Tom Thumb is a supermarket chain founded in the year 1948. The two founders Robert B. Cullum and J.R. Bost, opened the store under the name Tom Thumb-Page Food Stores. The store expanded, and by 1956 had 20 stores. The expansion continued in California and the Midwest when they acquired Pantry Food Markets and Hinky Dinky in those areas respectively. The specialty stores, Simon David, were then added to their line in 1963, a brand it still retains to date.

In 1987, Tom Thumb and Wal-Mart partnered in creating Hypermart USA stores, which they dropped out of in 1991 after an unsuccessful run. The chain operates under a number of brand names such as its own Tom Thumb brand, Simon David and Flagship Tom Thumb. The chain focuses on the more affluent areas and hence their prices tend to be higher than those of its competitors like Albertsons or Kroger. The firm at some point traded on the NYSE as Cullum Companies.

New Owners

In 1992, the firm was bought by Randall’s Food Markets, but still kept trading using Tom Thumb. Randall’s made some changes in the chain by converting many Tom Thumb store locations into Randall’s. Randall’s got a new owner in 1999 in the name of Safeway and the new parent kept Tom Thumb brand in Dallas/Forth Worth. Safeway undertook store closures in 2005 with a total of 25 store closures. Of these, nine Tom Thumb locations were affected (all in Dallas/Fort Worth), 15 Randall’s locations (Houston), one in Austin, Texas. The move, according to Safeway, was aimed at revitalizing its Texas division. Safeway also remodeled stores to their own “Lifestyle” format. The new format used today has features like organic and natural foods, sushi bars, full-service bakeries, full-service meat counters, olive bars, floral design centers and an expanded perishables section.