Excerpts from: www.landismarket.com; “Landis Markets Celebrates 75th Anniversary at Telford, Perkasie, Schwenksville, Vernfield Stores” by Bob Keeler in Montgomery News; and Amanda Cregan, freelance writer of “Landis Supermarkets in Perkasie and Telford Mark 75 Years” in the Bucks County Courier Times. Compiled by Wendy Leshinskie
Landis Market, 133 S. Main Street, Telford, circa 1960s
Frank Landis, the founder of Landis Market, began helping his father in his meat business at Franconia Meats (currently Marcho Farms, 519 Allentown Road, Franconia) As a youth, Frank helped by selling the butchered meat door to door with a horse and buggy and years later from a truck.
In 1938 Frank and his wife, Sadie, bought the building on 133 Main Street, Telford (currently J’s Steaks & Subs), which became the original Landis Market. In May 1972, Landis Market began construction of a new building on 21 acres along the County Line Road in West Rockhill Township, just north of Telford. Frank’s marketing philosophy at that time was, “The growth of Landis Market is not measured by the number of stores, nor the amount of items sold, but by the number of satisfied customers who shop with us.”
Frank and Sadie’s four children: Don, Dave, Eileen and Paul all worked in the family business. Dave started working in the store after school and on Saturdays at about age 10, doing things such as bagging potatoes, sweeping floors and sorting returned bottles. His pay was Frostie root beer and Oh Henry! candy bars and a dozen eggs – which he smashed by throwing them at a barn window. Dave began running the supermarket when he was a senior in high school at 17 years of age.
When Landis Market was incorporated in March 1967, Frank, Sadie and Dave became its first directors. Dave believed, “It is about people. The Landis family has a heritage of doing the right thing. We care about our employees. We care about our customers and vendors, and most of all, we care about our community.”
In January 1983, Landis purchased Franconia Meats from his brother, Edgar Landis, and changed it to a convenience-style store and deli renamed Franconia Minit Market. Then in April 1985 he purchased the Bi-Lo discount store at 199 Telford Pike (currently Franconia Insurance and Financial Services) and eventually changed it to a conventional supermarket until it was closed in 1993. Also in 1993 the Minit Market was sold to Wayne Marcho.
After many additions to the County Line Road location, Landis Supermarkets continued to expand by building a new store in the Perkasie Square Shopping Center in 1994 and another store in Shelly Square Shopping Center in Vernfield in 2006.
Landis Supermarkets current CEO and third generation, Scott Landis, believes “It’s a people business. It’s about relationships with our community, about relationships with our customers. I would say the best defense against our competition is the relationships that we have with our customers that are based on value, based on quality, based on service, a lot of those things that really have been core values of our company.”
We want to congratulate Landis Supermarkets for being good neighbors and employers, and bringing value, quality and fresh foods to our tables for 80 years. May your next 80 years be as successful as the first.
