The man still showed up for work at 4 a.m., even at 92 years old. Less than a week before his death in August 2016, Sid Applebaum was at his desk at the Midway Big Top Liquors office, doing what he’d done since childhood: running a business.
His death marked the end of an era for Minnesota grocery retail. The son of Russian immigrants who peddled produce from a horse-drawn wagon had transformed his father’s fruit stand into one of the largest supermarket operations in the Midwest.
Table of Contents
The Corner Stand on St. Peter Street
Oscar Applebaum arrived in America from Russia with his wife Bertha during their honeymoon. He sold produce door to door in St. Paul before saving enough to open a fruit stand at St. Peter and 7th Streets. The investment: $65 borrowed from his eldest son.
Sidney, born February 28, 1924, was the youngest of nine children crammed into a three-bedroom house on St. Paul’s West Side. While his classmates at Humboldt High School played after school, Sid bundled soap, bagged rice, and hauled produce deliveries for the family store.
That fruit stand became Applebaum’s Food Market. By the time Sid and his brothers took over operations, the single location had grown into a regional chain.
Building Applebaum’s Food Markets
The Applebaum brothers, along with their brothers-in-law, expanded the family grocery stores throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Their approach combined old-school customer service with modern supermarket formats.
In 1978, Sid and his children opened Big Top Liquors and Sid’s Discount Liquors, diversifying beyond groceries. The liquor business would become his focus later in life.
By 1979, Applebaum’s Food Markets had grown to more than 30 locations across Minnesota. The family sold the chain to National Tea Company, closing one chapter but preparing for another.
The Rainbow Foods Revolution
Sid Applebaum didn’t retire after selling the family business. At 59, when most people wind down, he was just getting started.
National Tea struggled with the Applebaum stores and eventually sold them to Gateway Foods, a Wisconsin-based wholesaler. Gateway kept Applebaum on to manage the locations. He convinced Gateway CEO D.B. Reinhart that the market had changed. Discount chains like Cub Foods were dominating with warehouse-style stores and lower prices.
On October 1, 1983, they launched Rainbow Foods.
The concept borrowed from discount retailers but added upscale touches. Stores averaged 40,000 square feet with expanded produce sections, in-house bakeries, and full-service deli counters. Prices stayed competitive. Store designs used bright interiors and wide aisles.
Grocery executives from other states visited the Twin Cities to study Rainbow’s operations. The marketing, the layout, the service departments, all of it worked.
Rainbow Foods captured 5 percent of the Twin Cities market at launch. Ten years later, the chain held one-third of a $3.6 billion annual market. More than 40 stores operated across Minnesota. Only Cub Foods sold more groceries in the region.
Applebaum served as president through 1996, overseeing the chain’s expansion and multiple ownership changes. Fleming Companies purchased Rainbow in 1994. Roundy’s bought it in 2003.
Recognition and Reputation
The Minnesota Grocers Association named Applebaum “Grocer of the Century” in 1997. United Hospital honored him with the Service to Humanity Award in 1994 and named him Trustee of the Year in 2005. In 2014, industry publication Market Watch recognized him for the success of Big Top Liquors.
His reputation went beyond awards. Jay Applebaum, his son, remembered how his father treated the concrete workers in parking lots the same as corporate executives. Employees who couldn’t afford Thanksgiving dinner got driven to the store by Sid, who bought whatever they needed.
Nancy Rosenberg, his daughter, recalled waitresses at restaurants mentioning hard-to-find toys for their children. Her father would track them down.
The Daily Routine
Even into his 90s, Applebaum woke before dawn. His daughter Nancy started picking him up each morning, driving him to Perkins for coffee and pancakes. The staff saw him coming and had his order ready.
At 90, a police officer pulled him over for driving with his brights on at 4 a.m. Applebaum explained he worried about deer on the dark roads. The officer asked where he was going that early.
“To work,” Applebaum said.
The officer checked his license, saw the age, and told him to drive safe and keep working.
He married Lorraine Smith in 1946 at the Commodore in St. Paul. They raised three children: Nancy, Jay, and Ellen. The couple would have celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in September 2016, just weeks after Sid’s death on August 6.
What Remains
Rainbow Foods struggled after Applebaum stepped back. Competition from Aldi, Hy-Vee, and other chains ate into market share. Roundy’s pulled out of Minnesota in 2014, selling or closing most locations. The final Rainbow Foods closed in Maplewood in September 2018.
Big Top Liquors still operates in the Twin Cities under different ownership.
The grocery stores are gone. The Rainbow Foods signs came down years ago. But walk into any modern Twin Cities supermarket and you’ll see Applebaum’s influence: the wide aisles, the service departments, the mix of value pricing and quality offerings.
Sidney Applebaum spent 88 years in the grocery and retail business. He started bundling soap for his father’s fruit stand and ended up shaping how millions of Minnesotans shop for food. The immigrant’s son who grew up in a three-bedroom house with eight siblings built an empire, then kept showing up for work until his body gave out.
That’s the legacy. Not the stores, not the awards. The work itself.
