After Decades Feeding Delaware Valley, Farewell to the Genuardi Name
By Brad Segall
JEFFERSONVILLE, Pa. (CBS) -- A name synonymous with supermarkets in the Philadelphia region for nearly sixty years will be disappearing soon, amid news that Giant Food Stores is buying 16 Genuardi's stores from Safeway.
The $106-million deal is expected to be completed later this year. At that time, the Giant name will replace the Genuardi name on the stores.
Safeway plans to close three other Genuardi's store, and they're looking for a buyer for the handful that will remain.
Greg Honeyman spent 26 years with Genuardi's, working his way up to director of operations. He says it was like working for family.
"You knew every owner of the company," he says. "You knew members of their family. And they took the feeling of family and imbued it in those of us that worked in the stores."
Surprisingly, though, Honeyman says the disappearance of the name brings a sense of relief for him. He says the Genuardi name on a store meant everything positive and nothing negative, but he believes that all changed after Safeway bought the chain a decade ago.
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