Seaway Food Town

[KmartDanny09]

Does anyone from the Toledo area remember Food Town?



For those not from the area, Seaway Foodtown-- better know as just "Food Town" was a family owned and operated supermarket based in Maumee, Ohio.

The stores where your normal supermarkets. Most operated under the "Food Town Plus" banner, which simply meant they had a pharmacy, service meats/bakeries, a deli, and video rental. Some even had state liquor agencies, Huntington or National City Banks and Ticket Master services.

At its peak Seaway Food Town operated 47 stores and 29
"The Pharm" stores (which I will talk about later).

In 2000, Spartan Stores bought out the company. After increased competition by Farmer Jack and Kroger, which increased there store counts in the Toledo area, Spartan closed a few of the stores. By 2003, all stores were closed.

Mismanagement by Spartan had something to do with the failure of the chain. Spartan didn't attempt to expand the chain and didn't remodel the stores (except for exterior work).

It was Toledo's second largest supermarket chain and was very popular with local citizens. Food Town was one of the first stores to have a "loyalty" program similar to the Kroger Plus Card.

Kroger purchased many of the former Food Town sites, but most of them remian empty.

[Hudsons81]

A former Food Town in Trenton, Michigan. It closed sometime in the early 2000's. This was probably the northernmost Food Town in existence, since Trenton is a bit closer to Detroit than Toledo.


Here's the only remaining Food Town in existence, located in Monroe, Michigan.