Angelo D'Anna so personified Mars Super Markets Inc. that customers called him "Mr. Mars." When he died last month, many in the industry wondered how long Mars, the chain, would continue without Mars, the man.
The apparent answer: a long time. A top company executive said yesterday that the D'Anna family has decided not to sell the 12-store grocery retailer despite interest from potential buyers.
Instead, Mars has reorganized its executive staff and plans "aggressive" expansion that would double its size in five years, said Dennis McCoy, executive vice president for the Dundalk-based company.
"The family does not want to sell the company," Mr. McCoy said. "We are in the market for smaller chains and for building our own shopping centers."
Mars is at least the third area grocer of small to medium size with ambitious growth plans. Both Baltimore-based Valu Food, with 18 stores, and Metro/Basics, an 18-store division of Harrisburg, Pa.-based Super Rite Corp., have been hunting for new outlets.
Valu Food, in fact, inquired about buying Mars, said Valu President Louis Denrich. "They made it clear to me that it was not for sale," Mr. Denrich said.
Mars' continued independence will fan competition for profitable store sites in an area that analysts say is already crowded. Expansions by Mars and its peers also could add to pressure on Giant Food Inc., market leader in the Baltimore area with 42 grocery stores.
Mars generated about $170 million in sales in 1993 and took about 5 percent of the Baltimore-area supermarket business, according to Food World, a trade monthly published in Columbia. Mr. McCoy declined to disclose financial information.
The 1,200-worker company, founded in Dundalk, is well-known in eastern Baltimore County and has expanded into Harford County and other areas. It has stores under construction on U.S. 40 in Harford County and at the former Leedmark site in Anne Arundel County, Mr. McCoy said.
Mars has used price promotions and devotion to neighborhood needs to survive against bigger, better-financed and more sophisticated competitors.
"Sometimes smaller stores are able to give themselves more to the local area than the big guys," said David Orgel, senior editor for Supermarket News, a New York-based trade publication.
The company will continue as a family operation. Carmen V. D'Anna, 75-year-old brother of Angelo, is now president, chairman and majority shareholder of Mars, Mr. McCoy said. Three of Carmen D'Anna's sons are vice presidents; two recently joined the company. Two sons of Angelo D'Anna, who was 71 when he died, also work for Mars, Mr. McCoy said.
Anthony D'Anna, brother to Angelo and Carmen, is also a vice president. Mr. McCoy, who has been Carmen D'Anna Sr.'s personal attorney, is new in his position of executive vice president.
Mars' goal is to operate 24 stores five years from now. The company, which also owns four strip shopping centers, "is likely to be able to do the acquisitions and expansion we're talking about using internally generated funds," Mr. McCoy said.