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Klein's Family Markets enter new era with ShopRite partnership Mary Paramore
He pointed to the Klein family’s long tradition of community support and outreach and said the other family-owned stores in the ShopRite cooperative share this commitment. “When I look at the ShopRite logo, the word I see is family. In every place, these families do what we do, stand shoulder to shoulder with the communities they serve.” Klein’s Family Markets has deep roots in Harford County. In 1925, Sara and Maurice Klein opened a small general store in Fallston. In 1949, their son Ralph opened an eclectic trading store in Forest Hill under the Klein’s name. By 2005, the Klein’s chain was a family affair, with seven stores – six in Harford County and one in Baltimore County. The March 4 gathering at the Aberdeen store was just one of five events planned to share the partnership with the community. Klein’s ShopRite stores are still family-owned, but now offer 3,000 ShopRite brand items, as well as state-of-the-art merchandise management technology and the buying power of a 271-store cooperative. A fourth-generation Klein at the ceremony, Marshall Klein, said, “The things they are doing in this cooperative, no one does. It’s just amazing.”
Environmental: Customers who reuse plastic or paper bags or bring canvas bags will receive a 2 cent discount per bag used to carry their purchases. In 2007, ShopRite customers reused 7.4 million bags, saving $148,000 off their grocery bills and keeping 7.4 million bags out of landfills. Since 1977, the ShopRite cooperative has operated its own recycling facility and, in 2007, recycled 96,000 tones of corrugated cardboard, 1,700 tons of plastic, 1,488 tons of waxed corrugated cardboard, 949 tons of newspapers, 279 tons of office paper and 115 tons of metal. Safety: Klein’s ShopRite personnel will be trained to use defibrillators that will be placed in each store. Personnel also will be trained in Code Adam protocol, which are procedures designed to ensure a rapid in-store response when a child is lost or missing. When a vendor or the government issues a product recall, the ShopRite Quality Assurance team notifies its partners. Point-of-sale technology now installed at each Klein’s ShopRite will prevent recalled items from being sold. Additionally, customers who are registered with the ShopRite Price Plus Club will receive telephone notification if they have purchased an item that is subsequently recalled. Community: In addition to its existing community support programs, Klein’s ShopRite stores will enhance its support of local food banks through the ShopRite Partners in Caring program. Since 1999, ShopRite stores in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut Delaware and Pennsylvania have donated more than $20 million to fight hunger through its support of 23 regional food banks and more than 1,400 charitable agencies with food or meal components. To kick off ShopRite’s move into Maryland with its association with Klein’s Family Markets, the cooperative donated $70,000 – $10,000 for each of the seven Klein’s stores now in partnership with ShopRite – to the Maryland Food Bank at the March 4 event.
Captions: Above, a corporate chef from ShopRite cooks breakfast items for guests at the March 4 gathering in Aberdeen. On the home page, Howard Klein describes his feelings about the Kleins/ShopRite partnership.
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At a recent media event to mark the association of Harford County’s seven 