Basics Food Warehouse

Basics Food Warehouse, was a chain of warehouse-style discount grocery stores operated by Grand Union and later Food-a-rama, from 1979 to 1995.

Concept
Basics Food Warehouse stores featured overstock products, sold directly out of the boxes and not traditionally stocked on shelves. The stores were also smaller, and had a much more limited offering, noted in one article to be only 3,200 items compared to a typical supermarket's 13,000. The stores also did not provide bagging services or plastic bags, requiring customers to bag items themselves in bags they brought, though bags were offered for 2c each, and boxes for free.

History
Basics Food Warehouse began with a store in Sunrise, Florida which opened on November 16, 1979 and was converted from an existing unprofitable Grand Union store. The success of the Sunrise store briefly created local concern, with the volume of traffic leading to 33 accidents in front of the store, with councilman John Montgomery calling the store "an illegal wholesale operation" that "...should not be allowed in shopping centers of this nature". A second store opened in Hileah, Florida in 1980, followed by a third store in Miramar. The chain's first store outside Florida opened on March 16, 1980 in Wood-Ridge, NJ. A location opened in Marlow Heights, Maryland shortly thereafter.

In February 1984, all six stores in Florida were closed, with one store sold to Pantry Pride, as part of Grand Union pulling out of the state entirely. In March 1984, ten stores in the Washington D.C. area were sold to Food-a-rama, after being put up for sale that February. In 1987, the Wood-Ridge store was converted back to a normal Grand Union, at a cost of $700,000.

In 1985, Food-a-rama was acquired by wholesaler Super Rite Foods, who converted all stores to the Basics name. In 1990-1991, some stores were converted to the Metro Food Market banner, following it's introduction. The Basics name was finally phased out for good in 1995, with the acquisition of Super Rite Foods by Richfood Holdings, who either sold off or converted the remaining Basics stores to the Metro Food Market banner.