Food Fair, also known by its successor name Pantry Pride, was a large supermarket chain in the United States. It was founded by Samuel N. Friedland, and his brother George I. Friedland who opened the first store (as Reading Giant Quality Price Cutter) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the late 1920s. As of 1957, Food Fair had 275 stores, and at its peak, the chain had more than 500 stores. Friedland's family retained control of the firm through 1978, when the chain entered bankruptcy.
History
Origins
Samuel Friedland and his brother George Friedland opened his first "Reading Giant Quality Price Cutter" supermarket in the 1920s. The success of the first store led to the opening of more stores. In the late 1940s came the introduction of the name Food Fair.
In 1958, Food Fair purchased Setzer's Supermarkets, a 38-store chain in the Jacksonville, Florida, area. In 1961, Food Fair bought J.M. Fields Department Stores, a chain of discount department stores in New England. The latter chain grew substantially, expanding to areas already served by Food Fair, particularly in Florida. By the 1960s, most J.M. Fields stores shopping centers featured a J.M. Fields, Food Fair, or Pantry Pride grocery store.
The birth of Pantry Pride
During the 1960s, Food Fair enjoyed great success, but the most significant purchase for the company was that of a small Philadelphia chain called Best Markets. Best's private label brand was called Pantry Pride. The first Pantry Pride store opened its doors at 9:00 a.m. on August 26, 1964, in Hazlet, New Jersey, test-running a no-frills discount store approach. Soon, the stores that were under the "Pantry Pride" logo eventually became more popular than the "Food Fair" brand. By the early 1970s, Food Fair had converted most of its stores to the Pantry Pride banner, and the company popularity grew further.
Expansion in the 1960s and 1970s
In the late 1960s, the company, led by its Pantry Pride stores, continued to grow. The company also opened additional J.M. Fields stores and entered new businesses, launching drug stores, gasoline stations, and shoe stores. It also boosted its core business by entering California and Nevada through the purchase of the Fox Markets chain. The western expansion proved exhausting for the predominantly East Coast retailer, eventually divesting the 50 stores by 1972. In 1976, Pantry Pride acquired Hills Supermarkets of New York. Later that year, Pantry Pride purchased the remaining 17 stores of Philadelphia-based Penn Fruit Company.
Slow decline, 1978-2000
In 1978, Food Fair fell victim to financial problems. The company entered bankruptcy that year and a new management team, led by supermarket veteran Grant Gentry, began streamlining the 456-store, $2.7 billion company. By the end of 1978 the company took the first steps in the long journey out of bankruptcy by closing all of the JM Fields stores. Those stores were quickly purchased by Caldor, Jefferson Ward, and Kmart. In early 1979, the company left their home market of Philadelphia, where the firm was headquartered. The company closed more than 50 stores in the area, even though they were the second-largest chain in greater Philadelphia in terms of market share. Between 1979 and 1981 more than 200 stores were closed, along with several warehouses. Food-a-Rama bought 14 of the 48 Baltimore-area stores in 1981. By this time, Food Fair had emerged from bankruptcy, and was based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, under the name Pantry Pride Stores, Inc. The company had entered into talks to be purchased by Pathmark Stores that same year, but discussions were abandoned when Pantry Pride's stockholders filed a complaint. Pantry Pride outsourced their wholesale operations to Supervalu when they sold their Miami and Jacksonville distribution centers. The company then began selling off huge chunks of their assets when they sold two-thirds of their remaining stores, including the last of their Richmond, Virginia, stores to A&P, which continued to operate the stores under the Pantry Pride banner until 1986. Only about 40 stores in southern Florida remained.