These days, capital food shoppers tend to head to the likes of Tesco, Sainsbury's, Aldi and Lidl for their weekly shop and daily essentials, but there are so many more that have been consigned to the history books.
For a generation of locals they gave us our first experience of a supermarket. For others, they were a place of work where colleagues made friends for life.
Some of the businesses were acquired by other companies or saw massive chains we know today take over their units. Here, we take a look back at a number of lost supermarkets we no longer see in Edinburgh.
READ MORE: The forgotten Edinburgh supermarket chain that gave us frozen food in the 1980s
This list is not intended to be comprehensive, we've selected a number of brands lost to the past. But if you have any suggestions of others we might have missed, let us know in the comments section.
Capital Meat Centre
For over 20 years, Capital Foods was Edinburgh's number one frozen food specialist, selling everything from frozen meat, fish, vegetables, ready meals and desserts to chilled items, including milk, eggs, bacon, sausages, pies, pizzas, fruit and juices.
The supermarket chain created many of its own bespoke products, but also stocked a number of well-known frozen food brands, such as Bernard Matthews, Birds Eye, Ross, Findus, and Lyons Maid.
But, most importantly, it carried a reputation for selling high-quality products at low-cost affordable prices.
Established in 1974 as the Capital Meat Centre, the business started out in premises at Seafield Road as a cash and carry service that sold frozen meat in bulk.
In the 1990s the business was purchased by rival freezer centre firm Farmfoods and many of the old Capital Foods stores rebranded as such after the buy-out.
St Cuthbert's Co-op
St Cuthbert's was once a common name around Edinburgh. Founded as a co-operative society in the 19th century, the institution opened its first supermarket in Leven Street, Tollcross, in 1959 and had other large stores at Bread Street and Nicolson Street.
The company changed name to the Scottish Midland Co-operative Society, or Scotmid for short, in 1981 after merging with Dalziel of Motherwell.
Safeway
In terms of supermarkets, the mention of Safeway stirs up a lot of memories. The chain emerged in the 80s, and served Scotland for just over two decades before Morrisons offered to buy them over.
Many will remember the big Safeway store at the Gyle, which stands as a Morrisons today.
Savacentre
This store first opened in 1984, at Cameron Toll where the giant Sainsbury’s stands today. Sainsbury's actually owned Savacentre, with the trademark orange logo placed above its sign for more than three decades. They battled with Safeway, before the latter's eventual closure in 1997.
If you were lucky enough to head to SavaCentre at Cameron Toll, you’ll remember the excess of greenery in the centre.
Savacentre folded in 2005, and groans were heard across the city.
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Presto
In the late 60s, Moores supermarkets were popular up and down the country - though were swallowed up by Presto in the mid 70s.
In 1995, the Argyll Group announced the closure of 18 Scottish Presto stores. 250 jobs were lost in Scotland, 59 of those from the Wester Hailes store.
The final stores operating as Presto were closed or sold by 1998, while many had been swallowed up by Safeway - which also met its end.
Somerfield
Owned by the same company as Kwik Save, Somerfield was taken over by the Co-operative Group in March 2009.
The company originated in Bristol from a grocer named JH Mills, who had developed a brand under the name Gateway Foodmarkets. After Gateway began to decline, the decision was made to rebrand as Somerfield.
The first Somerfield in Somerset was a huge success, and the company began to spread through the country.
Many will remember the Somerfield slogans, such as ‘Shopping in the real world’ or ‘Good Food Made Easy.’
By 2011, the Co-op had rebranded all of the Somerfield stores
Kwik Save
Kwik Save became a common site in Britain after the first store opened in 1959. By the mid 90s, they had more than 800 stores up and down the country. They opened their first Scottish shop in 1993 - though only lasted in the north for around a decade.
In May 2004, Kwik Save announced they’d be leaving Scotland. 650 jobs were lost when they closed stores across the country, including three in Edinburgh.
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