Carr’s Founder Dies at Age 81

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Funeral services are pending here for Larry Carr, founder of Carrs Quality Centers — now a division of Safeway — who died Thursday at the age of 81.

Carr, who spent his teen years working in the Southern California grocery industry, moved to Alaska in 1947 and held various jobs before acquiring a Quonset hut in 1950 and opening his first supermarket.

As the company grew to 13 locations, Carr was reportedly the first grocer in Alaska to run item-and-price ads, to introduce coupons, to fly in fresh produce, to operate 24-hour stores and to introduce loyalty cards.

Carr ran unsuccessfully in 1970 for Alaska governor.

He formed a partnership in 1974 with Barney Gottstein, owner wholesaler J.B. Gottstein Co., which became the biggest wholesale-retail and real estate organization in the state. In 1998 Carr-Gottstein sold its 13 stores to Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway, which retained the Carr's name on the stores.

Carr is survived by his wife, Wilma, a son and a daughter.