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Pantry Pride, also known by its predecessor name Food Fair was a large supermarket chain in the United States. It was founded by Samuel N. Friedland, who opened the first store (as Reading Giant Quality Price Cutter) in Reading, Pennsylvania in the late 1920s. As of 1957, Food Fair had 275 stores, and at its peak, the chain had more than 500 stores. Friedlan's family retained control of the firm through 1978, when the chain entered bankruptcy.
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History
Origins
Samuel 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, and by the late 1940s, and the introduction of a new name: Food Fair.
In 1958, Food Fair purchased Setzer's Supermarkets, a 40-store Jacksonville, Florida chain. At about the same time as the Setzer purchase, the company bought J.M. Fields Department Stores, a chain of discount department stores in New England.
The latter chain grew substantially, expanding the stores to areas already served by Food Fair, particularly Florida. By the 1960s, most J.M. Fields stores featured a J.M. Fields or Food Fair/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. When the company launched a chain of no-frills discount grocery stores in mid-decade, they used the name "Pantry Pride". The stores that were under the "Pantry Pride" logo eventually became so popular, they eclipsed the "Food Fair" brand as the company's dominant trademark banner. By 1970, Food Fair had converted most of its stores to the Pantry Pride banner, and the company began to rise to new heights.
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 the California and Nevada markets through the purchase of the Fox Markets chain. The western expansion proved exhausting for the predominantly East Coast retailer, and it eventually divested itself of the 50 stores by 1972. In 1976 it acquired Hills Supermarkets of New York. Later that year it purchased the remaining 17 stores from the Philadelphia-based Penn Fruit Company.
Slow Decline in the 1970s and 1980s
In 1978, Food Fair fell victim to financial problems. It entered bankruptcy that year and a new management team, led by supermarket veteran Grant Gentry, began streamlining the 456-store $2.7 billion dollar 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 its home market of Philadelphia, where the firm was headquartered, closing its more than 50 stores in the area, even though it was 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 its 48 Baltimore-area stores in 1981 from the company. By this time, the company had exited bankruptcy a much smaller company, now based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and taking the name Pantry Pride Stores, Inc. Also that year the company had entered into talks to be purchased by Pathmark Stores. Discussions were abandoned when Pantry Pride's stockholders filed a complaint. Pantry Pride outsourced its wholesale operations to Supervalu when it sold its Miami and Jacksonville distribution centers. The company then began selling huge chunks of its assets when it sold two-thirds of its remaining stores, including the last of its Richmond, Virginia stores to A&P,leaving only about 40 stores in southern Florida under the company fold.
In 1984, in separate transactions, it acquired Devon Stores, a home improvement store and the 400-store Adams Drug Company, which operated in the northeastern United States. The owner of Devon Stores, who obtained about 10.4% of the merged company, then sought an ouster of the Pantry Pride Board of Directors. In 1985, using junk bonds, 38% of Pantry Pride (establishing effective control) was acquired by investor Ronald Perelman, who liquidated its assets, kept its losses on the books to offset profits from MacAndrews and Forbes, which he had previously acquired, and used Pantry Pride as a vehicle to acquire other companies, in particular Revlon. By 1986, the name of Pantry Pride was changed to Revlon Group.
In 1985, the last stores in southern Florida were sold to Red Apple Group, a New York supermarket chain owned by John Catsimadidis. By 1990, the chain was being supplied by the Fleming Companies. The last store opened in 1991 in Sunny Isles, Florida. By this time, nearly all of the stores were renamed Wooley's, after acquiring the latter named chain of seven stores in the early 1990s. In 1993, Fleming bought the Wooley's chain after a dispute with Catsimadidis. The remaining stores were either closed or sold by the turn of the century.
Timeline
- 1920s - Food Fair Stores founded by Russian immigrant Samuel N. Friedland in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
- 1957 - Food Fair has 275 stores.
- 1958 - Food Fair purchases 40-store Jacksonville, Florida based Setzer's Supermarkets.
- 1961 - Acquires J.M. Fields Department Stores.
- mid-1960s - Acquires Best Markets and Pantry Pride private label brand, launches Pantry Pride branded discount supermarkets soon after
- 1967(?)- Purchases Fox Supermarkets in California and Nevada.
- 1972(?)- Divests Fox Supermarkets
- 1976 - Purchased Hills Supermarkets (NY)
- 1976 - Remaining 17 of bankrupt Penn Fruit's Philadelphia area stores are acquired by Food Fair.
- 1978 - Enters Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection. Friedland family gives up control of the company.
- 1981 - Exits Chapter 11 bankruptcy, re-organizes with new corporate name: Pantry Pride Stores, Inc., and moves company headquarters to Fort Lauderdale, FL.
- 1983-84 Sells last two distribution centers to Supervalu, who in turn sold them to Malone and Hyde and Winn-Dixie.
- 1984 - Pantry Pride operates 122 supermarkets in Florida, southern Georgia, the Tidewater region of Virginia, and the Bahamas.
- 1984 - Purchases Rhode Island based Adams/Brooks Drug Stores (approx. 400 drug stores in the northeast, principally in New England).
- 1984 - Purchases Devon Stores Corp., a 61-store home center chain with locations near U.S. military bases. Sells Virginia division to A&P.
- 1985 - Acquires Revlon Corp. as a holding company in Ronald Perelman's hostile takeover bid.
- 1985 - Samuel Friedland died at age 88 in Miami Beach, FL.
- 1986 - With only a handful of stores (southern Florida), Pantry Pride sells its remaining stores to Gristedes Supermarkets (NY) chairman John Catsimatidis. Now out of the retail grocery business, corporate name is changed to The Revlon Group, and moves corporate headquarters from Fort Lauderdale to New York.
- 1988 - Catsimatidis takes on Fleming Companies as a partner after Fleming purchases Malone & Hyde.
- 1991 - Last supermarket opened (Pantry Pride Food Emporium) in Sunny Isles, FL., most other stores are renamed Wooley's.
- 1993 - All remaining Pantry Pride/Wooley's Supermarkets are sold to Fleming.
External links
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