Fazio's (Fisher Foods)

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Fisher Bros. Co. opened its first Cleveland grocery at West 47th Street and Lorain Avenue in February 1907. Incorporated in 1908, the business grew into a major northern Ohio chain, adopting cash-and-carry retailing and operating from offices, warehouse, and bakery facilities at 2323 Lakeside Avenue.

The company became Fisher Foods, Inc. in 1961. In 1965, Cleveland grocery executives Carl and John Fazio, Sam Costa, and Julius Kravitz acquired it, combining the operation with Fazio and Costa supermarkets. Stores soon traded under the Fazio’s name—the local grocery sign with enough syllables to make every errand feel important.

Fisher Foods moved its headquarters to Bedford Heights in 1968 and expanded beyond Ohio, including acquisitions in Chicago and Southern California. Its portfolio included Dominick’s Finer Foods and, after 1972, Southern California’s Fazio’s Shopping Bag stores. Expansion was big, bold, and apparently allergic to staying in one aisle.

Our Fazio's (Fisher Foods) collection celebrates the Cleveland grocery institution that went from neighborhood provisions to a multistate supermarket presence. In June 1988, Fisher Foods combined with Rini, Rego, and American Seaway interests in the formation of Riser Foods; Fisher was subsequently renamed Rini-Rego Supermarkets, ending the Fisher Foods corporate chapter.