Company History

On April 22, 1889, Tipton Cox and his two brothers joined thousands of “Boomers” in the land run into Indian Territory.  They settled near Hennessey, Oklahoma and eventually opened a general store there.  In July 1938, his son, Clint V. Cox, and grandson Clint V. Cox, Jr., opened the first Warehouse Market store in Tulsa. 

Cox had come to Tulsa in the midst of the Great Depression.  He was an experienced grocer, to put it mildly.  He had owned a chain of stores in Little Rock and sold them to Kroger in 1928, taking Kroger stock in payment.  But the great stock market crash of 1929 made his Kroger stock practically worthless.  He came to Tulsa in 1930 as president of Southwestern Stores, Inc. a company in receivership.  In 1931 he founded the Colonial Store at Eighth Street and Boston Avenue, one of the state’s first supermarkets and the first in Tulsa to have a large off-street parking area.

 In 1938, Cox borrowed $10,000 on his life insurance to open the first Warehouse Market store at 10^th & Elgin, in what is considered one of Tulsa’s most notable landmarks.  The façade of the building still stands as the frontage for several new businesses.

 When the first store opened, the depression was still on and grocery prices were low.  No. 2 cans of tomatoes were 5 cents; Jell-O was 3 packages for 13 cents.  A 10 lb. bag of sugar cost 49 cents.  Folger’s Coffee was 25 cents.  Vigo Dog Food sold for three cans for 10 cents and eggs were 10 cents a dozen. 

Today the company operates 15 supermarkets in Tulsa, Turley, Sand  Springs, Broken Arrow, Sapulpa, Claremore, Okmulgee, and Oklahoma City, and employs 1200+ employees.    It is still family owned with three generations currently active in its operations.  Clint V. Cox, Jr., who started the company with his father, oversees the day-to-day operations of the company. 

To maintain its low prices, the company buys direct from food manufacturers and maintains its own warehouse along with a fleet of delivery trucks.

Original Warehouse Market at 10th & Elgin in
Downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma