food markets type grocer subsidiary of albertsons industry retail founded 1966 headquarters westchase houston texas number of locations 44 key people paul mctavish 1 division president ; leslie nelson vice president finance ; ronnie brennan vice president marketing products bakery dairy delicatessen frozen foods grocery meat pharmacy produce seafood snacks liquor parent albertsons website randalls.com randall s headquarters in westchase houston randall s food markets operates 44 supermarkets in the houston and austin areas under the randalls and flagship randalls banners . randall s today forms the nucleus of the current houston division of albertsons and is headquartered in the westchase district of houston . 2 3 4 the office served as the headquarters of the independent randall s company before its takeover and later the texas division of safeway . 5 the randall s distribution center is in unincorporated harris county texas . 6 most stores include fresh seafood floral cosmetic bakery and film processing departments . the premium flagship randalls and flagship tom thumb stores have increased their take out departments to provide fresh made pizzas pastas and barbecue . many locations even offer bank branches atms coffee shops one hour photograph processing drive through pharmacy windows fueling stations and full service counters where a customer can purchase lottery or movie tickets pay utility bills and car license renewals . contents 1 history 1.1 expanding from houston 1.2 kohlberg kravis roberts & co. 1.3 safeway 1.4 ceberus capital 2 hurricane relief fund 3 loyalty program 4 references 5 external links history edit randalls food markets was founded by robert r. onstead r. c. barclay and norman n. frewin in houston texas on july 4 1966 with the purchase of two existing grocery stores . citation needed the first randall s opened in 1966 . 7 the company s fourth store opened in 1970 and by the end of the decade the company owned 15 stores and had established itself in the market . citation needed in 1980 randall s had 8 % of the houston area grocery market making it the fourth largest grocer there . 7 by 1985 the company was the second largest grocer in the five county greater houston area with 17 % of the sales in the market . 8 by 1990 the chain had expanded to 42 stores . in 1991 randall s earned over a billion dollars in revenue making it the fastest growing company in houston . citation needed expanding from houston edit a randalls food & pharmacy store in the woodlands in montgomery county texas . in the 1990s randall s expanded into dallas fort worth and austin . cullum companies owner of 62 tom thumb and simon david stores in dallas fort worth and austin became part of the randall s family in 1992 doubling the company s size with more than 115 stores statewide . 9 the tom thumb logo was changed to one similar to randall s but the tom thumb name was retained . already in austin with the tom thumb name randall s added its own name to the market in january 1994 when the company bought 12 appletree markets stores ironically a grocer formed with former safeway locations as a result of safeway leaving texas in 1988 . nine of the 12 appletree markets and all seven tom thumb stores were converted to the randalls banner giving the company a significant presence in the texas hill country . the remaining three appletree stores were closed . 10 11 12 13 14 though the simon david would remain open until december 1996 after which it became a saks fifth avenue . 15 16 after many customers lamented the loss of austin s only simon david randall s decided in 1998 to make its bee caves store a flagship randall s supermarket the first in the city and the eighth in the chain . 17 after 28 years in operation randall s began to sell beer and wine in its stores in late 1994 . though company owned tom thumb and appletree stores in dallas and austin acquired beginning in 1992 had already been selling beer and wine . kohlberg kravis roberts & co. edit a flagship randalls store in houston texas . in april 1997 buyout firm kohlberg kravis roberts & co. invested 225 million in exchange for a majority interest in the supermarket chain . randall s then accelerated its growth in various markets and at the same time sold or closed a number of stores that choked advancement . 18 19 within a year the company opened one store in houston and three stores in dallas including two replacement stores while closing four stores in houston two stores in dallas which were replaced and four stores in austin . citation needed on february 28 1999 randall s had 45 houston area stores generating 1060.2 million in annual sales . it had 20.3 % of the houston area grocery market . it had 7 876 houston area employees . within a year before february 28 1999 one store was opened and seven were remodeled . 20 in july of that year it had 20.2 % of the area market making it the second largest grocer there . 7 safeway edit in 1999 safeway inc. a fortune 50 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in north america based on sales bought the then 116 store randall s tom thumb chain . 21 22 the purchase was announced on friday july 23 1999 . 7 safeway retained the randall s name in houston and austin and the tom thumb and simon david names in dallas fort worth but replaced many of the randall s tom thumb remarkable house brands with safeway label items . randall s food markets inc. became a division of safeway and changed its division name to randall s food & drugs . by 2001 randall s operated 46 stores in the houston area 12 stores in austin and 69 stores in the dallas ft. worth area under the tom thumb and simon david banners . citation needed in early 2005 safeway was rumored to be attempting to sell the then 138 store texas division . 23 24 instead safeway announced by the end of the year it would close 15 randall s stores in the houston area one in austin and nine tom thumb stores in the dallas fort worth area . 25 26 27 following the closures randall s tom thumb operated 62 stores in dallas 36 in houston and 14 in austin . safeway said the move would revitalize the texas division and that it planned to remodel stores to fit its nationally implemented lifestyle format and introduce proprietary products . the new lifestyle format features an expanded selection of perishables and a number of unique offerings including a large selection of natural and organic foods full service meat counters full service bakeries and floral design centers as well as sushi bars and olive bars . as a result of intense competition in randall s operating markets the lifestyle format stores are safeway s response in an attempt to recover lost market share . in houston market share fell to 6.9 % in 2006 . 28 ceberus capital edit in march 2014 cerberus capital management agreed to terms to purchase randalls parent safeway with plans to merge it with its albertsons chain . 29 following this the 44 randalls stores were re aligned with the southern louisiana and florida albertsons stores as the new houston division of the company . the tom thumb stores were re aligned with the north texas albertsons stores in the southern division effectively ending the connection between the two grocery chains . hurricane relief fund edit although many stores closed during hurricane ike randalls quickly reopened . the galveston texas store received heavy water damage due to the storm surge but managed to reopen shortly after the storm . the store s gas station was one of the first in galveston to reopen . 30 after hurricane ike randall s partnered with khou channel 11 104.1 krbe and jack fm for the hurricane ike relief fund in order to help those in need . loyalty program edit a mock up of a randalls remarkable card randall s offers a loyalty card remarkable card that provides a discount on some items as well as a 3 cent discount on gasoline or a portion of sales proceeds donated to charity . the loyalty card is good at all safeway stores . loyalty cards issued before the purchase by safeway can only be used at randall s and tom thumb stores ; safeway branded loyalty cards can be used at randall s and tom thumb exactly as in a safeway branded store . the power pump rewards owned by safeway that previously allowed customers to spend 100 to receive a 10 cent gas discount was discontinued on september 12 2009 . references edit safeway promotes schwicke mctavish supermarket news may 24 2010 . randall s food markets inc. manta . retrieved on april 30 2009 . 3663 briarpark drive houston tx 77042 sect8 key.gif . westchase district . retrieved on april 30 2009 . division offices . safeway . retrieved on april 30 2009 . randalls food markets inc. randall s food markets . march 3 2000 . retrieved on april 30 2009 . distribution centers . safeway inc. 2 . retrieved on may 13 2010 . a b c d sit duvall mary . right store was ripe for picking randalls joins trend with deal . houston chronicle . saturday july 24 1999 . business 1 . retrieved on december 1 2011 . crown judith . randall s vaults to no. 2 in grocery sales . houston chronicle . wednesday december 11 1985 . business 1 . retrieved on october 14 2012 . hassell greg ralph bivins dee gill and ron nissimov . randall s to buy large dallas chain . houston chronicle . thursday july 2 1992 . a1 . retrieved on october 14 2012 . randalls shuts three appletrees ; nine other area stores are closed temporarily for conversion after grocery buyout austin american statesman january 19 1994 . clash of the titans ; industry giants randalls h.e.b. battle for bucks buyers interest austin american statesman january 22 1994 . updates from the aisles of austin s new and changing food stores the goods on groceries austin american statesman march 23 1994 . grocery stores change names to randall s ausin american statesman january 8 1994 . randalls banner flies over old tom thumbs austin american statesman january 13 1994 . saks fifth ave. signs letter of intent austin business journal august 30 1996 . constructors & associates turns simon david into saks austin business journal april 18 1997 . randalls brings flagship specialty store concept to austin austin american statesman september 24 1998 . hudgins matt july 25 1997 . randalls plans to close lake creek location . austin business journal . retrieved 21 october 2006 . elder laura november 21 1997 . randalls sells three stores to rival albertson s . houston business journal . retrieved 21 october 2006 . hassell greg . chronicle 100 leading companies of houston grocers getting food for thought . houston chronicle . sunday may 23 1999 . special section page 38 . retrieved on december 1 2011 . safeway buys randall s . east bay business times . july 23 1999 . retrieved 21 october 2006 . elder laura july 30 1999 . supermarket merger remarkable . houston business journal . retrieved 21 october 2006 . goll david february 18 2005 . safeway to move on randalls tom thumb s blues . east bay business times . retrieved 21 october 2006 . wollam allison february 18 2005 . safeway may sell off randalls in second helping of houston . houston business journal . retrieved 21 october 2006 . safeway to shutter 15 houston