Kings Super Markets
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| Kings Super Markets, Inc. | |
|---|---|
| Type | Private |
| Founded | Summit, New Jersey, 1936 |
| Headquarters | Parsippany, New Jersey, United States of America |
| No. of locations | 26 stores (2007) |
| Area served | New Jersey |
| Key people | Bruce Weitz, Owner, President, CEO |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Grocery |
| Revenue | $405.9m million USD (2005) |
| Website | http://www.kingswebsite.com/ |
| This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Kings Super Markets is a supermarket chain headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, with 25 upscale grocery stores in northern New Jersey and one in New York. Founded in 1936, Kings was bought by UK retailer Marks & Spencer in 1988 and later sold to a US investor group consisting of Angelo, Gordon & Co., MTN Capital Partners LLC, and Bruce Weitz, in 2006.
Kings operates today in a competitive market, operating in New Jersey alongside other chains such as Shoprite or Stop & Shop. Many features of today's mid-market stores have been offered at Kings for decades.[citation needed] The chain operates either in, or in close proximity to, affluent suburban towns, and its stores offer a mix of traditional and upmarket grocery items. Kings also offers "COOKINGSTUDIO" cooking classes at two of its locations.
In the 1980s, Kings was one of the last supermarket chains to offer traditional S&H Green Stamps.
Marks & Spencer bought the chain in 1988 but did little to expand it into other affluent markets. Marks & Spencer later made a number of attempts to sell the chain, putting its desire to invest in the chain in doubt. New York-based Gristedes made a bid for Kings, but the chain was ultimately sold in 2006 to a US investor group for $61.5 million USD.

