Also in Philadelphia, many A&P as well as Acme and Food Fair (doing business as Pantry Pride in its later years, and not related to the current Houston chain of the same name), and Penn Fruit (acquired by Food Fair during the same period) stores closed and reopened as IGA and related chains Thriftway, Shop 'n Bag, O&O, Pick Well, Great Valu (SuperValu), and ShopRite.
Originally known as Mondawmin Center, the retail hub was an open-air complex of fifty-eight store spaces, featuring a 3-level Sears, a G.C. Murphy 5 and 10 and Food Fair and Penn Fruit supermarkets.
By the early 1930s the company had grown to six stores, and although it did not want to add a full line of groceries to its fare, competition from established chains like Acme and A&P forced it into the grocery business.
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It then later closed all but a handful of its supermarkets, including the last of its Baltimore division (now called Big Valu), which were sold to Food A Rama, a local Baltimore chain (now part of Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, a Supervalu division) with the remaining 17 stores sold to Food Fair in 1975.
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However, rivals such as A&P, Food Fair (later known as Pantry Pride) and Acme were opening discount stores of their own, and in 1973 Acme's 173 Philadelphia-area stores launched a price war against Penn Fruit's 12 warehouse markets.
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