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, 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.
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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. In the late 1940s came the introduction of the name Food Fair.
In 1958, Food Fair purchased Setzer's Supermarkets, a 40-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 featured a J.M. Fields, Food Fair, or Pantry Pride grocery store.
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 Best Markets launched a chain of no-frills discount grocery stores in mid-decade, it used the name Pantry Pride. The stores that were under the "Pantry Pride" logo eventually became more popular than the "Food Fair" brand. By 1970, Food Fair had converted most of its stores to the Pantry Pride banner, and the company popularity grew further.
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.
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 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. 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 its wholesale operations to Supervalu when it sold its Miami and Jacksonville distribution centers. The company then began selling off 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. Only about 40 stores in southern Florida remained.
In 1984, in separate transactions, Pantry Pride 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 was acquired by investor Ronald Perelman. This was enough to acquire control, and Perelman liquidated its assets but kept its losses on the books to offset profits from MacAndrews and Forbes, which he had previously acquired. Perelman 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 Catsimatidis. 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 Catsimatidis. The remaining stores were either closed or sold by 2000.