National Supermarkets

At its height, National's footprint extended from western Pennsylvania to Colorado, with stores in Denver, Sioux Falls, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, the Quad Cities, Indianapolis, Chicago, Youngstown, Memphis, and Nashville.

Major rivals included Jewel, Red Owl, Bettendorf-Rapp (Allied), Kroger, A&P, Dominick's, Eagle Food Centers, Hy-Vee, Marsh, Winn-Dixie, Hill's, Fisher/Fazio's/Costa, Thorofare, King Soopers, Albertsons, and Safeway, depending on the market.

At the height of their market share in the late 1960s, National Supermarkets' slogans used in television advertising included "Super National-Market" and "The Underpricer".

In 1996, Family Company of America, a group led by Belleville, Illinois, financial consultant James R. Gibson, bought 23 stores from Schnucks and reopened them under the name National Markets.

However, the new National was unable to make much headway against Schnucks, despite a "Great Grocery Giveaway" promotion where random customers had their day's shopping given to them free of charge, and disappeared for good in April 1999.

[4] Shortly after closing on September 4, 1987, at the National Supermarket at 4331 Natural Bridge Avenue in St. Louis, two men disguised as the cleaning crew made their way into the store where employees were preparing for the next day.