Wholesale operations C&S was founded by Israel Cohen and Abraham Siegel in 1918 in
Worcester, Massachusetts. It began as a small grocery distribution center in a three-story building on Winter Street. In 1929 the original building flooded, prompting a move to a new, larger location on Hygeia Street. In the 1940s, as the popularity of supermarkets grew, C&S made several improvements to their distribution process, including a warehouse "roller system" and staffing trucks with one employee who acts as driver and salesman, thus cutting delivery costs in half. C&S grew dramatically in 1958 after it began serving supermarket chain Big D in Worcester. In the 1970s, the founder's grandson,
Rick Cohen, joined the company. C&S then built and moved into a warehouse in
Brattleboro, Vermont. With the move, it began serving several supermarket chains, including
A&P. In 2013, C&S entered into a partnership with
BI-LO to provide warehousing, distribution, and procurement services for
Winn-Dixie stores. As a result, C&S began to operate six existing Winn-Dixie distribution centers in the Southeast of the United States. In September 2014, C&S entered into an
asset purchase agreement with
Associated Wholesalers Inc (AWI), thus allowing C&S to acquire nearly all of their assets. In the same year, C&S completed purchase of
Grocers Supply in Houston. In 2015, the company acquired FreshKO Produce Services, Inc., in California. Some C&S warehouses use an
automated storage and retrieval system for grocery dry goods made by Symbotic, LLC, an American robotics warehouse automation company also owned by Rick Cohen.
Retail operations Grand Union In 2001, C&S moved into retail as it acquired the
Grand Union supermarket chain. It was Grand Union's largest unsecured creditor when Grand Union declared bankruptcy, making a
stalking horse offer. It sold the chain to
Tops Markets in 2012. In 2021, C&S agreed to purchase 12 Tops stores in New York and Vermont following their merger with
Price Chopper due to
FTC regulations, with the stores to reopen under the new name in January–February 2022.
Southern Family Markets The
Southern Family Markets banner was created in 2005 when C&S acquired 104 stores from
BI-LO, which operated stores under the BI-LO,
Bruno's Supermarkets, Food World, FoodMax and Food Fair brand names. Eight of these locations in the
Knoxville, Tennessee, market were sold to
K-Va-T Food Stores before ever converting to the Southern Family name. In July 2012, all 57 Southern Family-owned locations in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida were sold to
Belle Foods. C&S would continue as Belle Foods’ main distributor until Belle Foods was liquidated in September 2013 and purchased by
Associated Wholesale Grocers.
Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co. In October 2014, C&S acquired the operations of
Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co., which included branding, marketing, store support, accounting, and IT services, for $9.3 million, while the 20 corporately owned Piggly Wiggly Carolina stores were to be sold to independent operators. As of August 2015, there were two corporately owned locations with 46 independently owned locations.
Nell's C&S acquired
Associated Wholesalers (AWI) in 2014. AWI owned the grocery chain Nell's, which had four locations at the time of the sale. C&S sold three locations and continues to operate a store in
Spry, Pennsylvania.
Olean Wholesale Grocery C&S announced its acquisition of
Olean Wholesale Grocery, which had previously operated as a cooperative of its member grocers in
upstate New York and
Pennsylvania, in late 2019. Shortly after the purchase closed, C&S announced the closure of the facility.
Possible purchase of Kroger/Albertsons stores On September 8, 2023, C&S agreed to purchase 413 stores, multiple banners, eight distribution centers, two regional offices, and five private label brands across 17 states and the District of Columbia as part of the previously announced merger of
Kroger and
Albertsons on October 14, 2022. This purchase is contingent on the Federal Trade Commission's approval of the said merger. Also as part of this agreement, C&S may be asked to purchase an additional 237 stores in order for merger to gain approval. After a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction barring the merger on December 10, 2024, the merger was called off by Albertsons, negating the deal.
Investment in Southeastern Grocers and Winn-Dixie/Harveys stores On February 7, 2025,
Aldi Süd announced that it would sell approximately 170 of the 400 stores it acquired from
Winn-Dixie’s and
Harvey’s parent company
Southeastern Grocers as well as the company itself to a private consortium of investors spearheaded by its CEO Anthony Hucker that includes C&S as an investor. The deal also includes Winn-Dixie liquor stores. ALDI intends to complete its previously stated conversion plans with a total of approximately 220 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores to be converted to the ALDI format over a multi-year conversion process expected to conclude in 2027. SEG will continue to operate the remaining stores identified for conversion in the normal course of business until each respective store is closed for conversion.
Acquisition of SpartanNash In June 2025, C&S announced it had made a bid to purchase the grocer
SpartanNash for around $1.77 billion. The deal closed in September 2025. ==Litigation==