Winco Holdings, Inc. history

1978: Bill Long is named president of the company.

In the 1980's after the passing of Waremart's founder, there was uncertainty throughout the company and its future unknown.

1985: The company's employees buy Waremart Foods Employee Stock Ownership Trust from the Ward family.

By 1987, the company had sales of $198 million and 850 employees.

In January 1991, Waremart opened an 82,000 square-foot store in Boise to replace the two older Boise stores.

In 1993, sales exceeded $350 million.

By 1994, Waremart had 21 stores, 2,900 employees, and sales of $419 million.

"Waremart Builds California Grocery," Idaho Business Review, June 19, 1995.

Carlson, Brad, "Waremart Has Sites for More Stores, But Isn't Sure When They'll Be Built," Idaho Business Review, February 19, 1996.

By 1998, the Cub Foods franchise was running out and Waremart did not wish to make royalty payments for the name.

The Idaho Falls store, employing around 170 people and costing $2.3 million to build, opened in 1999 to a large crowd of shoppers.

Total company sales for 2000 were in the $1 billion range.

Gardner, Steven. "WinCo Foods Considering Third Store, Near Evergreen Airport," Columbian, May 23, 2001.

Further expansion plans in 2003 included a 93,000-square-foot store in Kent, Washington.

In 2007, WinCo Foods accused a competing chain, Save Mart, of directing a lawsuit filed by a neighborhood group Tracy First of Tracy, California, to oppose city approval of a WinCo store.

In October, 2009, WinCo expanded to Utah, adding two stores in West Valley City and Midvale.

An additional Utah store opened in Roy on June 28, 2010. bringing the total number of stores expanded to Utah to five.

In January 2011, WinCo began signing leases for an expansion to Southern Nevada and Arizona.

The chain opened stores in Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada, on March 4, 2012.

In 2014 WinCo Foods was able to better serve stores located in Southern California, as well as focus on its Arizona and Las Vegas expansion, by opening a distribution center located in Phoenix, AZ.

Sales for fiscal 2015 are expected at about $6 billion.

With the beginning of 2016, WinCo Foods prepared a major move in the Texas market, as well as for its overall growth and sustainability plan by opening a state-of-the-art, 800,000 square foot distribution center in Denton, TX – the single largest economic development in the history of Denton.

In August of 2017, WinCo Foods continued to support the values of employee ownership, by becoming a founding member of Certified Employee-Owned, an alliance of companies dedicated to building a voice for employee ownership.

In early March of 2019, WinCo Foods made the move into Montana, opening stores concurrently in Billings and Helena – our 125th and 126th stores, respectively –bringing our signature low prices and wide open stores to the area.