing Company was originally known as both the J. B. Behloradsky Brewery (1881–1883) and the City Brewery. Privately held and poorly run for two years, the City Brewery was purchased by an investment group in 1883. The investment group was composed of local businessmen and several moguls already involved in brewing at San Antonio's other major brewery, the Lone Star Brewing Company. Together they formed the San Antonio Brewing Company (1883–1888), and began to raise capital to fully restart and improve operations at the brewery. In 1886, after three years, the company had secured the necessary capital and began full-time operations at the brewery again. The name San Antonio Brewing Association was used as a parent to the brewing company, since it also managed some of the founding members' other business interests. Functionally, the business structure worked, but it caused confusion with city officials, customers, and business partners; therefore, in the end, the investment group dissolved the San Antonio Brewing Company and used the San Antonio Brewing Association (1888–1918) name for all operations and business transactions. Thus, in seven years, the same brewery had three different names. In addition, the name City Brewery was frequently used. The first logos used for the San Antonio Brewing Company/Association even featured the name City Brewery in the logo. City Brewery was carried over from the Behloradsky days and was used until the beginning of Prohibition in 1918.
L. S. Ayres
In 1958 Ayres acquired The John Bressmer Company, located in Springfield, Illinois, and continued to operate the store under the Bressmer name. The modern, six-story downtown store was known for its quality fashions and customer service and became a training ground for Ayres managers. William P. Arnold, who joined Ayres in 1947, became Bressmer's president and moved on to become president and CEO of J. W. Robinson's and president, CEO, and board chairman of Associated Dry Goods. P. Gerald Mills, an Ayres buyer, moved to Bressmer's and later became president of Dayton's, president of the J. L. Hudson Company, and the president of the Dayton-Hudson Corporation. David P. Williams III, who also spent time at Bressmer's, became president of Associated Dry Goods. In 1972 Bressmer's was sold to Associated Dry Goods and became a branch of Stix, Baer and Fuller, an Associated Dry Goods subsidiary. In 1980 the downtown Springfield store closed after a new Stix, Baer and Fuller branch opened on the city's south side.
The Beer Store
In the 1980s, Brewers Retail published a directory of its retail locations in a booklet with a small map to each location. It had a picture of an animal, (a penguin, for example) on the covers. The booklet when closed was approximately . The 1972 version issued by Brewers Retail had cartography by Rand McNally.
Bernard Kroger
Kroger's store, The Great Western Tea Co., succeeded despite numerous growing pains and catastrophes. Kroger opened four separate locations within two years. He renamed the company Kroger Grocery and Baking Co. in 1902, later shortened to Kroger, and opened over 5,500 stores by the end of the 1920s. He advertised extensively in local papers, which he thought led to his success. He is credited with introducing the low-cost grocery chain models that persist today .
Walter Brewing Company
The Walter Brewing Company was founded in Pueblo, Colorado in 1898. The Walter Brewing Co. in Eau Claire was founded in 1889, a prior endeavor in Spencer, WI succumbed to fire which prompted the move to Eau Claire. Their famous Pueblo Brewery had changed hands at least sixteen times in the thirty years before Walter's was founded.
Associated Dry Goods
Hengerer's (The William Hengerer Co.), Buffalo, New York, was founded in 1874 as Barnes, Bancroft & Co.. It adopted the Hengerer name in 1895 and was purchased in 1905 by J. N. Adam & Co.. It was a division of Associated Dry Goods Corp. from its inception in 1916. In 1981, ADG merged Hengerer's into Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Co. of Rochester. After the May/ADG merger, Sibley's was merged into May's Kaufmann's division in 1992. After May was bought by Federated, it was announced that most Kaufmann's stores would either be converted to Macy's or sold. All the former Hengerer's locations became Macy's in September 2006.
Eisner Food Stores
Albert Eisner opened a few Piggly Wiggly stores in Champaign, Illinois. He soon founded his own chain, Eisner Grocery. It soon grew into a 43-store chain of supermarkets with operations in downstate Illinois and Western Indiana. In 1957, The Jewel Companies, Inc. acquired Eisner Food Stores, and within a few years, the Eisner stores began to closely resemble Jewel in both appearance and marketing strategies. Eisner continued to be managed from Champaign, Illinois. Following the acquisition by Jewel, most Eisner stores were remodeled into Eisner-Osco stores, which combined the products sold by Eisner and Osco Drug. The new stores included common checkout stands but separate store management, all under one roof. Some locations were next to a Turn Style discount store to form Turn Style/Eisner Family Centers, which had a grocery store, drug store, and discount store under one roof. In 1981, Jewel decided to expand into the downstate area and rebranded the Eisner stores. Today in Champaign, there is a park named after the Eisners, called Eisner Park.
A. Gettelman Brewing Company
The company was founded by George Schweickhart as George Schweickhart’s Menomonee Brewery in 1856. In 1871, Schweickhart added Adam Gettelman as a partner. Adam Gettelman became sole owner in 1876 and renamed the brewery to A. Gettelman Brewing Company. The facility was rebuilt after a fire destroyed most of the original building in 1877. In 1891, the brewer introduced its famous "$1,000 Beer", promising to award $1,000 to anyone who could prove it was made with anything other than pure barley, hops, and malt. In 1895, they introduced the Milwaukee's Best brand. Gettelman Brewery sold "near beer" during Prohibition. In 1946, inspired by "heinzelmännchen" of German folklore, the company introduced an eight-ounce beer bottle called "Fritzie". In 1959, they became distributors for Tucher Brewery of Nuremburg, Germany. This was the first such relationship with a foreign brewer by an American brewing company. The company was sold in 1961 to Miller Brewing Company. The company didn’t market their product nationally.
Meijer
Meijer Inc. () is an American supercenter chain throughout the Midwest, with its corporate headquarters in Walker, Michigan, which is a part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. Founded in 1934 as a supermarket chain, Meijer is credited with pioneering the modern supercenter concept in 1962. About half of the company's 242 stores are located in Michigan, with the other half in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The chain was ranked No. 19 on "Forbes" magazine's 2015 list of "America's Largest Private Companies" and 19 in "Fortune" magazine's 2008 "The 35 largest U.S. private companies". In 2016, "Supermarket News" ranked Meijer No. 15 in the 2016 Top 75 U.S. & Canadian Food Retailers & Wholesalers. Based on 2015 revenue, Meijer is the 26th-largest retailer in the United States.
Brooks Sports
Brooks Sports, Inc. was founded in 1914 by John Brooks Goldenberg, following his purchase of the Quaker Shoe Company, a manufacturer of bathing shoes and ballet slippers. Based in Philadelphia, it operated as a partnership between John Goldenberg and his brother, Michael. By 1920, Quaker Shoes had been renamed Brooks Shoe Manufacturing Co., Inc., and its shoes were sold under the brand name Bruxshu. In addition to bathing shoes and ballet slippers, it sold a gymnasium shoe, Ironclad Gyms. Early advertising emphasized fit, construction, and durability; the Ironclad was "a comfortable, light, gymnasium shoe that fits the foot" with soles made of "chrome tanned leather, flexible and light, with a low spring heel" that would withstand "four years gym work, and then be ready for more usage." The company's innovations included the 1938 introduction of orthopedic shoes for children, Pedicraft, and rubber brakes for roller skates (then known as "quick stops"), patented in 1944.
Brewer Investment Group
Brewer Financial Services, LLC
Drew Brees
On March 30, 2010, Brees became the national spokesperson for AdvoCare International, a multi-level marketing company, which produces weight management, nutritional supplements, and personal care products.
Brees owns a variety of restaurant businesses. In May 2015, he purchased a 25% stake in "Walk-On's Bistreaux & Bar", a sports bar that originated in Baton Rouge, LA and is currently expanding their franchising into other Gulf Coast states. During initial talks with Walk-On's, Brees said that he was interested in bringing over some of the lessons that he had learned as a Jimmy John's franchise owner. He currently owns 8 Jimmy John's stores with a ninth under construction . Carl Buergler, Jimmy John's director of operations, played football at Purdue with Brees.
Brewer Investment Group
Advisor Resource, LLC
Beer in Israel
Construction of what was at the time the largest brewery in the Middle East, the National Brewery, began in April 1952 in the city of Netanya, founded by a group of investors led by Louis Herzberg. Upon completion in May 1953, the National Brewery had an annual production capacity of 400,000 barrels. In 1954 it shipped what was theretofore "[t]he largest single shipment of imported beer ever to enter the United States" – 180,000 bottles of its Abir label beer. The National Brewery merged with the Palestine Brewery and the Galilee Brewery in 1973, whereby it came to control 90% of Israel's beer market. The company was acquired in 1976 by Canadian land developer Murray Goldman for . In 1980 a canned beer bearing a label indicating its origin as the National Brewery in Netanya was being sold in Egypt in spite of an Egyptian boycott of Israeli products. Called O.K. beer, it proved more successful than Heineken and Tuborg and was consumed at premier bars in Cairo and other locations in Egypt, even as conservative religious Muslim leaders campaigned to ban the sale of alcoholic drinks in the country. After entering into a license agreement with Anheuser-Busch International in 1983 for production of the first American beer in Israel, the National Brewery began producing Budweiser in 1984.
Bass Brewery
Bass was one of the original London Stock Exchange FT 30 companies when the listing was established in 1935. Over the next half-century, Bass maintained its UK dominance through acquiring such brewers as Mitchells & Butlers (1961), Charringtons (1967), Bents-Gartsides (1967), John Joule & Sons (1968), William Stones Ltd (1968), and Grimsby's Hewitt Brothers Ltd (1969), being variously known as "Bass, Mitchells and Butlers" or "Bass Charrington".
Lakefront Brewery
Lakefront Brewery, Inc. is a brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The brewery is based in the Beerline B neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1987 by brothers Russ and Jim Klisch, several of its brands are named after Milwaukee neighborhoods, such as Riverwest Stein Beer and East Side Dark. The brewery was the first in the U.S. to bottle fruit beer since prohibition was repealed, starting in 1992 with the seasonal Lakefront Cherry Lager. The brewery often uses Wisconsin-grown ingredients, including Door County cherries.
Beer in the United States
In St. Louis, a prosperous German soap maker, Eberhard Anheuser, purchased a struggling brewery in 1860. His daughter married a brewery supplier, Adolphus Busch, who took over the company after his father-in-law's death, and renamed it Anheuser-Busch. Busch soon toured Europe, discovering the success of Bohemian lager, and introduced Budweiser beer (named after a beer brewed in the town of Budweis in Bohemia) in 1876. Anheuser-Busch, and its Budweiser beer, would go on to be the largest brewery and beer brand in the world. The company innovated the use of refrigeration in rail cars to transport its beers, which helped make bottled Budweiser the first national beer brand in the United States.
Wards Brewing Company
Septimus Henry Ward joined the company in 1868 when it ran into financial trouble. Due to the substantial amount he had invested, the primary brand was renamed Wards Best Bitter. George Wright left the partnership a year later. The business continued to expand by buying up other breweries and associated public houses. In 1876, it bought the SOHO Brewery and made it its main premises, renaming it to Sheaf Brewery. It was made a limited company called S.H. Wards & Company Limited in 1896.
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Company, colloquially known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in 1893, reincorporated (a formality for a history-making consumer sector initial public offering) by Richard Sears and new partner Julius Rosenwald in 1906. Formerly based at the Sears Tower in Chicago and currently headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, the operation began as a mail ordering catalog company and began opening retail locations in 1925. The first location was in Evansville, Indiana. In 2005, the company was bought by the management of the American big box chain Kmart, which formed Sears Holdings upon completion of the merger.
Charles Wells Ltd
Charles Wells Ltd (also known as Charles Wells Brewery and Pub Company, and previously as Charles Wells Family Brewery) was founded by Charles Wells in 1876. In 1875, a two and a quarter acre site came to auction on the banks of the River Ouse as it ran through Bedford. This site contained both a coal depot and a brew house; included in the price were 35 pubs, mainly in Bedford and the surrounding area.
Budweiser Budvar Brewery
A separate brewery, Budweiser Bürgerbräu () was founded in 1795 by the city's German-speaking citizens and started brewing Budweiser Bier in 1802. The company began shipping its beer to the United States in 1875. A year after, Adolphus Busch, a German immigrant to the United States and a businessman, encountered the brewery's Budweiser often during his visit to Europe. Thus, he decided to name his own beer Budweiser and brew it according to the Bohemian process. Budweiser Bürgerbräu was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2014 to aid its claim on the Budweiser trademark.
Pittsburgh Food &amp; Beverage Company
Carlow continued plans to expand Pittsburgh Food & Beverage, in 1993 making unsuccessful bids for Whitman's Chocolates of Philadelphia and the former corporate parent of Pittsburgh Brewing, La Crosse, Wisconsin's G. Heileman Brewing Company. A successful acquisition in the spring of 1993 added the struggling City Pride Bakery, which was the last operating in the city of Pittsburgh. Clark was reported to have returned to profitability in 1993, with part of the company's turnaround credited to contracts to make products for the Sam's American Choice and Ultra SlimFast brands. Pittsburgh Brewing, at the time the ninth largest in the country, likewise had expanded local market share. For this action in saving and rejuvenating local companies, Carlow was perceived as a 'corporate white knight', and a local magazine called him a "messianic hero". Even when City Pride was shuttered in February 1994 after losing $4 million, locals still considered Carlow's contribution a net gain. Further expansion seemed imminent when in October 1994, Borden announced an agreement to sell Wise Foods, noted for their potato chips, along with Wise's subsidiary, Moore's Quality Snack Foods, to Pittsburgh Food & Beverage. However, this prospective $87.5 million purchase would unmask the fraud that would precipitate the downfall of Pittsburgh Food & Beverage.
Wells &amp; Young's Brewery
Wells & Young's Brewery (Wells & Young's Brewing Company) was formed in October 2006 from the merger of the brewing operations of Charles Wells Ltd and Young's Brewery. Charles Wells initially had a 60% stake and Young's 40%. In 2011, Charles Wells took full control when it bought Young's 40% stake. Wells & Young's is now responsible for brewing, distributing and marketing Charles Wells' and Young & Co's brands at the Eagle Brewery in Bedford.
Stevens Point Brewery
The company was founded in 1857 by George Ruder and Frank Wahle. In 1864, the company provided its beer to the troops during the American Civil War. The brewery was subsequently sold to Andrew and Jacob Lutz in 1867. The Lutz family continued operations until it was sold to Gustav Kuenzel in 1897. The company was then organized as the Gustav Kuenzel Brewing Company in 1901. The following year, it was renamed the Stevens Point Brewing Company. Ludwig Korfman purchased a controlling interest in the company in 1924 and reorganized the company as the Stevens Point Beverage Company. The company faced local competition from the mid-1860s through the Prohibition era of the 1920s, when the remaining competition went out of business. During the 1950s, the brewery began using cans in production. In 1973, Point Special brand beer was rated the top American beer in a taste test as reported by Mike Royko, a prominent columnist for the "Chicago Daily News". By the 1970s the company was owned by Felix and Ken Shibilski. In 1990, the company first began selling its product outside Wisconsin, in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Minnesota. In 1992, the Shibilskis sold the company to Chicago-based Barton Beers Ltd. The new ownership was unique for Barton in that Point beer was its only domestic product line, with all of its other offerings being imports. The company planned to tie sales to its Mexican brand, Corona, but when that brand's sales exploded, the Point brand became a distraction. In 2002, the company was sold back to Wisconsin ownership by Milwaukee-based real estate developers Joe Martino and Jim Wiechmann. That same year, the company introduced gourmet sodas to its beverage list. In 2003, Point Special won the gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in the premium lager category. In 2005, the company bought four beer brands from the James Page Brewing Company. By 2008, the company's products were distributed to 18 different states. For nearly 20 years, the company brewed and bottled Karl Strauss Brewing Company brands until production was moved in January, 2009.
Finzels Reach
A sugar refinery occupied part of the site from 1681, rebuilt by Conrad Finzel I in 1846 to become one of the largest sugar refineries in England. Known as Finzel's Sugar Refinery, it operated until 1881. Georges Bristol Brewery, founded in 1788, grew to occupy most of the site by the mid 20th century, when it was the largest brewery in southwest England. Known after 1961 as the Courage Brewery, it operated until 1999. The site also includes the former Tramway Generating Station, a Grade II* listed building built in 1899 which operated as the power station for Bristol Tramways until 1941.
Pittsburgh Food &amp; Beverage Company
In 1991, Michael P. Carlow was a 39-year-old entrepreneur who had recently sold a large cement business built by purchasing and consolidating shut-down firms in the region. He also had a history of rejuvenating struggling companies, having done so with two furniture companies. In 1991 he purchased the D. L. Clark Company, which had been founded in Allegheny City, now Pittsburgh's North Side, in 1886. The previous owners, Leaf Candy Company, had retained some Clark products and moved their manufacture to the Chicago area, but had decided to discontinue production of the flagship Clark Bar, for which they had failed to achieve a market outside the region. The approximately $22 million acquisition also included a range of other sweets made at Clark's O'Hara Township (suburban Pittsburgh) manufacturing facility, as well as former Leaf brands, Black Cow and Slo Poke. 
Later that year, Carlow agreed to acquire another struggling beloved regional company, submitting the winning bid for the Pittsburgh Brewing Company, makers of Iron City beer in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood from the 1860s, which also produced Samuel Adams Boston Lager for the Boston Beer Company. This company had been publicly owned before being bought by Australian Alan Bond, through his Bond Corporation Holdings five years before and was integrated into sister-company G. Heileman Brewing Company in 1988, then separated again when Bond unloaded Heileman in 1991. It was being sold as part of the liquidation of the Australian's brewing empire. Carlow created a holding company, Pittsburgh Food & Beverage, to manage Pittsburgh Brewing and D. L. Clark Co., completing the $15 million deal for Pittsburgh Brewing in February 1992. A couple of months later, in April 1992, another acquisition was added to Pittsburgh Food & Beverage, confectioner Wayne Candies of Fort Wayne, Indiana, manufacturer of Bun Bars, purchased from August Storck KG. A fourth business, L. E. Smith Glass Company, of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, which had been purchased by Carlow in 1986, would also be managed by Pittsburgh Food & Beverage. Carlow and his father, Frank, each would own 47.5% of Pittsburgh Food & Beverage Company, with the remaining 5% owned by Larry Ousky.
Safeway Inc.
In April 1915, Marion Barton Skaggs purchased his father's grocery store in American Falls, Idaho, for $1,089. The chain, which operated as two separate businesses, Skaggs Cash Stores and Skaggs United Stores, grew quickly, and Skaggs enlisted the help of his five brothers to grow the network of stores. M.B.'s business strategy, to give his customers value and to expand by keeping a narrow profit margin, proved spectacularly successful. By 1926, he had opened 428 Skaggs stores in 10 states. M.B. almost doubled the size of his business that year when he merged his company with 322 Safeway (formerly Sam Seelig Company) stores and incorporated as Safeway, Inc.
Barker's Discount Department Stores
Barker's was founded in May, 1957 by Irving Barker, in Orange, Connecticut. As one of the first hard goods discounters and with creative price and entertainment promotions, Barker's grew quickly from its $20,000 initial investment. Following the opening of a second store in Wallingford, Connecticut in September, 1960, Barker's had gross sales of $7 million. The company was acquired by Franklin Stores Corporation in 1961. Paul Panagrosso was one of the founding employees who was instrumental in designing and setting up the initial store that would then grow into a multimillion-dollar regional empire.
Brockway Glass
Brockway Glass Company Inc. was founded in 1907 in Brockway, Pennsylvania by the Brockway Machine Bottle Company (which later became Brockway Glass). Brockway manufactured and sold glass containers and tubing, along with plastic products manufactured through wholly owned subsidiaries. In 1964 Brockway bought several Hazel-Atlas Glass Company factories from the Continental Can Company as part of a lawsuit settlement. In 1987 Owens-Illinois made a bid of $60 per share (worth $750 million) to acquire Brockway, which was met with resistance by the FTC. After a Federal District Judge denied the FTC's request for an injunction, Owens-Illinois acquired Brockway's shares.
Anheuser-Busch
In 1852, German American brewer and saloon operator George Schneider opened the Bavarian Brewery on Carondelet Avenue (later known as South Broadway) between Dorcas and Lynch streets in South St. Louis. Schneider's brewery expanded in 1856 to a new brewhouse near Eighth and Crittenden streets; however, the following year financial problems forced the sale of the brewery to various owners during the late 1850s. In 1860, the brewery was purchased on the brink of bankruptcy by William D'Oench, a local pharmacist, and Eberhard Anheuser, a prosperous German-born soap manufacturer. D'Oench was the silent partner in the business until 1869, when he sold his half-interest in the company. From 1860 to 1875, the brewery was known as E. Anheuser & Co., and from 1875 to 1879 as the E. Anheuser Company's Brewing Association.
Smith's Food and Drug
Smith's Food & Drug Centers, Inc. was founded in 1911 in Brigham City, Utah, United States by Lorenzo J. Smith. Now a subsidiary of The Kroger Company, it is a prominent regional supermarket chain operating in the Southwest and Northwest. After completing a merger with Portland-based Fred Meyer in 1997, Fred Meyer was in turn acquired by Cincinnati-based Kroger in 1999, making Kroger the largest supermarket chain in the United States. Smith's headquarters are in Salt Lake City.
Kroger
The Kroger Co., or simply Kroger, is an American retailing company founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the United States's largest supermarket chain by revenue ($115.34 billion for fiscal year 2016), the second-largest general retailer (behind Walmart) and the seventeenth largest company in the United States. Kroger is also the third-largest retailer in the world and the third largest private employer in the United States. Kroger is ranked #17 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
Mitchells &amp; Butlers
Mitchells & Butlers Brewery was formed by the merger of two breweries in 1898. The company merged with Bass in 1961. With the brand currently under ownership of Coors Brewers, the brewery closed in 2002 with production switched to Burton upon Trent. Their most famous beer was "Brew XI" (using Roman numerals, and so pronounced "Brew Eleven"), advertised with the slogan ""for the men of the Midlands"". It is now brewed under licence for Coors by Brains of Cardiff.
Brewers Fayre
Despite Whitbread's best efforts, in 2004, Brewster's sales began to slow down. As a result, the company integrated the majority of its 149 restaurants back into the original Brewers Fayre brand during 2005, in an effort to reverse the negative trend. The Brewster's brand had been completely phased out by early 2006. The 2004-05 annual report indicated it was beneficial for Brewers Fayre, not only because Brewster's was focused too much on young families, but also because Brewers Fayre was focusing too much on the adult market and was trying to establish a more family-friendly attitude. Out of the original 149 outlets, all had kept their indoor fun factories, but a small number had these factories reduced in size and were known as Play Zones.
The Beer Store
In the film "Strange Brew" the McKenzie Brothers visit a Brewers Retail store demanding a refund after they attempt to return a bottle of beer that contained a mouse (the mouse was however placed in the bottle by the brothers). Due to the nature of the scene, Brewers Retail refused to allow the use of one of their actual stores for the filming, and also refused to allow the use of the name "Brewers Retail". In response, the filmmakers built their own replica store, and called it "The Beer Store". Coincidentally, several years later, Brewers Retail changed the name of its stores to "The Beer Store", and they continue to operate under this name.
Breuners Home Furnishings
The store was founded in 1856 by William Robert “Bill” Breuner’s great-grandfather John Breuner (1828–1890) to cater to prospectors during the California Gold Rush. The first store opened in Sacramento, California with subsequent branches in Oakland, San Francisco and later throughout California and Nevada. The company went public in 1968 under Bill Breuner. Breuner sold the company in the 1970s and it was acquired by Marshall Fields in 1983. At its height Breuners operated 40 retail outlets. The stores were large bigboxes around . By the 1990s the company was based in San Diego and in 1995 expanded into the New York and New Jersey markets by acquiring Huffman Koos’ 13 stores for 36.9 million dollars. Breuners also owned Good’s Furniture stores.
Storz Brewing Company
The Storz Brewing Company was located at 1807 North 16th Street in North Omaha, Nebraska. Established from a company started in 1863, Storz Brewing began in 1876 by Gottlieb Storz and was owned by the Storz family until 1966; the brewery ceased operations in 1972. Their beers won several prizes in international competitions, and Storz was the top selling brand in Nebraska starting in World War II. Storz was one of the "Big 4" brewers located in Omaha, which also included the Krug, Willow Springs and Metz breweries. On August 8, 2013, it was announced the brand would be revived by Tom Markel, nephew of Monnie Storz Markel, the granddaughter of Gottlieb Storz, with his cousin John Markel, son of Monnie Storz Markel as investor.
Young's
Wells & Young's Brewing, with Charles Wells having a 60% stake and Young & Co 40%, went into operation on 2 October 2006. Wells & Young's is now responsible for brewing, distributing and marketing Charles Wells's and Young & Co's brands at the Eagle Brewery in Bedford. In August 2011, Charles Wells purchased Young's stake in Wells and Young's. Following a full rebrand in early 2015, the company went back to its roots and now trades as Charles Wells once again, reuniting the different arms of the business under its founding name.
Cains Brewery
Cains is a brewery in Liverpool, England, founded in 1858 by Robert Cain. The company merged with Peter Walker & Son in 1921 to form Walker Cains. Peter Walker & Son had a large brewery in Warrington so sold its Liverpool brewery to Higsons in 1923. Boddingtons of Manchester took over in 1985. In 1990 Whitbread acquired Boddington's brewing operations and closed the then Higsons Brewery in 1990. It was reopened by GB Breweries, who became part of Bryggerigruppen in 1991, and in 2002 was sold to Gardener-Shaw for £3.4 million.
Strawbridge's
In May 1930, Strawbridge & Clothier helped remake the American retail scene by opening one of the first suburban branch department stores in the nation, located in the Suburban Square shopping center in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.[9] In 1931, it followed with its second suburban "satellite" store at Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, the building for which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.[10] Strawbridge's opened up a number branch stores throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. These branch stores typically were opened in shopping malls. Prominent stores throughout the Philadelphia area included the stores in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania, and Exton, Pennsylvania. By the 1970s, Strawbridge's had nearly a dozen branch stores in malls across eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and northern Delaware. The branches proved to have been a wise step, as the flagship store posted only a few years of actual profitability, all of them during the 1940s.[4] In 1969, Strawbridge set his sights on competing with the emerging Target-grade retailers,[6] launching the Clover discount store chain; the first Clover store opened in 1971. Located in strip centers rather than malls for the most part, Clover grew to have 26 locations, more than the 21 full-service S&C stores. Most Clover stores closed in the winter of 1997.
Premium Brands Holdings Corporation
Premium Brands was founded in 1917 as Fletcher Limited. It was renamed Fletcher Fine Foods in 1984. In 2000, the company re-branded to Premium Brands. The company sold its Fletcher's business in 2004. In 2005, it converted to an income trust, but it converted back to a normal corporation in 2009, through a complex deal with Thallion Pharmaceuticals. In its time as an income trust, the company had doubled revenues to $450 million. In 2010, Premium Brands acquired SK Food Group, a Seattle-based supplier of breakfast sandwiches and wraps to Starbucks, for $42.5 million. Partly as a result of increased sales of these products, Premium Brands' overall sales more than doubled in the 5 years from 2010 to 2015, to $1.2 billion. The company's sandwich sales increased from $156.8 million to $460 million in 2016. In 2016, the company purchased meat company C&C Packing for up to $146 million.
Breuners Home Furnishings
Founded in California during the California Gold Rush in the mid-19th century, its stores served California and Nevada before expanding to the east coast in the late 20th century. In 2004 the company declared bankruptcy, closed all its retail stores, and now is a virtual brand on the Internet.
Metropolitan Stores
The chain began in 1908 when F.H. Brewster, the founder, opened his first five-and-ten cent store eponymously named F.H. Brewster & Company at 483-485 Talbot Street in St. Thomas, Ontario. Other stores were opened under the name of "F.H. Brewster & Company" in London, Ingersoll, Chatham and other Ontario cities. Brewster lost his first two stores in London: one before it even opened when the neighbouring crockery store "Reid's Crystal Hall" collapsed into it during a renovation to the building on July 16, 1907, as two salesgirls were sorting out stock for the grand opening later that week; the other store was lost in a Dundas Street fire only a year or two after operation on the night of November 3, 1911. Brewster's new store, which appeared the following year, was built and designed for the owner Sir George Gibbons by London architects Watt & Blackwell.
CoorsTek
Rhineland-born Adolph Coors (1847–1929) opened the Colorado Glass Works in 1887 to manufacture beer bottles for his brewery, the Adolph Coors Brewing Company, west of Denver. In 1888, the glass works, incorporated as Coors, Binder & Co., was idled by a strike and never re-opened. The Glass Works was leased to Austrian-born John J. Herold in 1910, who incorporated the Herold China and Pottery Company on the site at 600 Ninth St in Golden. Herold used clay from nearby mines to make dinnerware and heat-resistant porcelain ovenware under the trademark Herold Fireproof China. The now-abandoned clay pits form the western boundary of the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) campus. CSM professor Herman Fleck helped Herold perfect his glazing technique. Adolph Coors became the majority stockholder and was elected to the board of directors of Herold China in 1912. John Herold resigned, and Adolph Coors Company acquired Herold China in 1914. Herold returned later in 1914 to manage the plant, but left permanently in 1915. CSM evaluated Fireproof China for industrial applications in 1914, and found it suitable. The company began producing chemical porcelain in 1915 as a result of a World War I embargo on German imports. Adolph Coors’ third son, Herman F. Coors (1890-1967), was named manager in 1916. Herold China was renamed Coors Porcelain Company in 1920, and the trademark "Coors U.S.A." was first used. The Rocky Mountain Bottle Company, maker of Coors beer bottles in nearby Wheat Ridge, came long after Coors, Binder & Co., and has never been affiliated with Coors Porcelain.
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores. Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, the company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and incorporated on October 31, 1969. It also owns and operates Sam's Club retail warehouses. Walmart has 11,277 stores and clubs in 27countries, operating under 55 differentnames. The company operates under the name Walmart in the United States and Canada, as Walmart de México y Centroamérica in Mexico and Central America, as Asda in the United Kingdom, as the Seiyu Group in Japan, and as Best Price in India. It has wholly owned operations in Argentina, Chile, Canada, and South Africa. Since August 2018, Walmart only holds a minority stake in Walmart Brasil, with 20% of the company's shares, and private equity firm Advent International holding 80% ownership of the company.
Brewers Investment Corporation
The Brewers Investment Corporation had become a public company by 1895 and was listed on the London Stock Exchange for that year.
Younkers
Younkers Inc. was an American online retailer and former department store chain founded as a family-run dry goods business in 1856 in Keokuk, Iowa. The retailer had evolved over more than 150 years to include a presence in locations throughout Iowa and bordering states in the Midwest region of the United States. It is pronounced yawn-kers. Younkers became influential as it acquired several rivals throughout the 20th century both inside and outside of Iowa. The chain itself was sold by the late 1990s, with ownership transferring out of state, and its Des Moines-based headquarters closed by 2003 as a part of a corporate consolidation. Following its last sale in 2006, Younkers operated as a subsidiary of The Bon-Ton, with locations in seven Midwestern states, primarily in shopping malls. it continued to operate more than fifty locations in the region. On August 29, 2018, the last 17 remaining Younkers outlets were all shut down.
Brewers' Distributor
There are a few key differences between BDL and Brewers Retail Inc. which operates under largely the same ownership in the neighboring province of Ontario. First, BDL does not retail beer to consumers, it is only in the warehousing and distribution business. Second, although BDL distributes the vast majority of beer sold in Western Canada, it has not been granted monopolistic privileges by any provincial government. Other domestic breweries are free to distribute their own beer if they wish – some non-shareholders (such as the Big Rock and Sleeman Breweries) have their own distribution chains although others voluntarily use BDL. Third, BDL has been permitted to distribute some brands of imported beer since 2001 except in Alberta where the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission had already contracted out its entire distribution operation to a private company and continues to grant Connect Logistics Inc. the exclusive right to distribute imported beer to Alberta's privately owned establishments and stores. BRI stocks imported beer in its The Beer Store locations but this beer is purchased through the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
Bergner's
P.A. Bergner & Co. was an online retailer operated by Bon-Ton holdings and was an upscale midwestern department store established in 1889. The flagship store was located in Peoria, Illinois at The Shoppes at Grande Prairie.
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers finally got their own flannel design in 1971. This design was essentially the same as the one used in 1970, but with blue and yellow piping on the sleeves and collar. In 1972, the Brewers entered the double-knit era with uniforms based upon their flannels: all white with "BREWERS" on the front and blue and yellow trim on the sleeves, neck, waistband and down the side of the pants. This is the uniform that Hank Aaron wore with the club in his final seasons and that Robin Yount wore in his first. During this period, the logo of the club was the Beer Barrel Man, which had been used by the previous minor league Brewers since at least the 1940s. The Brewers mascot, Bernie Brewer (a man with a large yellow mustache wearing a Brewers hat) was introduced in 1973.
C. Brewer &amp; Co.
Peirce retired to a life as diplomat in 1843, and the company was renamed after Brewer, who shifted the company's focus to supplying whaling ships and general merchandise. Brewer ran the business with his nephew Charles Brewer II (1823–1863) until 1845, returned to Boston in 1849, on the ship that brought the first gold from the California Gold Rush. He continued to be an investor, and convinced Peirce and Hunnewell to rejoin him for a while.
James Fowler Baldwin Marshall and Francis Johnson took over management of the Honolulu business. Stephen H. Williams and Benjamin F. Snow continued the business in the 1850s. Charles Brewer II ran the business again in 1859, reviving the C. Brewer & Co. name. Sherman Peck and Charles H. Lunt took over in 1861 when the younger Brewer retired. Henry Alpheus Peirce Carter (1837–1891) became a partner in 1862 until 1874.
McAvoy Brewing Company
McAvoy Brewing Company (founded in 1865 as Bemis & Rindge Brewery by Henry V. Bemis) was run by John H. McAvoy in Chicago, Illinois and was one of Chicago's largest breweries before Prohibition. Coinciding with the Eighteenth Amendment going into effect on January 16, 1920, the brewery closed in 1920.
IBC Root Beer
The Independent Breweries Company was a syndicate founded in St. Louis, Missouri, by the combination of Griesediecks' National Brewery, Columbia (Alpen Brau), the Gast brewery in Baden, A.B.C., and Wagner Brewing Company. This combination was ill fated due to high overhead with too many executives and low profits forcing IBC into receivership. The IBC Root Beer was the main survivor of the syndicate.
List of breweries in Oklahoma
Brewing in Tulsa dates back to the late 1930s with the Ahrens Brewing Company and their Ranger Beer line. The Ahrens Brewing Company opened in May 1938 as a large scale production brewery which employed more than 30 people at its onset. Their Ranger Beer, Ranger Special Brew, and Ranger Winter Brew were popular among Tulsans of the time; however the brewery experienced only a short existence. They were forced into bankruptcy in February 1940. The details of what went wrong with the brewery have been lost over time, but it is believed that the Ahrens were put out of business by “unfair” practices from the breweries in Oklahoma City.
A&amp;W Root Beer
In 1924, Allen bought Wright's share, obtained a trademark, and began selling restaurant franchises. A&W was one of the first franchised restaurant chains in the United States. Franchise owners could use the A&W name and logo and purchased concentrated root beer syrup from Allen. By 1933, there were more than 170 A&W franchised outlets. There was no common menu, architecture, or procedures shared by the franchisees and some chose to sell food with the root beer.
Braus Stores
Braus Stores were retailers which sold women's apparel. The firm's offices were located at 285 Madison Avenue (Manhattan). The department stores were incorporated in January 1930. They were owned by B.A.
Hartstein and incorporated with 100,000 shares of common stock.
Browns Shoes
Browns Shoes is a fashion retailer that operates over 65 stores across Canada under the Browns, B2 and Browns OUTLET banners. 
The company was founded in Montreal in 1940 by Benjamin Brownstein. Today, a third generation leads the business which employs close to 1000 employees nationwide.
Browns' shoes have been seen on prominent Canadian celebrities and personalities such as model Coco Rocha, Montreal Canadien Mike Cammalleri, as well as Ben Mulroney and Tanya Kim from E-TALK Canada, for which Browns is the official footwear supplier. The latest Fall / Winter 2013 Campaign featured Canadian model Coco Rocha, Czech model Petra Nemcova, and Brazilian model Marlon Teixeira.
A&amp;W Restaurants
A&W Restaurants, Inc. is a chain of fast-food restaurants distinguished by its draft root beer, root beer floats and burgers. Its origins date back to 1919 when Roy W. Allen opened a walk-up root beer stand in Lodi, California. Allen's employee Frank Wright partnered with him and founded this first restaurant in Sacramento, California, in 1923. The company name was taken respectively from the initials of their last names—Allen and Wright. The company became famous in the United States for its "frosty mugs," where the mugs would be kept in the freezer and eventually get filled with A&W Root Beer before they were served to customers.
History of professional baseball in Milwaukee
With the opportunity to build off their surprising 2017 run, Brewers GM David Stearns worked on stocking up the Brewers roster for 2018, including signing pitchers Jhoulys Chacin and Junior Guerra, and outfielder Lorenzo Cain, who had originally started his MLB career in Milwaukee. The Brewers also traded for another outfielder, Christian Yelich, for four minor leaguers. The Brewers started 2018 well, helped by a stretch in May where they went 19-8 to put themselves on top in the NL Central division, taking advantage, once again, of early struggles for both the Cubs and Cardinals. However, the team struggled again in the middle of the season, going 40-39 through the months of June, July, and August. However, they were still in the playoff hunt, leading in the Wild Card, but were still 5 games behind the division-leading Cubs going into the final month of the season. The Brewers got hot again, going 19-7 in September, including winning 10 of their last 11 games, the last 8 in a row, to catch the Cubs. Christian Yelich led the offense, going on an offensive tear, including hitting clutch home runs in two of the final three games of the season against the Detroit Tigers. The Brewers tied the Cubs for the NL Central lead, resulting in a one-game playoff for the division title. The Brewers won 3-1, clinching their second division title of the decade, and only their 3rd in franchise history, finishing with a 96-67 record, tying the franchise record for wins in a season. The Brewers continued their hot run in the NLDS, against the Colorado Rockies, sweeping them in three games to advance to the NLCS, also achieving at least 12 wins in a row for only the second time in their history. The Brewers faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, but the Brewers were unable to keep their late momentum, as the Dodgers bullpen was able to quiet the Brewers' bats, winning the National League pennant in seven games.
Hulman &amp; Company
Hulman & Company is an American private, family-owned, company founded in 1850 by Francis T. Hulman as a wholesale foods supplier of groceries, tobacco, and liquor, headquartered in Terre Haute, Indiana.  Throughout the early half of the 20th century, Hulman & Co. became nationally known for its Clabber Girl baking powder which it began producing in 1899. In 1945, the company purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in what many thought was an unusual investment for a company with a rich history in the food and beverage industry. The company also owns a television production company, Wabash Valley Broadcasting, dba IMS Productions, which does in-house work for their Indy Racing League, various teams in the organization, and in the past, produced NBA Indiana Pacers and Professional Bull Riders broadcasts.
Alcoholic beverages in Oregon
In 1862, German immigrant Henry Weinhard founded a brewery in Portland. By the early 1880s it had become the Northwest's largest brewery. Weinhard once attempted to pump free beer through Portland's Skidmore Fountain. He died in 1904, but the company continued to do well, making it through prohibition by brewing soft drinks and merging with Arnold Blitz, a local competitor. Blitz-Weinhard was sold to the Pabst Brewing Company in 1979, and then again to the Miller Brewing Company in 1999. The company helped prepare Oregon beer drinkers for the arrival of microbrewing.
A&amp;W Cream Soda
A&W Cream Soda is a cream soda carbonated soft drink introduced by A&W Root Beer in 1986. A&W Root Beer was first sold at a Veterans Day parade in Lodi, California in 1919 and the company established in 1922 by Frank Wright and Roy Allen. The first product they created was A & W Root Beer. It was not until 1986 that A&W Brands, headquartered in White Plains, N.Y. introduced A&W Cream Soda and A&W Diet Cream Soda through its network of franchised bottlers and distributors. Although cream soda had been created in 1852 by E.M. Sheldon, A&W Brands was one of the first American companies to make it commercially. In 1993, A&W Brands was purchased by Cadbury/Schweppes, and in 1995 Cadbury/Schweppes purchased the Dr. Pepper/Seven-Up Company, which made A&W a part of the Dr. Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. In 2001, DPSU purchased the Snapple Beverage Group (formally TriArc Beverages), and moved the New York-based company operations to its new headquarters in Plano, Texas. This acquisition put A&W within the same company as the top soda brand companies and made A&W Cream Soda the top brand in cream sodas.