During the seventies, the business was first purchased by Wrensons, a Midlands-based grocery chain before the combined group took on the David Greig name.

The combined company was purchased by British food conglomerate Fitch Lovell and was eventually merged into the group's supermarket chain Key Markets.

[2] The business thrived and wishing to expand beyond Hornsey, Greig opened his first shop at 54-58 Atlantic Road, Brixton in 1888,[2] which he and his wife, Hannah Susan Deacock lived above.

This was probably the shop at 232 Coldharbour Lane where a wooden 'David Greig' fascia with 'Brilliant cut' gilded lettering in the distinctive serif typeface of the chain, was uncovered in 2020.

[7] The company continued to expand with stores across the South of England, including Exmouth Market, London, Windsor, Basingstoke and Clacton.

[3][8][9] John and Mary Sainsbury having opened their first grocery shop in Holborn one year earlier and were initially friends.

The business was purchased by the Green brothers, Martin and Peter, in April 1972 for £700,000, whom had previously built up the Adsega supermarket chain and sold it to Tesco.

A fee of £12.5 million was agreed, but the shareholders of Combined English Stores withdrew support for the deal as there were validity questions over David Greig's projected trading figures.

However, by April the board had accepted a £6 million bid from the food processing, wholesaling and retailing conglomerate Fitch Lovell.

A David Greig shop sign was uncovered at No.257 Old Kent Road after the current occupiers carried out refurbishments in November 2019.