Military Distributors Of Virginia history

By the time North Dakota achieved statehood in 1889, the brothers had opened three additional stores, suffered the loss of one and severe damage to another from separate fires, and, finally, consolidated their operations in the emerging urban center of Grand Forks.

Public Company Incorporated: 1894 as Nash BrothersEmployees: 11,888Sales: $2.51 billionStock Exchanges: NASDAQSICs: 5141 Groceries, General Line; 5142 Packaged Frozen Foods; 5143 Dairy Products; 5147 Meats and Meat Products; 5148 Fresh Fruits and Vegetables; 5411 Grocery Stores

Also in 1896, the company incorporated under the name Nash Brothers Wholesale Produce Co.

A 1905 partnership forged with a budding Red River Valley produce brokerage named C. H. Robinson—to which Finch was elected vice-president—further broadened Nash’s service base.

After Nash Brothers acquired control of Robinson in 1913, branch offices were established in Minneapolis, Sioux City, Milwaukee, Chicago, Fort Worth, and virtually everywhere else the parent company had sprouted its own warehouse facilities.

In 1918, 43 of the original retailers signed the Articles of Incorporation for the Grand Rapids Wholesale Grocery Company; their first purchase was a boxcar of sugar.

By 1919 Nash Brothers had become so vast that it required a more centralized headquarters.

As the corporation’s first president, Fred Nash oversaw the complex consolidation process, which was completed in 1925.

The only year in which the company failed to turn a profit was 1932, generally considered the worst year of the Depression.

Until 1966, C. H. Robinson served as the produce procurement branch of Nash Brothers, because, at that time, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) succeeded in limiting Nash’s broker-buyer monopoly.

Two Mid-Atlantic acquisitions in 1992, Virginia-based Tidewater Wholesale Grocery and a prominent division of Maryland-based B. Green & Company, fortified Nash’s position as one of the largest distributors to the United States military.

Net earnings rose as well, to $20 million, from $17.4 million in 1995.

Nash Finch took a pretax charge of $106 million in relation to the restructuring, leading to a net loss for 1998 of $61.7 million.

In July 1999, meantime, Nash Finch completed two deals to divest noncore operations.

In August 2001 U Save Foods, Inc., which operated 14 supermarkets in Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado, was acquired for approximately $145 million, and most of the stores were soon operating under the Sun Mart banner.

In 2002 Nash Finch launched a new concept called Avanza.

In May 2004, then, Marshall announced that 21 underperforming stores would be closed, and the Buy-n-Save and Avanza concepts would be jettisoned.