kessel food markets
al kessel films one of his television commercials for kessel food markets. kessel died friday, dec. 28 at 74 .
grocer al kessel died friday, dec. 28 at a hospice facility in naples, fla. he was 74. kessel started kessel food markets and grew the company to 24 stores before selling it to kroger .
rudy' s provided an unbelievable array of food for a backyard party - - see photo. quality of food is superb !
grand blanc, mi – al kessel created the largest flint - based grocery chain that included more than 20 stores and employed 2, 000 people before he sold kessel food markets to kroger in 1999 .
cincinnati - - kroger co. here said it has reached an agreement to purchase flint, michigan - based kessel food markets, a family operation with stores primarily in flint and saginaw, michigan .
kessel started his chain when he opened three stores in the early 1980s and grew kessel food markets to 24 stores in flint and saginaw. he sold 20 of his stores in flint and saginaw in 1999 to kroger. the 2, 000 employees kept their jobs .
cincinnati - - kroger co. here said it has reached an agreement to purchase flint, michigan - based kessel food markets, a family operation with stores primarily in flint and saginaw, michigan. the transaction, which includes 20 stores, opens new markets for the livonia - based michigan kroger marketing area, which currently does not have operations in flint or saginaw, gary rhodes, spokesman, told sn .
kroger
united food and commercial workers local 951, a grand rapids - based union, launched a drive in april 1998 to organize 2, 000 kessel employees at more than 20 stores in genesee and saginaw counties .
i love supporting this local store! the staff is super friendly and knowledgeable. they take pride in what they do and even carry your dog' s food o…
in 1999, kessel sold 20 stores to kroger and kessel' s 2, 000 employees had the opportunity to stay on with kroger .
al kessel prepares to shoot a commercial in the grand blanc kessel store in this file photo from 1999. he continued to make commercials for kroger after he sold his stores. kessel died in florida friday .
check urltoken for additional updates. click here for all our coverage of kessel .
union officials also accused kessel of intimidating employees at times, a claim which he denied .
a native of owosso, kessel and his wife colette still have a home in grand blanc .
knight was working for kroger in caro when he went to one of kessel' s original stores in saginaw. considering leaving kroger, knight wanted to see what kind of leader kessel was .
the information about some saginaw stores is wrong. it should be like this. * * 3355 holland was a ray' s food fair, then a giant, then a kessel and is currently a save - a - lot. * * 3805 n. michigan was also a ray' s food fair, followed by a giant, followed by a kessel, followed by a save - a - lot which is what it is now. it was never a family dollar. * * 5700 state was actually closed in 2008, not 2007. it was a ray' s food fair, then a giant and was remodeled as a giant before kessel bought the giant chain out, followed by kroger buying the kessel chain out. the greenhouse was used for offices, the entrance to the store and the customer service desk, it was never used as an actual greenhouse. * * 4675 bay rd. not 3437 bay rd. is now a goodwill. also when ocb opened it did not effect the grocery store at all. * * 2490 tittabawassee this store was always a kessel and never a kroger, also the part where hobby lobby is located was never part of the store, that was a phar - mor before kessel even re - located there. it closed not long after kroger' s buyout of kessel as a kessel. * * 321 n. michigan this was never a kroger or a kessel, this was an arbor drugs and then a cvs pharmacy after cvs' s buyout of arbor, the store next door to it use to be a hollywood video. save - a - lot opened after cvs shuttered their saginaw area stores .
one of the union' s spokeswoman claimed at the time that kessel overworked and underpaid his employees .
the sale did not include kessel - owned pet supplies plus outlets of his save - a - lot grocery stores. those stores still operate under kessel enterprises, which is headquartered near his grand blanc home .
knight was impressed and left kroger to work for kessel – including 11 years at the grand blanc store .
kessel' s funeral will be jan. 5 at hill funeral home, 11723 s. saginaw st .
television commercials with kessel detailing that week' s deals would feature the jovial man tossing the items in a cart and ending with
save at kessel this week. why? because we' re with you .
the sale did not affect four kessel stores that were converted to save - a - lot stores or closed .
kessel died friday, dec. 28, at a hospice facility in naples, fla. he was 74 .
* * 5700 state was formerly ray' s food fair and later giantway, later a kroger with all - caps signage, closed 2007 when kroger moved to a new store (former a & p / farmer jack). i find it strange that although this was giantway into the 1990s, it
television commercials with kessel detailing that week' s deals would feature the jovial man tossing the items either in a cart or off camera and ending with
save at kessel this week. why? because we' re with you .
kessel bought those stores in 1982 and expanded his collection of stores in 1991 when he acquired 13 hamady stores through u. s. bankruptcy court. the deal left kessel with 20 stores, making it the largest flint - area grocery chain .
as a footnote, al kessel was a former executive at flint - based hamady stores, which went under in 1991 .
kessel sold 20 of his stores in flint and saginaw in 1999 to kroger. the 2, 000 employees kept their jobs .
grand blanc, mi – grocery store owner al kessel would close each of his commercials with
we' re with you .
a family spokesman said kessel had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer 15 months ago and died at a naples hospice facility. he was 74 .
* * 2629 w. pierson rd. being the former yankee, later tradeway and hills. hills closed in 1991, not long before the aforementioned kessel burned down. this store became kessel and remains open as a kroger, looking much like a former hills on the front .
kessel was known for his personable style and amusing commercials. he would detail that week' s deals and the jovial man would toss the items in a cart or off camera and would close with
save at kessel this week. why? because we' re with you .
watch a youtube video of one of his weekly commercials below. check urltoken for additional updates. click here for all our coverage of kessel .
in 1999, he sold his 20 stores to kroger and kessel' s 2, 000 employees had the opportunity to stay on with kroger .
* fenton had a kessel at 1236 n. leroy st. i don' t know what it looked like as a kessel, but my first guess is
former kroger .
the building was torn down in the early 2000s for a strip mall including a subway and a dollar general .
, is obviously a former corner - entry kroger. kessel closed this store in 2000, and it' s now a save - a - lot .
grand blanc, mi – grocery store magnate al kessel, known for his personable style and amusing commercials, died friday morning, dec. 28, in florida .
i have found that all the kessel stores were in the flint, saginaw and bay city areas. i distinctly recall most of them reverting to kroger over time .
he cared for his employees and was always willing to help the ones who may have been struggling financially, according to friends and those who used to work for kessel .
he' s going to be missed ,
said wife colette kessel .
he' s just an amazing man, but couldn' t conquer the cancer .
* * 1563 e. pierson rd. was also a hamady. it was vacated in 1996 when kessel moved to the location below, and 13 years later it' s
he died friday dec. 28 at a hospice facility in naples, fla. kessel was 74. he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer 15 months ago, a family spokesman said .
kessel opened two former kroger stores in saginaw and one in corunna in the early 1980s. he had previously been vice president of the now - defunct flint - based hamady bros. grocery chain .
he took care of the people the way he would want to be taken care of ,
said richard knight, who worked for kessel for 29 years .
he went over and above .
since reagan, the anti union forces have been telling the nit wits all the evils of workers unions. i seen it in union cities, here in saginaw michigan, there were union kroger stores before reagan took office. after reagan was elected kroger made a deal with al kessel to buy out the area' s kroger stores thus tying the unions hands because kessel stores weren' t unionized and because krogers sold out nothing could be done for union workers, who either stayed at their jobs with reduced wages and no benefits or they lost their jobs. it was a vast scam as the
new
kessel stores sold kroger brand foods, the non union kroger stores in ohio remained open. all efforts to unionize kessels failed, the former union workers tried but kessl said if they unionized he was closing the stores, the unions couldn' t muster up enough support with the non union workers to pass a union also. this went on until 2000. then after the 2000 elections all of a sudden kessel sold all of the kessel stores back to krogers and today they are all back under the kroger name without unions [ … ]
* * 4841 clio rd. was probably a former hamady given that it shared a plaza with a yankee. the store burned down in the early 1990s and was never rebuilt, as kessel reopened in the former yankee at the other end…
he sent me to the super bowl, so i think he kind of liked me ,
knight said of super bowl xxvi in minnesota in 1992 .
that was fantastic. i enjoyed every minute working for al kessel and his family .
* and finally, swartz creek was kessel until the early 2000s, when a brand - new kroger opened on the other side of town. it was split between pet supplies plus and save - a - lot, the latter of which closed in 2007 .
in september 1998, 125 labor leaders and supporters marched on kessel headquarters, asking him to sign a pledge to allow the union to distribute its organizing literature freely in company stores. the pledge would have also given union representatives access to employee meetings in the stores .
as a kessel. it was obviously a former 1970s kroger superstore in this pic. it' s kroger again, with the kroger sign in all - caps. this is a corner - entry store with the corner entry on the right, next to a kmart .
* * g - 5186 fenton rd. opened ca. 1996 in what was formerly known as the 23 market, a three - store chain which also had locations in burton (vacant, not sold to kessel) and flushing (see below). this lives on as a
al was a larger than life person, not only in stature, but in personality ,
said linda gobler, president and ceo of michigan grocers association, where kessel was a board member for 10 years .
he really was a wonderful individual and i' m saddened to learn of his death .
* * 3437 bay rd. is a former corner - entry kroger superstore (right corner). at some point, perhaps around the same time it became kessel, an old country buffet was built right next door. ocb took over the corner entry, and a new entry was cut in the middle of the store. this store closed in the early 1990s and relocated to the below location. michaels arts & crafts took this store over until last year, when it also moved .
kroger created a distribution partnership called foodland distributors by spinning off the detroit area warehouse to a limited partnership with several detroit area supermarkets, including kessel' s. super kmarts in the the area were supplied by the warehouse from the 90' s until the partnership was dissolved with the kessel' s acquisition. i' m pretty certain that great scott! (allied) was also supplied by foodland distributors and was also acquired by kroger after a & p acquired farmer jack. i don' t know if chatham ever used foodland distributors, or if it was spartan supplied. i believe carter' s and some other michigan chains used foodland distributors as well. this is one of the reasons that kroger brands were sold in non - kroger stores in michigan. kmart even sold rocky top cola, a bluefield beverage product identical to big k colas as its house brand soda prior to switching to fleming as its wholesaler (fleming was a national contract however replacing the various wholesalers supplying kmarts around the country). as for non - union stores in ohio, i' m pretty sure every store in ohio is unionized, as the lack of concessions and low market share led to kroger completely leaving northeast ohio, as well as the pittsburgh market. the only other well documented union showdown in that time frame happened in defiance, oh which is a kroger sav - on that closed temporarily only to reopen. the kroger stores in baton rouge, la were closed as a result of a strike, during this same timeframe, and were sold to a & p who re - opened them as non - union stores. without moving further off topic, kroger did open some non - union stores within its existing marketplace to send the point to the unions that stores could be operated with or without them (mainly in right to work states in the south). in the case of both acquisitions of great scott! and kessel' s many stores returned to kroger ownership. in the case of great scott! , the stores were unionized, but kessel' s as you stated weren' t. the deal enabled to kroger to remain in the detroit market and eventually survive the decline of what competition wasn' t acquired - chatham' s and a & p / farmer jack, and the expansion of meijer into southeastern michigan, leaving kroger and meijer as the two major chains in the detroit region .
krogerclerk wrote: kroger created a distribution partnership called foodland distributors by spinning off the detroit area warehouse to a limited partnership with several detroit area supermarkets, including kessel' s. super kmarts in the the area were supplied by the warehouse from the 90' s until the partnership was dissolved with the kessel' s acquisition. i' m pretty certain that great scott! (allied) was also supplied by foodland distributors and was also acquired by kroger after a & p acquired farmer jack. i don' t know if chatham ever used foodland distributors, or if it was spartan supplied. i believe carter' s and some other michigan chains used foodland distributors as well. this is one of the reasons that kroger brands were sold in non - kroger stores in michigan. kmart even sold rocky top cola, a bluefield beverage product identical to big k colas as its house brand soda prior to switching to fleming as its wholesaler (fleming was a national contract however replacing the various wholesalers supplying kmarts around the country). as for non - union stores in ohio, i' m pretty sure every store in ohio is unionized, as the lack of concessions and low market share led to kroger completely leaving northeast ohio, as well as the pittsburgh market. the only other well documented union showdown in that time frame happened in defiance, oh which is a kroger sav - on that closed temporarily only to reopen. the kroger stores in baton rouge, la were closed as a result of a strike, during this same timeframe, and were sold to a & p who re - opened them as non - union stores. without moving further off topic, kroger did open some non - union stores within its existing marketplace to send the point to the unions that stores could be operated with or without them (mainly in right to work states in the south). in the case of both acquisitions of great scott! and kessel' s many stores returned to kroger ownership. in the case of great scott! , the stores were unionized, but kessel' s as you stated weren' t. the deal enabled to kroger to remain in the detroit market and eventually survive the decline of what competition wasn' t acquired - chatham' s and a & p / farmer jack, and the expansion of meijer into southeastern michigan, leaving kroger and meijer as the two major chains in the detroit region .
the corunna store was later converted to a save - a - lot outlet .
kroger closed the stores in 1981 after it couldn' t get concessions from the flint - based local that represented workers. it also cited michigan' s poor economy and the cost of the doing business in the state as reasons for closing the stores .
similar reasons were given when kroger closed all five of its genesee county stores later that year .
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in january 1999, union organizers in saginaw and buena vista townships mailed thousands of fliers warning residents of
unsanitary conditions
at multiple stores .
dominic adams is a police reporter for mlive - flint journal. contact him at dadams5 @ urltoken or 810 - 241 - 8803. follow him on twitter or facebook .
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in 1981, it seems there was a union issue regarding kroger in michigan. according to one
* bay city — this one opened in 1992 in a former giantway. it is currently a kroger, seen
, with allcaps signage. big lots took over the former ray' s family center, which was basically a small discount store often attached to giantway stores .
* bridgeport — also a former giantway / ray' s family center. according to
loopnet listing, the building is vacant, having received a new parking lot in 1997. the tail end is now a family dollar .
* * 1200 e. bristol rd. was demolished, along with an adjacent former perry drug / rite aid, for a new - build kroger early in the decade. i' m quite familiar with this store, as my aunt lives behind it .
as a save - a - lot. note the weird
peak
jutting out of the greenhouse windows .
* davison' s store was a former hamady, and i think a yankee discount store before that. this was a kroger until a new store opened downtown maybe 6 years ago. it' s seen
, looking like absolutely no kind of kroger whatsoever, although i remember it having the glass
peak
like corunna. the south half of the store became a dollar general and is now a goodwill store, and the north half is still vacant .
, is now a very small kroger. i have no idea what this opened as; it doesn' t resemble any kroger prototype i' ve seen .
* * g - 5249 corunna rd. was a former hamady, also now a kroger. it' s a strange, small building with
kroger. (oh, and the 23? right behind this store is the 23 drive - in, itself named for the fact that fenton rd. used to be us - 23. )
rite aid has opened a new store in the parking lot, replacing the vacant former perry at the back of the old grocery store .
* * 1542 e. pierson rd. is a former 23 market. it
* grand blanc also carries on as a kroger, with the
peak
as well; the greenhouse has been removed. i have mentioned before that this store was a demo / rebuild or extreme remodel of a 1970s corner - entry store attached to a small mall .
is that it is evidently an expansion of a former corner - entry store. the corner entry is obvious but bricked over .
* * 3355 holland is a former giantway. it has been cut up into several stores, including a save - a - lot. this store is located behind the now - closed fort saginaw mall .
* * 3805 n. michigan is also a former giantway. it, too, is a save - a - lot (and a family dollar) .
. it, too, was closed when the new store opened at the former a & p site in between this and 5700 .
* * 2490 tittabawassee is a relocation of the above store, opened in the early 1990s. it looks a
, having been converted to that name (with all - caps signage) for a couple years. after it closed, hobby lobby took over the east half .
* * 321 n. michigan is also a former corner - entry kroger, also currently a save - a - lot .
the nkroger in defiance, oh was part of the indiana marketing area and union barging uniy. now they ae are apart of local 75 { toledo 911 before that) out of cinci and still in the indiana marketing area
thanks for filling in some of the history regarding unions! despite the fact that a large portion of my family works for gm, i could never make heads or tails of the whole union thing. i barely even know what one is. as for the architecture of these stores, did kroger ever use a
spire
like pictured in the corunna store? it seems to mesh with the greenhouse windows pretty well. and what could the davison road store have been in a previous life? it sure doesn' t look krogerish.
kessel food markets was an american supermarket chain based in michigan . it began in 1981 when owosso , michigan native al kessel , a former executive vice president of hamady brothers supermarkets , purchased kroger locations in corunna and saginaw . kroger closed these stores due to michigan 's poor economy at the time , and failure to reach union agreements . after kroger closed all five of its flint locations in 1982 for the same reasons , kessel purchased them as well , followed by 13 hamady stores after that chain filed for bankruptcy in 1991 . at its peak , kessel food markets comprised 24 stores . kessel filmed his own television commercials for the chain , in which he would throw items into a grocery cart and state , " save at kessel this week . why ? because we 're with you . " the kessel chain was frequently targeted by workers ' unions in saginaw . by 1999 , four of the kessel stores had been converted to save-a-lot or closed , while the rest were sold to kroger , which briefly continued to operate them under the kessel name before converting them . kessel 's company , kessel enterprises of grand blanc , michigan , continued to operate the save-a-lot stores and local pet supplies plus stores . kessel died december 28 , 2012 at age 74 of esophageal cancer , in naples , florida . 
kessel food markets was an american supermarket chain based in michigan. it began in 1981 when owosso, michigan native al kessel, a former executive vice president of hamady brothers supermarkets, purchased kroger locations in corunna and saginaw. kroger closed these stores due to michigan's poor economy at the time, and failure to reach union agreements. after kroger closed all five of its flint locations in 1982 for the same reasons, kessel purchased them as well, followed by 13 hamady stores after that chain filed for bankruptcy in 1991. at its peak, kessel food markets comprised 24 stores. kessel filmed his own television commercials for the chain, in which he would throw items into a grocery cart and state, " save at kessel this week. why? because we're with you. " the kessel chain was frequently targeted by workers' unions in saginaw. by 1999, four of the kessel stores had been converted to save-a-lot or closed, while the rest were sold to kroger, which briefly continued to operate them under the kessel name before converting them. kessel's company, kessel enterprises of grand blanc, michigan, continued to operate the save-a-lot stores and local pet supplies plus stores. kessel died december 28, 2012 at age 74 of esophageal cancer, in naples, florida.
kessel food markets was an american supermarket chain based in michigan. it began in 1981 when owosso, michigan native al kessel, a former executive vice president of hamady brothers supermarkets, purchased kroger locations in corunna and saginaw. kroger closed these stores due to michigan's poor economy at the time, and failure to reach union agreements. after kroger closed all five of its flint locations in 1982 for the same reasons, kessel purchased them as well, followed by 13 hamady stores after that chain filed for bankruptcy in 1991. at its peak, kessel food markets comprised 24 stores. kessel filmed his own television commercials for the chain, in which he would throw items into a grocery cart and state, " save at kessel this week. why? because we're with you. " the kessel chain was frequently targeted by workers' unions in saginaw. by 1999, four of the kessel stores had been converted to save-a-lot or closed, while the rest were sold to kroger, which briefly continued to operate them under the kessel name before converting them. kessel's company, kessel enterprises of grand blanc, michigan, continued to operate the save-a-lot stores and local pet supplies plus stores. kessel died december 28, 2012 at age 74 of esophageal cancer, in naples, florida.