Elva L. Gilmore is known as the warden of Cherry Hill for her penchant for bluntness.
"I tell it how it is, and on a 1-to-10 scale, this is a 20," Gilmore said at the grand opening of Hilltop Market yesterday as she sat in her wheelchair in front of Cherry Hill's first supermarket since Super Pride went out of business in October 2000.
About 200 residents celebrated the opening as if Independence Day came early, with a steel band, cake and speeches from Mayor Martin O'Malley and Cardinal William H. Keeler.
Cherry Hill's 11,000 residents, many elderly or without cars, were left without a supermarket within walking distance for 20 months. Residents like Gilmore depended on relatives or hacks -- illegal taxis -- to go grocery shopping.
Weary of two-hour trips to buy milk and bread, some of the southern Baltimore neighborhood's residents have shopped at Hilltop daily since the unofficial opening May 29 -- just because they can.
"I've come here every day," Gilmore said. "When it was hot out the other day, they were giving out crunched ice and 20-ounce bottles of spring water.
"On Sunday, I had about 30 bags, so one of the owners took me home free of charge," she said. "He told me any time I need help, he'll help me."
But others are skeptical that a start-up will succeed where Super Pride failed.
"Wait and see. Grand openings are always like this. I've watched buildings open and close here in the last 35 years," Cherry Hill resident Michael J. Alexander said, shopping with his wife, Darline, and their 18-month-year-old granddaughter Hamilton. "All of them start off clean. They were clean, got dirty and were shut down."
And though customers glow at sale prices now, how long will prices will stay low with the nearest competition two miles away in Brooklyn Park?
"I wouldn't say there's no competition," said co-owner Jeffe Singh, who previously owned two gas stations. In the past 20 months, "residents found other places to shop. To bring them back, we have to make sure we give them a clean, competitively priced store."
With a blueprint for success built on hospitality, quality and cleanliness, co-owners Al Moore and Singh believe Hilltop's success is ensured by elbow grease.
Moore hopes the market will generate more annual revenue than Super Pride's $3.4 million at the location. The demand is there, but other supermarket chains passed on the site because it's too small.
When asked how Hilltop can flourish where Super Pride foundered, Moore said, "What makes Wal-Mart think they can succeed where Kmart failed?"
While many independent business owners falter by skimping on start-up costs, Moore said he and Singh have invested in technology and security for the store -- aided by $750,000 in funding from the city, state and private groups. Moore and Singh's Integrity Foods LLC, Hilltop's parent company, contributed $50,000.
About 15 percent of Baltimore supermarkets closed in the past two years. In a city so starved of supermarkets that its mayor attended a grocery store conference in Las Vegas to lure chains to Baltimore, Cherry Hill is considered Exhibit A.
"It's a shame people have to travel a half-hour to get the basic necessities of life," O'Malley told the crowd. "There are going to be better days, thanks to this grocery store."