COLORADO BUSINESS HALL OF FAME
  • Laureates By Name
  • Laureates by Year
    • 2025
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  • Laureates By Name
  • Laureates by Year
    • 2025
  • Supporters
  • Junior Achievement
  • PBS Specials
  • Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
  • Nomination Form

Lloyd King

Lloyd J. King is the founder of the grocery store chain King Soopers. After discharge from the Navy in 1947, he opened the first King Soopers in Arvada, at the corner of W. 57th and Webster St. By 1952, he was the first grocer in the country with a pharmacy. The original store was moved to the Arvada Plaza around 1960 when the Plaza shopping center was built. The original building was torn down in 2005 and the Arvada Library now occupies the site.

When King opened King Soopers, he put forward a mission for the stores – offer customers friendly service, value, cleanliness, and quality. This remains the motto of the company. Over the next few years, King Soopers expanded, and the number of stores peaked at nine.

​In 1957, King Soopers was sold to Dillon Co. Thirty years later, Dillon Co. and Kroger Co. merged, making King Soopers part of Kroger.
The Colorado Business Hall of Fame is co-presented by
Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain Inc. and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Videos produced by Becky Holden of Biography Media, [email protected]