The New England-Based Grocery Store Chain That Hasn't Been Seen Since The '90s

Many of the grocery chains that dominated the 1900s didn't make it to the 2000s. Today, we're shining the spotlight on one such gone-but-not-forgotten regional chain that might ring a familiar old bell for New England foodies: Finast. The chain began as First National, then later got abbreviated to "Finast" – which is also a witty corner rhyme of the word "finest." 

For a time, Finast was one of the largest grocery chains in the U.S., with a dominant presence in the Northeast. It all began in 1961, when First National bought up New York's Safeway locations, moving into the Safeways throughout northern New Jersey by 1975. Then, in 1978, First National was purchased by the owners of Cleveland grocery chain Pick-N-Pay (which itself began as a small Cleveland Heights dairy store in 1928). After this acquisition, the "Finast" name started cropping up in Cleveland and across New England.

Indeed, the 1970s and '80s were Finast's heyday. According to Massachusetts news outlet The Somerville Times, Finast retail stores and grocery warehouses employed countless local residents. A former warehouse worker tells the Times, "It was so brutal coming outside into the heat of a hot summer day after the end of a 14 hour shift in a refrigerated warehouse." Another reader recalls, "My parents worked there, that is where they met in the '50's. Still in love 62 years later." The chain, says Case Western Reserve University, employed 7,500 employees across 41 stores in 1995. 

Alas (although, perhaps fittingly), Finast has disappeared from Cleveland much like the Ford and General Motors plants. Nowadays, the rustbelt has the Steelyard Walmart (which is rated the worst Walmart location in the entire country), and further east, Massachusetts recently lost another regional chain, Daily Table. In 1988, Finast was acquired by the Netherlands-based company Ahold, and by 1994, the regional divisions began. The Finast locations in New England and New York were changed into Edwards stores, and the Finast locations in Cleveland became Top's stores — both subsidiary chains owned by the Ahold brand portfolio.

As a Reddit thread in r/Cleveland notes, "The grocery business in Greater Cleveland has been a story of many buyouts and closings over the years. It would definitely be good to see more legitimate competition here again like we used to have back when it was mostly Finast vs. Rini-Rego. It's good to have more options." Today, enduring Finast shoppers look back on the grocer as one of the "finast" bygone symbols of simpler, slower times. A Facebook post in the "Growing Up In Massachusetts" group writes, "Who remembers Finast (First National) Supermarkets? My wife grew up in Beverly, and in 1975, I was the Meat Dept. Mgr. at the Cabot St. Finast for almost 3 yrs." Others fondly recount, "We always walked down there, shopped, put the groceries in the baby carriage (with baby) and walked home!"