Grocery
Companies Head County s Private Top 50 by Dave Brumbaugh A pair of rapidly growing grocery chains clearly top the 2000 version of the Whatcom County Private Top 50 list. Haggen, Inc. retains its No. 1 ranking with 1999 sales of $521 million. The company, with headquarters in Bellingham, operates 24 supermarkets in Washington and Oregon under the names of Haggen Food and Pharmacy and TOP Food & Drug. It operates three Haggen stores in Bellingham (Meridian Street, Barkley Village and Sehome Village) and one in Ferndale and opened two stores late last year in Mount Vernon and Lake Stevens. Owned by brothers Don and Rick Haggen, the company is the largest independent grocer and the seventh-largest private company in Washington and employs 3,000 people. Brown & Cole Stores, also based in Bellingham, ranks second with $425 million in sales. Headed by Craig Cole, who is the majority owner with his wife Sue, Brown & Cole has nearly quadrupled its sales in four years, due primarily to the acquisitions of Burlington-based Thrifty Foods in 1997 and Bellingham-based Ennen Food Stores last year. Brown & Cole supermarkets, led by its Cost Cutter and Food Pavilion brands, are concentrated in Whatcom and Skagit counties and the Yakima Valley, although stores are located as far away as McMinnville, Ore. and Whitefish, Mont. The company has 2,500 employees. The Private Top 50 is a list of companies, based on their most recent annual sales, that are privately owned and locally based. This requirement eliminates some of the county s largest employers, such as ARCO Cherry Point Refinery, the Tosco refinery, Intalco and Georgia-Pacific. All of the Private Top 50 members are for-profit organizations. This requirement excludes entities such as St. Joseph Hospital, Northwest Washington Medical Bureau and Western Washington University. The list also omits companies with gross revenue figures that compare accurately to other businesses, such as real estate firms, banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions. Revenue figures were provided by the businesses. The bottom quarter of the list includes companies that either declined to reveal their sales figures or didn t respond to Business Pulse inquiries. However, research indicates that these companies would qualify for the Private Top 50 if sales figures were made available. Companies that would qualify for this list and weren t contacted should call Business Pulse at 671-3933 to ensure they will be included in future lists. Although grocery companies earned the top two positions, construction-related companies and vehicle dealerships account for much of the Private Top 50. The list has eight vehicle dealerships with a combined total of $191.3 million in sales. They are: Jerry Chambers Chevrolet Oldsmobile Cadillac (No. 4, $49 million), Diehl Ford (No. 6, $35.6 million), Wilson Motors (No. 20, $21.5 million), Roger Jobs Motors (No. 21, $20.2 million), Bellingham Chrysler Center (No. 22, $19.5 million), Dewey Griffin Oldmobile-Cadillac-GMC-Subaru (No. 23, $19.3 million), Pioneer Ford (No. 32, $13.2 million) and Hinton Chevrolet-Oldsmobile-Cadillac (No. 33. $13 million). The first six dealerships are in Bellingham and the latter two are in Lynden. Construction-related companies also are prominent in the Private Top 50. The eight firms in this list with ties to construction have combined revenues of $180.3 million. They are: Exxel Pacific (No. 7, $35 million), Diamond B Constructors (No. 9, $31 million), Dawson Construction (No. 11, $28.9 million), IMCO General Construction (No. 14, $25 million), Impero Construction (No. 18, $23 million), ALRT Corp. (No. 28, $16.9 million), Ferndale Ready Mix & Gravel (No. 36, $10.5 million) and Andgar Corp. (No. 37, $10 million). Haskell Corp., although it didn t release its annual revenue, also is believed to belong in the Private Top 50. Agriculture is represented by four companies: Whatcom Farmers Co-op (No. 17, $24 million), Farmers Equipment Co. (No. 26, $17.5 million), Elenbaas Co. (No. 29, $15.2 million) and Hoksbergen Hay (No. 30, $13.7 million). All but Elenbaas, which has headquarters in Sumas, are based in Lynden. 1
Haggen 2
Brown & Cole
Stores 3
Trillium 4
Jerry Chambers
Chevrolet-Oldsmobile-Cadillac 5
Ferry
Brothers 6
Diehl Ford 7
Exxel
Pacific 8
Ryzex
Group 9
Diamond
B Constructors 10
Yorkston
Oil 11
Dawson
Construction 12
Homestead
Northwest 13
Bornstein
Seafoods 14
IMCO General
Construction 15
Exports
of Washington 16
Keith
Oil 17
Whatcom
Farmers Co-op 18
Impero
Construction 19
Dealer
Information Systems 20
Wilson
Motors 21
Roger
Jobs Motors 22
Bellingham
Chrysler Center 23
Dewey
Griffin 24
Nielsen Brothers 25
Yamato
Engine Specialists 26
Farmers
Equipment 27
Sound
Beverage Distributors 28
ALRT Corp. 29
Elenbaas
Co. 30
Hoksbergen
Hay 31
Morse
Distribution 32
Pioneer
Ford 33
Hinton
Chevrolet-Olds-Cadillac 34
Flora 35
Sea K
Fish Co., Inc. 36
Ferndale
Ready Mix & Gravel, Inc. 37
Andgar
Corp. Other companies that likely would qualify for the Private Top 50 but either declined to reveal sales figures or respond to requests include: Allsop (computer storage devices) South Everson Lumber Co. (sawmill) Haskell Corp. (contractor) Alpha Technologies (management consulting services) Grizzly Industrial (hardware) Bellingham Cold Storage (refrigerated warehousing) Apache Aerospace (equipment) Sauder Wood Products (millwork) Brooks Manufacturing (wood furniture) Madrona Medical Group (doctors, clinics) Redden Marine Supply (boating supplies) Walton Beverage (soft-drink distributor) Maritime Contractors (shipbuilding and repairs) Botanical Laboratories
(pharmaceutical preparations) |
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