The origins of ACME Markets Inc. can be traced back to 1891, when friends Samuel Robinson and Robert Crawford decided to open a neighborhood grocery store at the intersection of South Philadelphia’s Second and Fernon Streets. In 1917, Robinson and Crawford merged with four other local Philadelphia area grocery chains to form the American Stores Company, or ASCO as it was known to shoppers. As the grocery industry began to change with the new found freedom of the family car, American Stores Company decided to create a full-service supermarket in 1937 - ultimately deciding to call the company ACME Markets after the ACME Tea Company which was the largest of the five original companies that became ASCO. Under the ACME Markets banner, the chain prospered, enjoying decades as the largest grocery retailer in the Delaware Valley.