Welcome to the Food-A-Rama History Website1947-1985Dedicated to the Legacy - and the Founders - of Food-A-Rama (1947-1985), a Baltimore-based chain of 48 supermarkets. The stores were located in Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia, and Delaware. When sold in 1985, Food-A-Rama was the second largest supermarket chain in the region, behind Giant Food. Recent News and Articles
Obituary: Roy Marks (01/23/2018) - Progressive Grocer Food-A-Rama QuotesBen Schuster pointed out that "10 of our managers are originally from Europe and came to us without any real supermarket experience, learning much of the business on the job." Part of the people, who help the company expand, come right from the family. Paul's two sons, Abe and Marvin are active in the business, as are Ben's children, Avi Hershkovitz and Victor Elhai. "We feel we can compete with any store in the Baltimore market. We feel the opportunities here and we're taking advantage of it," Paul Diamond said. Dave Diamond said he could not say if Food-A-Rama would vie for any of the A&P locations. Diamond, who co-owns the shopping center in which the Irvington A&P is located also said he has received no firm notice that the store would close. A public offering of it's stock would make a lot of sense... Whether you agree with its policies or practices, Food-A-Rama is indeed one of the great success stories in the market. They often dressed funny and sometimes they were hard to understand, but no independent retailer made more of a mark in the Baltimore market in the 1970's and 80's than the owners of Food-A-Rama. Gathered at a 1975 industry reception were the three principals of the firm: Paul Diamond, Dave Diamond, and Ben Schuster. The next time you walk into a grocery store it may very well have been owned by the Diamonds and you will literally step into history. |
  Paul Diamond 1921-1993  Dave Diamond 1924-1989  Ben Schuster 1920-2006 
Food World Magazine, Supermarket News, Progressive Grocer Magazine, Food Marketing Institute, Supervalu Inc. - Eastern Region, The Diamond Family, The Schuster Family, Roy Marks, Leonard Jaslow, Al Rosenstadt, Ruth Sommer, Jerry Esterson
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