Ross Supermarket

Ross Supermarkets were an old Muncie chain, initially founded by A.L. Ross in the late 1910’s. Ross opened the Ross Corner store, at the corner of 12th and Hoyt in 1921. The small store included a grocery area and a floor of hardware offerings, and became quite popular. The chain was passed down to Ross’s sons, and expanded to shopping centers like the Southway Center, White River Plaza, and the Meadows Shopping Center, with at least 10 locations in their lifetime, and two cafeterias, such as the Flagpole Cafeteria. 

Ross had a history of purchasing and moving into empty stores, such as a former Kroger and a former Payless, as well as other local chains. They also built, in 1977, a new Ross store in the same parking lot as their original store, moving all grocery operations into the new building, and keeping and expanding hardware in the corner building. Ross bought out another Muncie chain, Wise Supermarkets, in 1997, soon making them the last Muncie grocery chain in the city. In may of 2000, Marsh bought out the last 5 Ross locations, leaving Muncie with no local grocery chain.

Soon after the buy out, the Tillotson and White River location closed, and three other locations became LoBill’s, a division of Marsh, and the last became Savin$. The Tillotson location is now a medical center, the Memorial location a Frankie D’s flea market, the wheeling location a church, the Hoyt location a self storage facility, and the Walnut location remains empty.