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Eddie's of Roland Park is not your average grocery store. It's the kind of place where customers are greeted by name at the door.

"To quote 'Cheers' — 'It's where everybody knows your name,'" said Nancy Cohen, president and second-generation family owner. "We make it a point."

Many of Eddie's employees have worked for the store for upwards of 30 years and have watched three and four generations of families grow up. They've been invited to customers' weddings, funerals, and even on trips.

"It's really like a family here," explains Nancy.

It's that family-style atmosphere and customer service-oriented vision that company founder and Nancy's late father Victor Cohen envisioned when he opened the original Victor's market in 1944.

The American Dream
An emigrant from Russia, then 14-year-old Victor took a job delivering groceries for the local A&P.

"That's how he got into the business," recalled Nancy. "He would carry bags of groceries to people's homes."

At age 19, he became the store's youngest manager.

Embodying the American dream, Victor purchased two supermarkets, eventually sold them, and in 1944, bought "his baby" in Roland Park.

"He wanted to get into Roland Park more than anything," Nancy recalled.

Victor's philosophy was simple — provide shoppers with the very finest products available at fair prices, coupled with excellent service and attention to detail. Customer service was and still is the backbone of his business.

"My father was in the store day in and day out and he learned everything about the customers — about their children, their parents, and their extended families," recalled Nancy. "It was very personalized service. It became the neighborhood market where people could go to be treated well and recognized."

The charming little neighborhood market soon became known for its extra-special touches. Service was always provided with a smile. If a customer came in with a personal check, it was accepted — no questions asked. Victor even set up house charge accounts (which they still have to this day). The butchers didn't just sell sliced roast beef and turkey by the pound — they were happy to roast the whole piece of beef or bird for the customer.

"People would come into the store to order a roast beef or turkey and we'd hand slice it and set it up beautifully on a tray for them," Nancy said.

A Gradual Expansion
In 1953, Victor took over a struggling store down the street named Eddie's along with a portion of the block where it was located.

"There was Eddie's, an A&P, and an Acme — all located on the same block," commented Nancy. "My father was a very smart businessman. He knew that each of them would eventually pull out — and they did."

Victor placed other tenants in the defunct stores and gradually expanded Eddie's. He transformed Eddie's into a bigger version of his original store and included more traditional groceries in the mix.

"Everything at Victor's was absolute prime and still very much a gourmet market, but down at Eddie's, they carried choice beef," Nancy explained. "It was a much bigger store — 13,000 square feet — with a bit more of a traditional grocery store feel."

Nancy was quick to point out that while Eddie's offered more selection than Victor's, the customer-service mantra that remained the original store's cornerstone became a priority at this location, too.

In 1976, the son of the original owner of the building where Victor's was located decided that the shopping center wasn't "grand enough" and wanted to tear it down and replace it with a high rise or a parking lot. Victor tried to reason with him, but eventually was forced to close the store. He moved the gourmet and prime beef elements into Eddie's and in an ironic twist of fate, ended up with all the stores together by the end of the dispute.

Following in her Father's Footsteps
As the only child of Victor and Rose Cohen and a daughter at that, Nancy wasn't originally destined to follow in her father's footsteps.

"Girls just didn't go into the grocery business," she said.

Instead, she went to college, earned her Master's in Clinical Psychology, and went to work for the state doing vocational rehabilitation.

But around 1980, her cousins began pestering her.
"You have to go into the business," they demanded. "What's going to happen when your father retires? Who's going to take over the business?" they queried.

Eventually, she succumbed to their pleadings.
"They finally wore me down," she laughed.
In 1981, Nancy did the unthinkable and went to work for her father.

"Here I was walking into a business I knew nothing about. I knew how to read psychological tests and give intelligence tests, but I didn't know the first thing about running a store," she said.

Her first day on the job, Nancy asked her father what she was supposed to do.

"He told me to stand at the door and say hello to people," Nancy exclaimed. "I had a master's degree. I didn't want to stand there and say hello to people."

So what did the persistent Nancy do? She stood at the door and said hello to the customers as they came in.
"I realized that's where you started," she said.

Challenges Abound
Nancy had to learn about operating the business differently than most.

"I was in a difficult position. Going in, I had to earn the respect of these people who had been working there for years and who had watched me grow up. Who was I to come into the store and tell them what to do? That was my first big challenge," she said.

Her next challenge came when she began keeping track of the store's books. Keeping scrupulous records, noting customer count, and logging what and how much was bought, she began noticing a disturbing trend — the sales and the customer count were dropping.

"I realized that the people we had been serving for decades were dying," explained Nancy. "In my mind, perception was everything and we had to change what was happening in the store to appeal to and attract the younger customer as well."

Nancy hired an advertising agency, changed the store's name and logo to Eddie's of Roland Park, and became more involved in choosing the content of the store circulars and how products were being displayed.

"We started to look more contemporary, more upscale, and people began coming in again. Gradually, I started changing things in terms of what I'd like to see as a shopper — as a mother, as a wife, and as a businessperson. I asked myself, 'What would make my life easier?'"

Gourmet-To-Go Takes Off
After adapting to life at Eddie's, Nancy became pregnant with her first child.

"As I went through the pregnancy, I no longer wanted to cook. I couldn't bear being in a kitchen and smelling anything," she explained. "And I used to cook a lot."

After the birth of her child, she began to better understand the pressures of working moms who didn't have time to spend hours in the kitchen preparing elaborate meals.

"I realized we needed food for people like me. We needed something where customers could pick up restaurant-quality meals and bring them home with them," she recalled.
Nancy decided that what Eddie's needed was a "Gourmet-To-Go" counter.

Around this time, Nancy's father, who wasn't at all keen on change, left the store in her hands while he spent the winter months vacationing in Florida.

As soon as he walked out the door, she got rid of the freezer coffin and brought in an eight-foot Gourmet-To-Go case. She filled it with jumbo lump crab cakes, turkey burgers, Caesar salad, chicken and tuna salad, lasagna, and other gourmet specialties.

"Putting in the Gourmet-To-Go ended up working out really well," she said.

The gourmet counter was — and still is — a hugely profitable success. On any given day, customers find a tempting array of chef-prepared meals, from Blackened Chicken Pasta Salad to Potato-Crusted Sea Bass to Roasted Pork Loin with Dried Fruit and Sweet & Sour Glaze.

"Our Gourmet-To-Go is the cornerstone of our business. It's growing year after year," Nancy said.

Taking a Chance
In 1990, the daughter who wasn't destined for the family business noticed a for sale sign in an old vacant Acme lot and knew it was time to take the next giant step.

"I went to a broker and said, 'Get me that store,'" she recalled.

The store in question was on North Charles Street — a 17,000-square-foot space with a parking lot to boot. Nancy knew she had to have it and 48 hours later, she signed a contract and began the task of remodeling and equipping the space. In September 1992, construction on the store was completed.

"We didn't have huge start-up costs because we've always had a great relationship with our vendors," she explained.

"Expanding the North Charles Street store was a no-brainer for me. I had only one moment of doubt throughout the whole process. I'm standing in the middle of the new store the morning it was to open and I thought, 'What if no one comes? What if this location took away customers from the Roland Avenue store?' But by 8 a.m., there was a line of people waiting outside for the doors to open. At that moment, I just knew it in my gut that it was going to be perfect," said Nancy.

With the exception of an expanded selection of gourmet products and ingredients, a Floral Department, and a gifts counter, the North Charles Street store offers most of the same gourmet specialties as the Roland Avenue store: The Gourmet-To-Go prepared foods case, a delicatessen, a well-stocked Produce Department that explodes with vibrant colors, a bakery that custom designs wedding and birthday cakes and tempts customers with freshly baked breads and desserts, fish and seafood, and a Meat & Poultry Department.

Personal Touch
While the Gourmet-To-Go concept is the cornerstone of Eddie's business, personalized service is still the fundamental core. As Victor did back in the fifties at his original store, each customer is greeted as he or she arrives at the door. At the registers, someone will always unload the customer's cart onto the conveyor belt and package it, then reload it, and walk it to their car.

In addition, Eddie's also offers personal shopping, front-door delivery services, and on-site catering specialists who will help plan a menu for two or 200. They'll even plate a special catering order on a customer's fine china or silver. The retailer specializes in custom gift baskets and totes and plans to offer a complete online sampler of prepared gift baskets on their web site in the coming months.

"I think the attention to personal service is what has made us so successful," commented Nancy. "If a customer has a flat tire, someone from the store will go out and change it for them, or we'll get jumper cables to start a dead battery. When a customer we know has lost a loved one, we make a donation to cancer research in their name. We send out cards for birthdays, wedding congratulations, and births of children. We know our customers."

Nancy also credits her dedicated team of employees for the store's longevity and success.

"We have some of the best people in Baltimore working for us," Nancy said.

For instance, there is Charlie Spinnicchio, the North Charles Street's resident "seafood artist" who'll gladly offer up his daily pick and is happy to filet your selection while you wait. Rumor has it that if a customer doesn't see what he or she wants, a staff member from the Seafood Department just might grab a tackle box and spend the rest of the day in pursuit of the request.

Or the butchers who'll trim your meats just the way you like them. You won't find any meat in cellophane wrappers here — you choose your cut from the case and they'll custom wrap your selection in paper for the freezer or immediate serving. Sausages are hand ground in-store by butchers who'll tempt you with their Santa Fe tequila or country cranberry sausage.

Or Paul Cudone, the wine manager at the Roland Avenue store, who travels annually to France to taste the vintages and meet with the growers and bottlers. "He's absolutely phenomenal. He knows all there is to know about wine. His attention to detail and his skill for pairing food and wine is unmatched," bragged Nancy.

Success Comes in Pairs
Nancy feels that Eddie's status as an independently operated store not only presents its challenges, but also sets it apart from competitors.

"It's not like a larger store where you go through all these layers to make changes. We don't have to go through a whole series of where we are going to put this or that on the shelves, or how this is going to change the arrangement that I have with my suppliers. If a customer comes back from a trip in England and wants a certain type of chocolate or jam they've tried there, we'll get it for them. We're able to respond pretty quickly to those requests from our customers," she explained.

Nancy also believes the store's success lies in its ability to focus on emerging trends in the marketplace.

"I think we're very forward thinking and we try to anticipate trends as opposed to waiting for them to hit us in the face. We're always looking for new and unique things to keep our customers interested. Plus, I'm really picky about food. I want to make sure we have the best olive oils or balsamic vinegars or mustards or jellies," stated Nancy.

Future Plans
Nancy is quite content with her two locations, though on average she gets at least one call a month asking her to expand.

"I've looked at several locations and nothing has been perfect," she noted. "I'd have to know it was perfect in order to do it again."

As far as the future is concerned, Nancy is hoping for more of the same.

"We used to be the place for gourmet, but now everyone is doing that. To stand out, we have to know more about our products than we did in the past so we constantly travel to find new things and we rely on our customers to tell us what they want," she said. "They essentially dictate our business and the type of products we carry."