Falley's Inc. history

Ronald Burkle went to work at his father's store in 1966, when he was only 13, boxing groceries after school.

He dropped out of California State Polytechnic University in 1973 and returned to Stater.

The merger, which cost $375 million, created a chain of nearly 100 stores, including the 24 in the Los Angeles-based Boys Market chain, the Hispanic-oriented Viva Mart stores introduced by Boys in 1988, and other supermarkets in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas.

By 1989, Yucaipa was operating 24 stores, including Food 4 Less warehouses in the San Bernardino and Moreno Valley areas of California and Falley's Inc. in Kansas and Missouri.

In 1991, Burkle began negotiating with American Stores for its Alpha Beta grocery chain, one of the largest in southern California and valued at around $400 million.

In 1992, to pay off a debt, Campeau gave Ralphs stock to Edward J. DeBartolo, and the supermarket chain became part of his mall development company.

At the time of the merger announcement in 1994, Ralphs had 370 conventional stores and Food 4 Less operated 133 conventional Alpha Betas, 24 conventional Boys, 15 conventional Vivas, and 30 Food 4 Less warehouse outlets in the southern part of the state.

In addition, the company planned to spend more than $130 million on capital expenditures in 1995, including five new Food 4 Less stores and four new Ralphs units.

In May 1996, Smitty's Supermarkets, Inc. merged with Smith's Food and Drug Centers, Inc., a public company.