Central Grocers Cooperative, founded in 1917, is a retailers' cooperative

Retailers' cooperative

A retailers' cooperative is a type of cooperative which employs economies of scale on behalf of its retailer members. Retailers' cooperatives use their purchasing power to acquire discounts from manufacturers and often share marketing expenses. It is common for locally owned grocery stores,...

 based in Joliet, Illinois

Joliet, Illinois

Joliet is a city in Will and Kendall Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. As of the 2010 census, the city was the fourth-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 147,433. It continues to be Illinois' fastest growing...

 near Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. It distributes both brand name and private label goods branded as Centrella and Silver Cup Value Buy to about 240 member-owner grocery store

Grocery store

A grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...

s in Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, and Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

.

It owns several grocery stores in Indiana and Illinois—former members of the cooperative that were acquired by the cooperative, including: Strack and Van Til, Town & Country, Key Market, and Ultra Foods. It also purchased a number of former Cub Foods

Cub Foods

Cub Foods is a supermarket chain with seventy-three stores in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based SuperValu...

 locations in the Chicago area, some of which it operates as Strack and Van Til and Ultra Foods, and others are operated by a member. Fellow co-op Certified Grocers Midwest

Certified Grocers Midwest

Certified Grocers Midwest was a retailers' cooperative serving independent supermarkets in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. It was founded in 1940 and was a member of Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates. Many of its stores served the Hispanic community. It...

merged into Central Grocers in 2008.