The Original Tri-Me Family

RIDGELY – Tri-Me Warehouse has changed hands once or twice over the years, most recently being sold by the Wu family. But do you remember the family that started it all?

Jammie Barry is the daughter and granddaughter of the Tri-Me founders, and she still has fond memories of her family operating the store. Barry’s father and grandfather, Edward Frech Sr. and his son, Edward Frech Jr., along with Elwood Ervin Evans and Garnet Evans - who Barry said were “silent partners” -  bought the building in the early 80s. Barry was a teenager at the time.

Before Tri-Me, the building had been a Ben Franklin store. “It was an old five-and-dime,” Barry said, “it sold a little bit of everything…it would kind of be like the modern-day dollar-store.” These kinds of stores were popular for decades, but by the end of the 20th century, Ben Franklins were headed toward their eventual bankruptcy due to larger retailers spreading across the country.

Elwood and Edward Sr. met while working as managers for A&P in Baltimore. When the idea of opening a store together was proposed, Elwood and Garnet already owned a grocery store under the name Tri-Me. Barry said she was living near Severn, Maryland, at the time, but her grandfather had already migrated to the Eastern Shore.

Tri-Me opened in Ridgely in 1981. According to Barry, it was surrounded by various other businesses then, and the building was the only available space on Ridgely’s main street. “There was a clothing store next to it…it was high-end clothing. And then there was a jewelry store,” Barry said, “and then they had a liquor store. And then there was a restaurant with a game room to the other side. So there was already existing businesses there.” But despite the once-bustling Ridgely of Barry’s youth, they did not have a dedicated grocery store, “It was definitely a needed thing, because you would have had to travel a little bit to go to a grocery store.”

Transforming the space from the old five-and-dime took considerable time and effort. “They had tons of tables inside of there, like big, huge wooden tables that they used to lay product out on,” Barry explained, “And there was a lot of stuff left there…So we had to gut everything out of there. We had to paint and get the back room ready for deliveries of food. So it was probably a month in the works to try and get that building into a grocery store.”

“It was pretty much all your normal groceries,” Barry said. She mentioned some ways the grocery game has changed over the years, like having to buy Coke in glass bottles and exchanging them for new ones each trip. Tri-Me even carried makeup.

“We employed a lot of locals,” Barry said, “but we didn't have a lot of employees because the whole family was working there too.” She remembers enjoying the “camaraderie with the town and the people.” Her brothers eventually came to work there as well, and one of them met his now wife while she was working at Tri-Me as a cashier.

Barry said the Frechs and their partners owned Tri-Me for about five years before selling it to the Wu family. “I think everybody was just ready to head in different directions, to be honest with you…I think the other partners wanted to retire a little bit too,” she said. Her grandfather, Edward Sr., retired after it was sold, and her father went to work in Ocean City.

Barry now resides in Delaware, but she keeps up with Tri-Me through social media. Her grandfather, Edward Sr., remained in Denton until his death last year. “I think the best thing is it’s still there…it’s outlasted several of the businesses that were there,” Barry said. Not only is it still in existence, it is thriving as a family-operated, homegrown small business, which is quite the feat in 2025.