Pantry Pride

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turbocsx
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Pantry Pride

Post by turbocsx »

Can someone explain what happened with the Pantry Pride chain in laymans terms? I have been trying to find info on it, and from what i gather, Ron Perleman (Revlon) bought Pantry Pride, then as pantry pride, he bought food fair, then used the combined chains as leverage to take over Revlon. It least that is my understanding of what i have read. But what happened after he took over Revlon, how did pantry pride tank? If anyone could shed some light onto this i would appreciate it. As a kid i was always into grocery stores and supermarkets (I collected bags, I know, i was wierd) I remember in the early 80's 2 Big supermarket chains went under, 1st was Hills, then Pantry Pride. I remember being upset about it (i was all of like 11 at the time, and like i said, i was wierd) While i am at it, was there any connection between Hills and Pantry Pride? How big was pantry pride? Anyone know how many stores they had at it's peak? Also does anyone have info on Hills?
Steve Landry
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Post by Steve Landry »

Hey Turbo...............welcome :)

I will fill you into after work today on Food Fair, Hills, Pantry Pride, Revlon and MORE.

:)
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Edric Floyd
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Re: Pantry Pride

Post by Edric Floyd »

turbocsx wrote:Can someone explain what happened with the Pantry Pride chain in laymans terms? I have been trying to find info on it, and from what i gather, Ron Perleman (Revlon) bought Pantry Pride, then as pantry pride, he bought food fair, then used the combined chains as leverage to take over Revlon. It least that is my understanding of what i have read. But what happened after he took over Revlon, how did pantry pride tank? If anyone could shed some light onto this i would appreciate it. As a kid i was always into grocery stores and supermarkets (I collected bags, I know, i was wierd) I remember in the early 80's 2 Big supermarket chains went under, 1st was Hills, then Pantry Pride. I remember being upset about it (i was all of like 11 at the time, and like i said, i was wierd) While i am at it, was there any connection between Hills and Pantry Pride? How big was pantry pride? Anyone know how many stores they had at it's peak? Also does anyone have info on Hills?
Welcome Turbo to the Groceteria message board.

People said that I was a weird kid too but hey, it kept me out of trouble and thanks to sites like this, I found many of us have fun sharing about the supermarket history. So enjoy yourself while learning some great history.

Do look forward to Steve's reponse to your questions about Pantry Pride. He will surely have the best answers to your question.

All I can say about Pantry Pride is that the chain did survive into the late 1980's in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale area. By then all of the stores were old, very pricey and they were not very clean. They died very quietly. Many of the Pantry Pride stores were Former Food Fair stores converted to Pantry Pride in the 1970's.

Some of the old Pantry Prides in Florida became either "Hyde Park Foods" or "Wooleys" and both were short lived.

But Steve will have the best and most detailed information.

HELLO STEVE!! (I'm baaaack) LOL
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Groceteria
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Re: Pantry Pride

Post by Groceteria »

Edric Floyd wrote:But Steve will have the best and most detailed information.
Yeah, Steve knows all on this subject, and this time around, I hope to actually use some of the info to finally update the Food Fair page on the site...
turbocsx
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pantry pride

Post by turbocsx »

awesome, i look forward to the info. Anyone know anything about Hills?
Steve Landry
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Post by Steve Landry »

Sorry, I am out of town on business. But, I will briefly say that Hills was purchased by Food Fair in the Mid 70's (will confirm date when I get back). It was a financially troubled chain (may have been so because of labor disputes or price wars) when Food Fair purchased it. I do not think I have much info on the history of Hills.....pre-Food Fair.

Also, Food Fair had stores from Maine to the Bahamas, Israel, California, Nevada and several "franchise" clusters around the country.

Pantry Pride (originally a division of Food Fair) built its LAST store in Sunny Isles (north Miami Beach) Florida in 1991 called Pantry Pride Food Emporium. A year or so later the entire company disappeared.

Pantry Pride was purchased (with hostility) by Ron Perelman. He recognized the vast "hidden assets" of the former Food Fair Empire. He quickly dismantled and sold "piece meal" the company's assets and made a BUNDLE. With this money he purchased Revlon Cosmetics. Court papers indicate Pantry Pride Inc. as the purchaser of Revlon Cosmetics. "Inside" Revlon there is still much "property" that was of Food Fair origin.

I will share lots more info when I return from my trip.

All best,

Steve
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turbocsx
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Post by turbocsx »

cool, i look foward to it.
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Re: Pantry Pride

Post by Edric Floyd »

Former Pantry Pride (1970's vintage) in Pompano Beach Florida.

http://boxstr.com/view/full/4206417_x2b7y

Store closed in early 1980's, was Sound Warehouse during the late 1980's into the early 1990's then the current PET Supermarket.

BTW: "Sound Warehouse" was a music store unrelated to the former but simular WHEREHOUSE MUSIC chain.
Last edited by Edric Floyd on 29 Nov 2008 10:08, edited 1 time in total.
Steve Landry
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Re: Pantry Pride

Post by Steve Landry »

Hi Edric,

I can not view your jpeg. It is asking for "permission"?
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maynesG
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Re: Pantry Pride

Post by maynesG »

Hi, I seem to remember towards the end of Pantry Prides run in Florida,that John Castamadides ( god I think I Butchered the spelling of his name) the owner of Red Apple Supermarkets purchased the chain or was it just some of the stores.Would any body know for sure? Just something that was banging around in the back of my mind
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Re: Pantry Pride

Post by Edric Floyd »

Steve Landry wrote:Hi Edric,

I can not view your jpeg. It is asking for "permission"?

I corrected the links and moved from a private to a public folder. Hopefully they will work.
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Re: Pantry Pride

Post by Steve Landry »

You know Edric, I don't remember if this store was a remodel or a new build.

I'm gonna guess it was a new build because it looks very similar to a new build south of Dadeland off of US1.

The store I speak of was #223, which was a replacement for the original #223 located partially inside the Dadeland Mall on Kendall (the old #223 is now a Food Court).
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Re: Pantry Pride

Post by Edric Floyd »

Steve Landry wrote:You know Edric, I don't remember if this store was a remodel or a new build.

I'm gonna guess it was a new build because it looks very similar to a new build south of Dadeland off of US1.

The store I speak of was #223, which was a replacement for the original #223 located partially inside the Dadeland Mall on Kendall (the old #223 is now a Food Court).
The store in the picture is located at 401 North Federal Highway in Pompano Beach. Property records indicate the shopping center was built in 1970.

My memories of this as a Pantry Pride were during the 1970's as a child. This store closed sometime in the early 1980's while I was in High School in NY. It was vacant when I moved back to the area in 1985 then the music store opened in the supermarket space. The front fasade was remodeled in the late 1980's.

It was one of two Pantry Pride's in Pompano Beach city limits. The other was less than two miles north in a building it shared with a K-mart. That location was one of the former Food Fair-JM Fields combo designs but I only remember the PP and KMart there in the 1970's. For a while, you could enter the supermarket via the K-Mart without having to go outside between the two stores. By the 1980's that access was walled off. The supermarket later became a SUN Market, which was the renaming of several Pantry Pride's in South Florida in the mid 1980's. The grocery store finally closed in the 1990's and that portion of the building was torn down and Movie Theatre was built in its place.

A simular PP & Kmart combo was located in Margate. The supermarket closed in the 1980's and was a Drug Emporium then sat vacant for years. That entire complex has since been replaced with a Walmart supercenter.
philside92
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Re: Pantry Pride

Post by philside92 »

Edric Floyd wrote:Some of the old Pantry Prides in Florida became either "Hyde Park Foods" or "Wooleys" and both were short lived.
my first supermarket job was in the wooley's in marathon, fl in the summer of 1994. it became a hyde park right before i left at the end of the summer. i wonder what's there now.

eta: i think it's a winn-dixie.
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Re:

Post by MikeRa »

Steve Landry wrote:Sorry, I am out of town on business. But, I will briefly say that Hills was purchased by Food Fair in the Mid 70's (will confirm date when I get back). It was a financially troubled chain (may have been so because of labor disputes or price wars) when Food Fair purchased it. I do not think I have much info on the history of Hills.....pre-Food Fair.

Also, Food Fair had stores from Maine to the Bahamas, Israel, California, Nevada and several "franchise" clusters around the country.

Pantry Pride (originally a division of Food Fair) built its LAST store in Sunny Isles (north Miami Beach) Florida in 1991 called Pantry Pride Food Emporium. A year or so later the entire company disappeared.

Pantry Pride was purchased (with hostility) by Ron Perelman. He recognized the vast "hidden assets" of the former Food Fair Empire. He quickly dismantled and sold "piece meal" the company's assets and made a BUNDLE. With this money he purchased Revlon Cosmetics. Court papers indicate Pantry Pride Inc. as the purchaser of Revlon Cosmetics. "Inside" Revlon there is still much "property" that was of Food Fair origin.

I will share lots more info when I return from my trip.

All best,

Steve
Pantry Pride/Food Fair started in the 1920's in Reading, PA by the chain's founder, Samuel N. Friedland. The Food Fair name was first used in the late 1940's. In the 1950's, Food Fair purchased Setzer's Supermarkets (Jacksonville, FL), and J. M. Fields Department stores.

The Pantry Pride name was first used as a private label by a small Philadelphia, PA Grocery store chain called Best Markets that Food Fair acquired in the 1960's. When Food Fair started their no frills discount grocery stores, they decide to use the Pantry Pride name. By 1970, Food Fair had rebranded all of its stores to either Pantry Pride or J. m. Fields/Pantry Pride combo stores. In 1976, Pantry Pride acquired Hill's Supermarkets (New York) and the 17 remaining Penn Fruit Company stores, retaining the Penn Fruit name.

When Pantry Pride entered bankruptcy in 1978, they closed all of the J. M. Fields stores, and in Philadelphia, the Pantry Pride and Penn Fruit stores. When they emerged from bankruptcy in 1981, they changed the company name from Food Fair to Pantry Pride Stores and was now headquarters in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Ron Perelman acquired Pantry Pride Stores and, after acquiring Revlon, changed the company's name to Revlon Group.
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