Lack of grocery stores in the District’s less affluent neighborhoods, exacerbated by the recent closing of two Safeways, has angered residents and local leaders across the city. Recently, the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, a group of 35 churches in the District, has even started calling on the city council to hold emergency hearings on the problem.

"Groceries are like water and other utilities," said Terry Lynch, executive director of the group. "All communities should have equal access to quality groceries."

While all the public debate has raged, a local chain of grocery stores has quietly been providing Washington’s inner city with what it needs: affordable food.

"We’re the best-kept secret in Washington," said Gary Gold, vice president of Murry’s Steaks Inc.

Primarily known as an outlet for frozen steaks and burgers, Murry’s has recently redefined its image. In the past 18 months, Murry’s has opened two new locations and expanded two others to offer fresh produce and a wider variety of basic groceries to the District’s under-served neighborhoods.

"Inner cities have always not gotten attention from other retailers," Gold said. He said the company, with headquarters in Upper Marlboro, Md., has been implementing the same strategy in Philadelphia and Baltimore, moving into under-served neighborhoods to do business.

Gold pointed out that one of the chain’s two newest stores was built in part of a building Landover, Md., -based Giant Food left vacant on Alabama Avenue in Southeast Washington. The other opened next door to a former Giant store on Minnesota Avenue in Northeast.

"We’ve been very aggressive lately," Gold said about the company’s recent store openings. "And we have to build up (our other) stores to meet people’s needs."

Gold said he doesn’t consider Murry’s expanded locations to be "grocery stores," but rather specialty stores that sell "frozen, portion-controlled products."

But to the naked eye, the company’s store at Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road in D.C.’s Marshall Heights business district looks very much like a grocery store. The produce department that greets the customer upon entering is small but fully stocked with apples, bananas and oranges and vegetables from potatoes and onions to broccoli and green beans. Dry products from breakfast cereals to spices are stacked high on the shelves and the store even offers a small bakery section. And, of course, the store has its share of Murry’s trademark frozen meats. What’s missing from the traditional "grocery store" concept is a fresh meat department.

The chain was founded 50 years ago in the back of a grocery store at the corner of 14th Street and Sheriff Road NE in the Deanwood neighborhood. Originally catering to the hotel and restaurant industry, the family-owned company began opening retail stores in the suburbs to sell the steaks for which it became well known.

In the aftermath of the 1968 riots, Murry’s moved into urban retail locations other stores had vacated in Washington’s inner city. The chain soon found a niche serving parts of Washington that had been recently abandoned by other chain food stores.

In the late 1980s Murry’s decided to expand its variety and selection and began to open larger stores in the suburbs and the District.

Murry’s largest stores in the city are 10,000 to 12,000 square feet as compared to the 50,000-square-foot stores Safeway has built recently. Gold stressed that Murry’s stores are not supermarkets.

"People will still have to go to supermarkets," Gold said. "But as far as what you need to eat, we can cover you."

Gold said the company’s current mission is fairly simple.

"Our strategy is to open larger stores in the District and to offer more variety, more fresh produce and more checkouts," he said.

He said one of the reasons Murry’s is able to compete against larger food store chains is because its stores offer bulk-packaged products, a trend that became popular only in recent years with the larger chains.

"We were the first ‘club’ store, only people didn’t know it," Gold joked. "And we’ve never charged membership fees."

Gold acknowledged that many people still see Murry’s as strictly a place to buy frozen steaks and burgers, despite the signage at the new stores touting them as neighborhood food stores.

"People used to come to us to shop for their barbecues and such," Gold said. "Which is why our slogan says, ‘if you haven’t been to Murry’s lately, you haven’t been to Murry’s.’"

Copyright 1998, The Common Denominator