Karns Quality Foods, also known as Karns Prime & Fancy Food, Ltd., is a privately owned supermarket chain in the

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...

metropolitan area of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The company's corporate headquarters is in Mechanicsburg.

History

Karns Quality Foods was founded in 1959 by David L. Karns and has been operated continuously by the Karns family since then. The company was founded in the form of a

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesal ...

shop in New Cumberland, but the current format is a traditional grocery store with an emphasis on perishable items. Karns stores also have a selection of fresh local

produce Produce is a generalized term for many farm-produced crops, including fruits and vegetables (grains, oats, etc. are also sometimes considered ''produce''). More specifically, the term ''produce'' often implies that the products are fresh and g ...

and fresh baked goods. In September 2006, Karns Quality Foods acquired the remaining store locations of Fox's Markets, a grocery chain that was based in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The addition of Fox's locations in Middletown and

Hershey Hershey may refer to: People * Hershey (name), a list of people with the surname, given name or nickname Places * Hershey, Nebraska, a village * Hershey, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community, home to the chocolate company * Hershey, Cuba, ...

gave Karns a total of eight stores. In 2019, the ninth store was opened in the site of a former Darrenkamp's which closed in 2018. In December 2021, a tenth store was opened in Duncannon, previously operated by Mutzabaugh's. The ''

Central Penn Business Journal The ''Central Penn Business Journal'' is a business newspaper headquartered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The print publication is circulated on a weekly basis and covers five counties in central Pennsylvania: Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Le ...

'' ranked Karns Quality Foods as the 35th largest privately held corporation in central Pennsylvania in 2013. In 2009, it was ranked one of the 10 largest privately held companies in

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom *Cumberland, historic county *Cumberlan ...

Operations

Karns operates nine stores in central Pennsylvania: Lower Paxton Township, Lemoyne, Hampden Township, Boiling Springs, New Bloomfield, Middletown,

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

, Newberry Township, and

.Store Locator
Karns Quality Foods website The current CEO is the founder's son, D. Scott Karns.Top 100: Cumberland County: Tops share success stories
''

'', Thursday, August 6, 2009

References

External links

Official website
{{Supermarkets of the United States Supermarkets of the United States Companies based in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania American companies established in 1959 Retail companies established in 1959 1959 establishments in Pennsylvania