associated supermarket group

Today's Associated Supermarkets have come a long way from 1939, when the group was formed as a cooperative of independent grocers called Queens Food Dealers. By 1954, the group had become Associated Food Stores. Today, Associated is the namesake banner of the Associated Supermarket Group, which also represents stores under the Met, Pioneer, and Compare Foods brands. Met and Pioneer were previously brands of DiGiorgio, once a sprawling fruit growing and distribution empire but eventually reduced to a New York metro area wholesaler. Independently-owned Met and Pioneer supermarkets were supplied by DiGiorgio, and subsequently AWI, with White Rose branded products until the brand's bankruptcy in 2014. Met and Pioneer stores were rolled into the Associated Supermarket Group then, whose Associated and Compare Foods stores had also been supplied by White Rose.