company, leaving Kenneth with a majority 51 percent controlling stake in the company. Herbert Haft's Dart Group, whose holdings included Dart Drug, Crown Books, Trak Auto stores and Combined Properties Realty, purchased the minority share from Irving. Haft and the Herman brothers were long time acquaintances, having grown up and been schooled together in the same poor Jewish neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Kenneth remained at the company as president and CEO, his son Robert, then Executive Vice President, took over as Chief Operating Officer, son Mitchel retained his post as Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs, and Kenneth's daughter and company spokesperson Sandra Perkins retained her position as Director of Marketing and Advertising. Another son, Laurence, did not work in the family business. Under the control of Robert, Shoppers grew to almost twice its size in the following ten years. Dart acquired the remainder of the company in 1997 after exercising a complicated buy-sell agreement with the Herman family. Dart's intention was to force the Herman family into purchasing the shares of the company back after Dart experienced infighting amongst their board members and financial trouble with their retail chains. The final effect was the opposite; Dart was ultimately forced to purchase from the Hermans at an inflated price, starting a severe financial downward spiral and the ultimate sale and breakup of the Dart Corporation. The Herman siblings exited upon Dart's acquisition of the company, ending Shoppers' last connection to its founders. In April 1998, Richfood Holdings Inc., a regional wholesale distributor, purchased Dart Group in order to acquire Shoppers, later selling or spinning off Dart's other operations. SuperValu acquired Richfood Holdings in 1999, also large in part to acquire the Shoppers brand, which was by then the third largest supermarket chain in the Washington, D.C., region in sales and volume. In 2018, United Natural Foods acquired SuperValu (including) Shoppers in order to obtain the wholesale operations of the company. They had little inclination to continue to operate the retail business and sold off many of the retail assets. All Shoppers pharmacies closed in 2019, although UNFI plans to indefinitely retain operations at remaining Shoppers locations. In the community Through the Shoppers Foundation, Shoppers supports organizations like the Ed Block Courage Award Foundation and now the American Red Cross of the National Capital Area. Shoppers donates to over 2500 schools, churches and not-for-profit organizations throughout their trade area. In 2000,