MINNEAPOLIS — Sid Applebaum, co-founder and leader of Rainbow Foods, died at home here on Aug. 6 at the age of 92. He was born in St. Paul on Feb. 28, 1924 to Oscar and Bertha Applebaum, their youngest son and one of nine siblings; he grew up in the grocery business.

His parents immigrated to the United States from Russia on their honeymoon and his father sold produce door-to-door in St. Paul from a horse-drawn wagon. He then opened a fruit stand in downtown St. Paul, which grew into the first Applebaum’s Food Market.Sid Applebaum

Mr. Applebaum began working as a child with his father, first bagging rice and bundling soap, then as a box boy and helping to deliver produce. By the 1970s, the family business included over 30 Applebaum’s stores, which were operated by Mr. Applebaum, his brothers and brothers-in-law.

In 1979, the chain of stores was sold to the National Tea Co. and Mr. Applebaum continued working for them. The chain was subsequently sold to Gateway Foods, a food wholesaler based in La Crosse, WI. Mr. Applebaum and D. B. Reinhart, chief executive officer at Gateway Foods, grew the Applebaum’s supermarket chain into the second-largest grocery chain in the Twin Cities after embracing Mr. Applebaum’s idea to convert some of the stores to a new brand — Rainbow Foods.

Mr. Applebaum served as president at Rainbow Foods from its launch in 1983 through 1996, and he became nationally known in grocery retailing because of Rainbow’s explosive success. The chain opened with a 5 percent share of the Twin Cities market and 10 years later it was selling one-third of the groceries consumed in the then $3.6 billion-a-year market under a format that mixed discount pricing, catchy advertising, classy service departments and bright interiors, according to a news release.

Rainbow’s marketing was so innovative at the time that executives from other grocery chains across the country would come to the Twin Cities to see how he did it, Applebaum’s daughter Ellen Saffron said in the release.

His many professional contributions to the grocery industry led to his being awarded “Grocer of the Century” by the Minnesota Grocers Association in 1997.

Upon retiring from the grocery business, he shifted his focus to a chain of retail liquor stores — Big Top Liquors and Sid’s Discount Liquors. He was recognized as a 2014 Market Watch Leader for the success of Big Top Liquors.

“He loved people and people loved him,” his son Jay said in a news release. “Whether if was the concrete people in the parking lot or carpenters or electricians or the highest executive, he treated everybody the same and loved to be with everybody. People gravitated toward him.”

Because of this, turnover at his companies was low. He has at least one employee who has worked for him for 60 years and several who have been there for 30 to 40 years, his son said.

Mr. Applebaum had a strong work ethic and started his workday each day at 4 a.m. Even though in his final days he was ill and used a walker, he went to his office every day for anywhere from one hour to five hours and worked up until less than a week before his death, his children said.

Applebaum won many awards and was heavily involved in the community — including serving on several boards — and he was deeply committed to giving back.

“He was passionate about the Twin Cities and putting his mark on it,” said Saffron.

Mr. Applebaum and his wife, Lorraine, were planning to celebrate their 70^th wedding anniversary on Sept. 17. Besides his wife, survivors include three children, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.