The longtime “member owned” grocery wholesale co-op has sold itself to a California firm, having already sold the land under its massive Georgetown plant to developer David Sabey.

AG, born of a Depression-era cost squeeze among mom-n’-pop grocers, was Washington’s #2 supermarket “chain” at its peak. It owned the Thriftway franchise brand, from which QFC, Larry’s Markets, and Metropolitan Market were all spun off. For years it ran a full service operation; it not only stocked stores, but designed and built stores and ran advertising and data-processing for its members. (Here in Seattle, one of the last AG-designed stores was the now-shuttered Fremont Red Apple.)

AG’s beginning-O-the-end came when Cincinnati’s Kroger bought Fred Meyer, which had previously bought QFC. QFC pulled out of AG, setting up its own in-house distro operation. QFC also bought out many of the key AG-member indies; other single-store and small-chain operators, such as Larry’s, collapsed as the industry kept consolidating. Left to protect the investment of its remaining members, AG sold out. Chalk up another “vanished” Seattle institution.