WinCo Foods can trace its beginnings back to 1967 when Ralph Ward and Bud Williams founded a discount warehouse grocery store in Boise, Idaho under the name Waremart. The company operated stores under the names of Waremart Food Centers and Cub Foods until 1999 when it changed its storefront name and the corporate name to WinCo Foods, which stands for Winning Company.

In 1985, the WinCo Foods Employee Stock Ownership Trust (Employee Pension Plan) purchased from the Ward family a majority interest of WinCo, giving WinCo employees a real ownership stake in the company. WinCo continued its rapid growth and by 2000 had replaced a majority of its retail stores with updated and expanded facilities. In 1998, WinCo opened a new 900,000 square foot grocery and perishable distribution center in Woodburn, Oregon and in May of 2000 opened a 110,000 square foot health and beauty, gourmet and non-food distribution center in Myrtle Creek, Oregon. More recently in June of 2004, WinCo opened an over 700,000 square foot grocery and perishable distribution center in Modesto, California.

The company has fostered nearly 40-year tradition of success by focusing on very large stores with a wide selection of national brands at prices below our competition. In addition, the very nature of having employee stockholders that have seen their Employee Stock Ownership Plan (Pension Plan) grow at a 21.2% annual compound growth rate creates an extremely dedicated workforce. This has made WinCo a very successful company.

WinCo is continuing this record of success, now operating over 60 stores in five states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California and Nevada) with over 8,000 employees and continues to grow by opening new stores every year. For store locations, click here.