Big Bear

Columbus groceries — and, once, a real live bear.

The Columbus-born grocery chain that opened in 1933 in a converted skating rink and is often called the first true supermarket in the Midwest — a cavernous store that pioneered one-stop shopping with a drugstore, restaurant, candy counter and shoe repair under one roof (and, as a promotion, an actual live bear on site). It grew across Ohio and West Virginia and was a hometown institution for generations. Penn Traffic bought it in 1989 and loaded it with debt; when Penn Traffic went bankrupt in 2004, the last Big Bears closed.