Great Scot Supermarkets/Perloff Brothers-PA/NJ

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werememberretail
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Great Scot Supermarkets/Perloff Brothers-PA/NJ

Post by werememberretail »

I was surfing another message board and someone mentioned the history of the old Food Fair store (later clemens currently Giant) in Abington, outside of Philadelphia. one poster mentioned that after Food Fair went bankrupt the store became a store called Great Scot. I first thought that it was some mom and pop store, but discovered through further research that it actually was a chain of some sort that operated in Pennsylvania and New jersey. It said that it was supplied by a company named Perloff Brothers out of Philadelphia. doing research on that firm I found out that they also had a food service business that also used a Scottish theme as they held trademarks to "Tartan" foods (which i vaguely remember) and another brand named "Keltie". Is anyone familiar with either of these two outfits?
maynesG
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Re: Great Scot Supermarkets/Perloff Brothers-PA/NJ

Post by maynesG »

Hi,I vaugely remember when i first came to this market with Quaker Oats , old timers mention Perloff Brothers and Great Scot Stores.I believe they had gotten out of the retail supermarket supply business around 1980. They stayed around for a few years as Tartan Foods a food service provider with a warehouse around Packer Avenue.I am not sure but I believe that they were purchased by Jetro Cash & Carry orby US food Service.But the Tatan Name was gone by 1986.
If I can think of it I will call someoneI worked with That I think callledon this account in the late seventies
maynesG
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Re: Great Scot Supermarkets/Perloff Brothers-PA/NJ

Post by maynesG »

Hi,I checked for a Tartan Foods Web and found out they are at thesame place on Packer Avenue in Philadelphia as they were always at.They weren!t purchased by jetro or US Foods but by Sysco. They go by the name Sysco Tartan Foods,
werememberretail
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Re: Great Scot Supermarkets/Perloff Brothers-PA/NJ

Post by werememberretail »

maynesG wrote:Hi,I checked for a Tartan Foods Web and found out they are at thesame place on Packer Avenue in Philadelphia as they were always at.They weren!t purchased by jetro or US Foods but by Sysco. They go by the name Sysco Tartan Foods,
You beat me to the punch Gerry. i just found that out myself a while ago, Sysco bought them out in the 90s. according to an article I bought on philly.com the Perloff Grocery business I found out, they were a IGA distributor as well and that it was sold to Wetterau ( later Supervalu) and perhaps was consolidated into the old Wetterau-Temple warehouse. now I wonder if anyone knows about the Great Scot chain
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MikeRa
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Re: Great Scot Supermarkets/Perloff Brothers-PA/NJ

Post by MikeRa »

The Perloff Brothers also supplied Genuardi Supermarkets Inc. from 1968 to 1970, and they provide to Genuardi their Store #5in Yeadon, which was only open from 6/10/1969 to 1972
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Re: Great Scot Supermarkets/Perloff Brothers-PA/NJ

Post by MikeRa »

maynesG wrote:Hi,I vaugely remember when i first came to this market with Quaker Oats , old timers mention Perloff Brothers and Great Scot Stores.I believe they had gotten out of the retail supermarket supply business around 1980. They stayed around for a few years as Tartan Foods a food service provider with a warehouse around Packer Avenue.I am not sure but I believe that they were purchased by Jetro Cash & Carry orby US food Service.But the Tatan Name was gone by 1986.
If I can think of it I will call someoneI worked with That I think callledon this account in the late seventies
Great Scot was owned by Charles Shorday. In March 1979, Great Scot had 13 stores open, but by May 1980, they were down to only 2 stores.
werememberretail
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Re: Great Scot Supermarkets/Perloff Brothers-PA/NJ

Post by werememberretail »

MikeRa wrote:
maynesG wrote:Hi,I vaugely remember when i first came to this market with Quaker Oats , old timers mention Perloff Brothers and Great Scot Stores.I believe they had gotten out of the retail supermarket supply business around 1980. They stayed around for a few years as Tartan Foods a food service provider with a warehouse around Packer Avenue.I am not sure but I believe that they were purchased by Jetro Cash & Carry orby US food Service.But the Tatan Name was gone by 1986.
If I can think of it I will call someoneI worked with That I think callledon this account in the late seventies
Great Scot was owned by Charles Shorday. In March 1979, Great Scot had 13 stores open, but by May 1980, they were down to only 2 stores.
Presumably. the most likely sceneario was that Shorday owned the stores while Perloff supplied them. It's interesting that you mentioned Charles E. Shorday because he purchased and owned the former Food Fair/Pantry Pride in Abington around 1979. prior to that all the Great Scots were small neighborhood stores. According to News Archives Shorday and his family lived in Abington area and the Abington store remained in the family for 20 years first under theiir Great Scot banner then joining Frankford Quaker as a Shop N Bag store then as a Thriftway by the time Fleming absorbed F-Q, then in the early 2000s the Shordays sold the store to Clemens and Clemens sold the store to Giant, of whic it remains today
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