City's Largest Supermarket to Open Thursday

BALTIMORE—In what officials say is an important sign for the Howard Park section of Baltimore, the city's largest supermarket, a 67,000-square-foot ShopRite store, will open its doors for the first time on Thursday.

The Howard Park ShopRite on Liberty Heights Avenue will package suburban offerings for an urban audience, according to Marshall Klein, chief operating officer of Klein's Family Markets, which owns and operates nine ShopRite locations in the Baltimore region. The Howard Park location is Klein's first foray into Baltimore, and is a joint venture with the nonprofit UpLift Solutions, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Bringing a supermarket to Howard Park dates back to 1999 when a Super Pride supermarket shut its doors. It has been a goal for Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake for the past decade. "When you have an environment that is lacking in fresh food options, it will be harder for you to be healthy," the mayor says, noting that there is a need for fresh produce in the Howard Park area.

Brenda McKenzie, president and CEO of the Baltimore Development Corp., terms the new ShopRite an "important signal that there is money to be made" in the Howard Park region. "This truly is an anchor, so we're working with the community to see what project can be next so we can really build on the success of this and really activate new commercial activity moving forward," she says.

Tax credits were critical in landing the Shop Rite store in Howard Park, which helped fund the estimated $20 million cost of the project. See story in the Baltimore Sun.