Food Fair/Thriftway/Harold Friedland Connection

[werememberretail]

This should be of interest to some, including Gerry Maynes (MaynesG) and especially to Steve Landry and other Food Fair Fans/Historians on this website. scouring some archives on the "internets" (namely philly.com) archives( as well as an SEC PDF file on the I found on the net concerning legal issues regarding the Food Fair Bankruptcy) Both mentioned a Harold Friedland that resided in Rydal Pennsylvania. I can confirm that there is a bonafide post-bankruptcy connection between Thriftway supermarkets in the Philadelphia area and Food Fair's founding Family: the Friedlands. Turns out that Harold Friedland, who served as vice-president of Food Fair and his wife Elaine began operating a chain of Thriftway supermarkets after the bankruptcy, They owned as many as seven stores including one at 22d Street and Lehigh Avenue and another at 29th and Dauphin Streets. plus other stores in Philadelphia and Delaware and Friedland was credited with bringing Atlantic City (NJ) its first super in many years. He is today a philantropist and him and his wife are active in many Philadelphia Charities.

http://www.sec.gov/news/digest/1982/dig042282.pdf
Demick,Barbara GREAT STORE PUT IN REOPENING FAILED N. PHILA. MARKET, Philadelphia Inquirer Philadephia Buisness September 28, 1987 (c/o http://www.philly.com PayPer View archives)

[Steve Landry]

Hello............thanks for your post.

Could you help me navigate the philly.com site as to where to click to read about the subject you mentioned?

Thanks,

Steve

[werememberretail]

Hello............thanks for your post.

Could you help me navigate the philly.com site as to where to click to read about the subject you mentioned?

Thanks,

Steve

Sure the trick is to go to GOOGLE NEWS ARCHIVE (not general google search) and google (or just copy/paste) the phrase
GREAT STORE PUT IN REOPENING FAILED N. PHILA. MARKET this will lead you to the philly.com archives
It is pay per view so each article is $3 to view. you also may want to also search on philly.com and type in "Harold Friedland for related articles. also in related info the google archive search turned up a Los Angeles Times archive stating the fact that Food Fair bought Fox Markets on the west coast on Jun 14, 1963 two years earlier than I thought. DISCLAIMER I was never associated with nor was I ever employed By Food Fair/Pantry Pride or successor companies. I'm just a fellow supermarket "geek" who has been intrigued about this onetime behemoth of an retail institution... and suprised by the lack of available information on it)


Cameron Dulpher (werememberretail@yahoo.com)

[maynesG]

Hi, Yes in deed, the article intereseted me. Thanks! Yes I do remember Harold Friedland and his group of Thriftways. He opperated two units in the city of Wilmington One in the Adams Shopping center that is a Super Valu today and one that was opened in the ground Floor of and old Sears Store. After the bankruptcy it became a Super Fresh and is now part of the Department of Labor.
Friedlands Thriftways always ran their own Ad seperate from the rest of the group and towards the end set up their own buying office and even had their own small warehouse. This only added to the early demise of Flemings Oaks facility.
I also remember a little aledged larcency in the form of Coupon misredemption on a massive scale, just before the bankruptcy.

[Ephrata1966]

Where is Rydal, Pennsylvania?

[submariner]

Where is Rydal, Pennsylvania?

About 20mi NE of Philadelphia

[werememberretail]

Hi, Yes in deed, the article intereseted me. Thanks! Yes I do remember Harold Friedland and his group of Thriftways. He opperated two units in the city of Wilmington One in the Adams Shopping center that is a Super Valu today and one that was opened in the ground Floor of and old Sears Store. After the bankruptcy it became a Super Fresh and is now part of the Department of Labor.
Friedlands Thriftways always ran their own Ad seperate from the rest of the group and towards the end set up their own buying office and even had their own small warehouse. This only added to the early demise of Flemings Oaks facility.
I also remember a little aledged larcency in the form of Coupon misredemption on a massive scale, just before the bankruptcy.

Thanks for the Info on the two Wilmington stores, Gerry I have read through previous posts that you worked for Quaker Oats and did business with Fleming so I know you would be familiar with this topic. Interesting that he mainly ran new stores, especially because of the fact that so many Food Fair stores (not absorbed by Acme or another chain) were gobbled up by numerous independent parties, including many former Food Fair managers and executives, men like Marvin Lerner, Jim McCaffrey (who transformed his Thriftways into super-upscale stores under his own name, "McCaffrey's" in the 1990s) and other aspiring entrepreneurs ready to grasp a hold of their piece of the American Dream ( i.e owning their own business). and as for that coupon scandal. That actuslly happened a few times with many Fleming customers. not just that time you mentioned with the Thriftway owners but a group of Shop n Bag owners got caught in a similar scandal in the late 90s after the "merger" of the Thrifway and Shop N Bag groups.

[gary]

Actually, the Adams Four Thriftway/GreatValu became a Fresh Grocer almost a year ago. Again, another store I serviced as a vendor (when it was a Thriftway), but their volume dropped to the point that it was assigned to another route. I haven't been back in the store since then, but it was a scary place - the back room reeked to high heaven when it was hot, and they had a dangerous looking freight elevator that went to the basement. You couldn't ride on it, you had to walk down a spiral metal staircase to get down there. People would also stand outside and basically harass you to let you load your groceries in your car - which is why I always clearly wore my logoed uniforms, and never bought anything there.