Alon Blue Square (, Alon Ribu'a Kahol), formerly Blue Square, is a private Israeli holding company, owned by Moti Ben-Moshe, and based in Yakum. It was founded as a retail chain, but subsequently branched out into real estate and other fields.
History
Alon Blue Square dates back to 1932, when it was founded as the Tel Aviv Cooperative Consumer Association. This and other cooperative consumer clubs were run by the Consumer Cooperation Union, in turn run by HaMashbir HaMerkazi. In 1970, all grocery store clubs formed a union, owing to the desire to unify grocery prices across the country for unionized workers. In 1972, the Tel Aviv club merged with the clubs from the Sharon region, Ashkelon and Beersheba. Later in the decade, the unified group became called Co-Op The Blue Square, with Benny Gaon appointed as its executive director. The group had a revenue of IL2.5 billion. In 1987, the company became the Israeli franchisee of Wendy's, reaching six branches, but failed.
The cooperative founded a new business in 1991, called Co-Op Blue Square Consumer Cooperative Society Limited, in which it held an 82% stake. At the time, the company employed about 3,000 workers. The company expanded its reach significantly in the 1990s, founding the Super Center supermarket chain. It also operated the Hamashbir Lazarchan, bought and the Home Center hardware and household goods chain, had plans to sell Dunkin' Donuts