30-year-old grocery chain closes.

Super Pride leaves the B.E. 100s list at No. 67

Super Pride Markets, a Baltimore-based grocery store chain owned by a man whose career in the grocery business began as a stock clerk, closed in October even though the company once had $47 million in assets and ranked No. 14 on the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 list.

Oscar A. Smith Jr., president and owner of Super Pride, operated eight stores in the Baltimore area. While Smith didn't return telephone calls regarding the closure, last year, he blamed his company's financial woes on urban flight, declining profitability, and competition from national supermarket chains.

But Maryland state officials tell somewhat of a different story. Last August, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development gave Smith a $15,000 grant to hire KMR Management Inc., a Philadelphia management consulting firm, to determine whether the 30-year-old chain could be saved.

"We thought that hiring a management consultant was the thing to do, but it was the management consultant's feeling that ail of the entities should close," said Tori Leonard, spokeswoman for the department.

While state aid couldn't save Super Pride, Leonard says this doesn't mean that other companies are doomed in a culture where mom-and-pop grocery stores are an integral part of the blue-collar city. "We work with the Small Business Administration to provide resources to minority and small businesses, but unfortunately things didn't work out in this case."

In 1989, Super Pride had assets of $45 million and ranked No. 12 on the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 list; and in 1996, it ranked No. 37, with $45 million in assets. But in 2000, it ranked No. 67 with $40 million in assets. During this time, its staff decreased from 450 people to 350 people.

In a 1997 survey, conducted by Mid-Atlantic Marketing Consultants Inc., in Baltimore Super Pride ranked No. 7 out of 14 grocery retailers in Baltimore for overall quality. The 120 people surveyed criticized Super Pride's stores for cleanliness and customer service.

Smith's first job at Super Pride was for $1.65 per hour. Smith served as president of the company since 1985, and in 1992, he purchased the company after its founder Charles Thurgood died.