| |
 |
| Stern President Alan H. Kotz |
Robert Samuel Stern was a young man of just 22 years of age when he opened his first meat stall in
Baltimore’s Lexington Market. The year was 1870, the country’s Civil War had ended less
than five years earlier and the city port was growing rapidly - caught in the middle of possibly the
greatest economic boom the world has ever seen.
Stern’s avowed determination to sell quality meats at fair prices immediately caught the attention
of the maritime trade, and captains of visiting sailing and steamships were soon opening accounts with RS
Stern butcher’s stalls all across the city.
 |
| RS Stern warehouse, Conway St, 1935. |
By 1910, with Stern’s three sons now helping to run the family business, RS Stern Inc was supplying
meats, vegetables and other fresh provisions to the galleys of ships on the Atlantic trade routes and
beyond.
Sons Jacob and David Stern, having taken over the business from their late father, in 1929 opened a new
office and warehouse on Conway Street (the site of which is now just a baseball’s throw from
Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles).
 |
Robert Samuel Stern (1848-1914)
pictured circa 1900 |
By this time it was not just fresh food they were supplying but also cabin stores and deck & engine
supplies – anything and everything their maritime customers could ever need.
The company played a vital part in both World Wars as a war service provisioner and chandler - and in
1943 took over the operations of Joseph J Keegan & Co, serving many of the British ships making the
perilous journey between the UK and America’s East Coast during the war years.
In 1958, the Stern family also purchased Krug Westergaard and Boe Inc, taking over that company’s
Scandinavian contracts; and in 1972, under the direction of new owner Louis A Crystal and his grandson
Alan H Kotz, Stern purchased the Magnus Aske Company.
Alan Kotz, a Baltimore native and graduate of Indiana University, has been at Stern’s helm ever
since and celebrated 30 years as company president in 2002.
 |
Stern warehouse on S.Highland Ave
circa 1975 |
“We just keep giving ship owners great service, quality merchandise and one-stop shopping at
fair prices,” says Kotz. “Exactly the same way the company began all those years ago.
“And in this business the old adage really is true – that the more things change the more
they stay the same.
“I like to think that if Robert Samuel Stern and his sons came back through the door today
– that despite all the modern technologies we use now – they’d find this great company
just as they left it, proud to be a quality chandler in this great city, serving some of the finest ships
in the world.”
|
|
|
|
 |
