reflect the encyclopedic tone used on wikipedia . see wikipedia s guide to writing better articles for suggestions . august 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message this biographical article is written like a r sum . please help improve it by revising it to be neutral and encyclopedic . august 2016 this article may contain wording that promotes the subject through exaggeration of unnoteworthy facts . please remove or replace such wording . august 2016 this article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information . please remove or replace such wording and instead of making proclamations about a subject s importance use facts and attribution to demonstrate that importance . august 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message gristedes type subsidiary of the red apple group industry retail founded 1888 42nd street & second ave. manhattan headquarters new york city number of locations 31 area served manhattan brooklyn key people diedrich & charles gristede founders john catsimatidis ceo products supermarket parent red apple group website gristedes.com gristedes is a new york city based chain of small supermarkets . it serves a mostly urban customer base . contents 1 history 1.1 gristede brothers 1891 1987 1.2 sloan s supermarkets 1956 97 1.3 gristede s sloan s 1997 99 1.4 expanding for the new millennium 2 stores 3 references 4 external links history edit gristede brothers 1891 1987 edit charles gristede and his brother diedrich came to the united states from germany in 1888 found work in grocery stores and in 1891 opened a tiny gaslit store at 42nd street and second avenue in manhattan . this site was then far uptown from the central shopping area but close to housewives who walked or rode in private carriages to the store . a second store opened in harlem then a middle class white neighborhood in 1896 . the business flourished and expanded reaching suburban westchester county in 1920 and connecticut in 1926 . gristede brothers also opened a wine and liquor store in manhattan in 1933 . when charles gristede died in 1948 the chain consisted of 141 stores in manhattan the bronx westchester and connecticut . in 1956 it opened its first long island store in garden city . in manhattan gristede brothers remained concentrated on the more affluent east side where it specialized in personal service and gourmet items and charged premium prices . it shipped items to customers around the world including for example a greek who wanted melons sent to him in paris by air freight . the company had annual sales of about 60 million and 115 stores in all including six liquor stores in connecticut when it was sold in 1968 to the southland corporation owner of the 7 eleven convenience store chain for southland stock valued at 11.5 million . southland retained the prior gristede brothers management and for more than a decade left the chain to its own devices . in 1977 gristede s consisted of 120 stores mostly ranging in size from 6 000 to 11 000 square feet and carrying 7 000 to 8 000 gourmet items including size 23 grapefruit about the size of a large cantaloupe strawberries picked in california only 36 hours earlier large idaho potatoes already wrapped in tin foil quiche lorraine and beluga caviar . by the early 1980s however gristede s as well as other supermarket chains with outlets in new york city was reeling from a number of adverse conditions including the small size of the stores the high cost of delivery in the city escalating rents and competition from gourmet shops and specialty food stores . in 1980 the chain still consisted of 100 outlets including 24 charles & co. sandwich shops but by 1983 when gristede s fell into the red there were only 84 . during 1983 84 gristede s concentrated its operations in manhattan closing 36 stores and its warehouse . in 1985 there were 18 conventional supermarkets ; 17 generally smaller service stores featuring telephone ordering home delivery and charge accounts ; ten charles & co. sandwich shops and one gourmet shop ; and one liquor store . sales came to about 105 million in 1985 . southland sold the gristede s and charles & co. stores to red apple co. in 1986 for an estimated 50 million . red apple owned by john a. catsimatidis and operating in the bronx as well as manhattan now became the largest supermarket chain in new york city . gristede s and red apple remained distinct however . red apple had completed 14 gristede s remodels by the fall of 1987 including adding in store delicatessens bakeries salad bars hot takeout foods and upscale cheese prime meat and seafood sections . the charles & co. stores were closed . sloan s supermarkets 1956 97 edit born in the bronx and reared by foster families after his mother died max sloan left school after the eighth grade to sell fruit and vegetables from a pushcart . a small vegetable and fruit store he opened in 1940 with 500 grew into the orange grove chain . sloan and his partner lou meyer also ran a wholesale produce operation supplying fruits and vegetables to many grocery stores in manhattan and the bronx . they entered the supermarket business in 1956 with two manhattan stores . there were 25 sloan supermarket stores mostly on manhattan s west side in 1973 when the chain purchased seven more from bohack corporation . by this time sloan had annual sales of 42 million . citation needed meyer died in 1969 and sloan retired in 1977 . his successor was a son in law jules rose . by 1982 the 42 store sloan s supermarkets inc. chain had estimated sales of 150 million a year . its viability rose said rested on seeking to market items with the greatest profit margin such as meat frozen items produce and gourmet foods . the city s consumer affairs agency citation needed had consistently listed sloan s as one of the most expensive food chains in manhattan . sloan s success also rested on careful monitoring of the borough s ethnically diverse clientele . a store on the lower east side for example had a large line of goya brand products for hispanics and kosher products for orthodox jews . another close to the united nations had full international foods sections . located in a high income area it also had a higher proportion of frozen food and dairy products sales and included health and natural foods sections . sloan s supermarkets had 38 stores in early 1990 when it was first reported on the auction block . cynthia rigg of crain s new york business citation needed wrote over the past decade sloan s reputation for quality has fallen dramatically . the privately held chain has done little to upgrade its stores while its competitors have undertaken extensive expansion and modernization programs . she also reported that industry sources said the four principals of sloan s were often at loggerheads which stymies decision making . despite its problems sloan s was said to hold a 20 percent share of manhattan s grocery business . after selling three stores to various companies in 1990 sloan s supermarkets sold 21 more to red apple during 1991 92 . one observer explained to richard turcsik of supermarket news gristede is definitely considered upscale . sloan s is somewhere in between and red apple is considered low end . by keeping the sloan s name red apple will be able to serve all three segments of the customer base from one distributor . the acquisition had its hazards however because three of sloan s owners were in 1993 being charged with fraudulently redeeming at least 3.5 million of discount coupons clipped from newspapers citation needed an action that threatened 15 of the acquired units with forfeiture to the federal government . the three sloan s partners rose max sloan s other son in law and meyer s son eventually went to jail . despite these problems red apple bought the remaining 11 sloan s supermarkets ten in manhattan and one in brooklyn in 1993 for 8.8 million plus certain accounts payable . this purchase was not assigned to red apple itself but to designcraft inc. a publicly owned shell corporation whose main stockholder was catsimatidis . citation needed following the sale the federal government agreed to withdraw all claims against sloan s supermarkets . designcraft then took the sloan s supermarkets name and continued operations under red apple group management . this transaction raised the number of supermarket stores in the new york area controlled by red apple to 75 . in 1994 the federal trade commission filed a complaint citation needed seeking the sale of ten red apple controlled stores in four manhattan neighborhoods because of possible anticompetitive effects such as higher food prices and lower quality and selection . supermarkets under the red apple gristede s and sloan s names were serving 37 percent of manhattan s food shoppers on a regular basis according to a survey . catsimatidis agreed later in 1994 to divest six stores in order to settle the complaint . in 1997 however he and three of his firms agreed to pay a 600 000 penalty for failing to comply with the ftc order . only one of the stores had been divested according to the agency . the red apple name virtually disappeared during this period its outlets sold to rite aid corporation or converted to gristede s or sloan s supermarkets . sloan s acquired three more supermarkets from a subsidiary of red apple group in 1995 for 5 million plus the cost of inventory . it also opened an additional supermarket and a brooklyn health and beauty aids store in 1996 . gristede s sloan s 1997 99 edit in 1997 sloan s supermarkets acquired 19 gristede s and ten sloan s supermarkets plus a produce distribution center from red apple for 36 million worth of stock plus the assumption of 4 million in debt . the company was then renamed gristede s sloan s inc. during fiscal 1998 the year ended november 30 1998 gristede s sloan s acquired another supermarket from an affiliate of catsimatidis and remodeled ten stores at a cost of 10 million . the company also closed four stores and combined two adjacent ones into a single store . company sales came to 157.5 million with a net loss of 288 339 . gristede s sloan s had a long term debt of 21.6 million at the end of the fiscal year . catsimatidis the chief executive officer owned or controlled 91 percent of the company in february 1999 . of the 40 gristede s sloan s stores in 1998 35 were in manhattan one was in brooklyn three were in westchester county and one was on long island . they ranged from 3 200 to 23 000 square feet in selling space with an average of 9 000 and were all leased . city produce operating corp. on leased premises in the bronx was a warehouse operation supplying the company s supermarkets with groceries and fresh produce and selling fresh produce wholesale to third parties . gristede s sloan s supermarkets were offering broad lines of merchandise including nationally and regionally advertised brands and private label and generic brands . their food items included fresh meats produce dry groceries dairy products baked goods poultry and fish fresh fruits and vegetables frozen foods delicatessen items and gourmet foods . nonfood items included cigarettes soaps paper products and health and beauty aids . the company also was operating an in store pharmacy in one of its supermarkets . check cashing services were available to qualified customers and groceries were being delivered to apartments for a small fee . the stores