Company History
Haggen Food & Pharmacy and TOP Food & Drug stores are owned and operated by Haggen, Inc., a privately held company in Bellingham, Washington. Haggen, Inc., one of the most respected and innovative grocery store companies in the Pacific Northwest, was founded in 1933. Today the company is the largest independent grocery business headquartered in Washington State, with 32 stores and one stand-alone pharmacy.
According to Haggen President & CEO Dale C. Henley, the company's mission has been the same for over 70 years: to provide each customer with the highest quality of service, selection and product. This mission is carried out in the company's two supermarket divisions: Haggen Food & Pharmacy and TOP Food & Drug stores.
The company was founded during the heart of the Depression in 1933 in Bellingham. With a combined capital of $1,100, Ben and Dorothy Haggen and Dorothy’s brother, Doug Clark, opened their first store called Economy Food Store. After the success of the Economy Food Store, they relocated to a new and larger location and changed the name to White House Market.
In 1947, Ben and Dorothy Haggen purchased Doug’s share of the business and continued to operate the White House Market until 1957, when they closed it and opened a larger operation — The Town and Country Shopping Center. The shopping center was located in Bellingham and contained a new grocery store, Haggen's Thriftway.
It was also in 1957 that Don Haggen, son of Ben and Dorothy Haggen, formally joined the company. Don made it clear early on that if he was to join the family business he wanted to see it grow, and that it did. In 1962, the company was incorporated and a second store in Everett, Washington was purchased.
In 1967, a store was built in Lynnwood, Washington, and the trade name of the stores was changed to Haggen Foods. Rick Haggen, Don’s brother, joined the company in 1970 and two more stores were purchased in Lynnwood. In 1973, Don and Rick became the primary stockholders of Haggen, Inc.
Continuing on a path of growth, by 1977 Haggen, Inc. owned and operated seven stores in Washington. In 1979, the new Haggen store of the future was built in Bellingham with many cutting-edge departments that are common today: an extensive service deli, large wine department, pharmacy and a full-service floral shop.
Following the store’s success in Bellingham, Don and Rick Haggen made a bold move and created a store different from others, a superstore. They combined some successful departments and ideas from Haggen Foods, matched those with low prices and a different atmosphere and in 1982 TOP Food & Drug was born.
The Everett TOP Foods opened in 1984 with a new 71,000-square-foot design, making it the largest supermarket in the Northwest at that time. Since then, expansion into new markets has included Olympia, Yakima, Federal Way, Tacoma, Edmonds, Puyallup, Lacey, Kent, Woodinville, Aberdeen, Auburn, Bellevue and Shoreline. Currently there are 17 TOP Food & Drug stores throughout Washington State.
Growth with the Haggen Food & Pharmacy stores has continued as well. Currently there are 15 locations, including four in Bellingham, single stores in Ferndale, Stanwood, Lake Stevens, Marysville, Mount Vernon, Burlington and Arlington and four in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon. The company also operates a stand-alone pharmacy in Bellingham named the Haggen Pharmacy.
With 2006 revenue of more than $800 million, Haggen, Inc. ranked No. 74 on the Supermarket News 2007 list of the top 75 North American food retailers. The company also ranks ninth in revenue among all privately owned companies based in Washington State and has 3,800 employees.
Don and Rick Haggen are co-chairmen of Haggen, Inc. Dale Henley has served as president and CEO of the company since 1996.