Purity Supreme

Purity Supreme, Inc.was a corporation involved in the operation ofsupermarketsand other stores.

Background

From 1984 it was a division ofSupermarkets GeneralHoldings Corporation.It operated from a headquarters located inNorth Billerica, Massachusetts.At its height, the company operated 64supermarketsinMassachusetts,New Hampshire,Maine,andConnecticut.They also operated 63 owned and franchised Li'l Peachconvenience storesand 23drugstoresin Massachusetts. They also ran the successful Heartland Foods, a warehouse-style supermarket chain. In 1984, at the time of the buyout by Supermarkets General, Purity, had an annual sales of $800 million (~$1.99 billion in 2023) with 28 supermarkets, 13 warehouse stores and 23 drugstores. Purity Supreme and Li'l Peach had combined sales of aboutUS$1.3 billion in 1990 before the company was bought out again byFreeman Spogli & Co.,an investment firm for about US$300 million (~$618 million in 2023), including the acquisition of debt.

In 1995, Purity Supreme was acquired by competitorStop & Shop,agreeing with regulators to sell 15 stores to addressantitrustconcerns. Stop & Shop continued to operate 56 stores under the Purity Supreme name until 1997 when it renovated and converted all but three of them into Stop & Shop stores. The three remaining Purity Supreme stores were closed.

Purity Supreme was led for most of its existence byLeo Kahnwho started Purity Sav-Mor Markets with some of its first stores in Billerica, Chelmsford and Bedford. In 1968, Kahn bought out the Supreme Market chain of Boston and thus Purity Supreme was born.