Giant Milestones: A Timeline

1936: Founded as Washington's first supermarket by N.M. Cohen and Samuel Lehrman and their families.

The first Giant store in 1936 took Washington by storm.

1941: Giant opens its first store in Virginia (Arlington).

1946: Giant expands to Maryland.

1948: Company purchases the Sheridan Bakery, renames it Heidi Bakery.

1955: Establishes the Giant Construction Co. to build stores and GFS Reality to handle site sales and leasing.

1958: Opens the first “Super Giant” department store; establishes Landover, Md., headquarters.

1961: Giant becomes publicly traded on the American Stock Exchange.

1962: Company debuts food/drug combination store.

1964: N.M. Cohen named chairman; Joseph Danzansky named president.

1970: Giant hires Esther Peterson, the industry's first consumer advocate.

1973: Giant opens warehouse and food manufacturing plants in Jessup, Md.

1977: Izzy Cohen takes over as president; Danzansky named chairman.

1979: Danzansky passes away; Izzy Cohen named chairman.

1984: N.M. Cohen dies at age 93.

1988: Pete Manos named president; Izzy Cohen remains chairman.

1994: Lehrman family sells its stake to J. Sainsbury; Giant expands to Delaware.

1995: Izzy Cohen dies at age 83; control passes to the 1224 Corp.

1998: Ahold buys Giant for $2.6 billion; Manos retires; Dick Baird named president and CEO.

2000: BonusCard program launched.

2004: Integration between Giant and Stop & Shop consolidates control in Quincy, Mass.; Baird retires; Bill Holmes named executive vice president and general manager of Giant.

2008: Robin Michel named executive vice president at Giant; Project Refresh, new logo introduced.

2010: Giant introduces gas rewards program.

SOURCES: Giant Food, SN archives