What type of supermarket is that on 43rd and Walnut? (Philadelphia: real estate, coupons)

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by moneymkt

I will just probably catch Lyft to Jim's and Back.

He's absolutely right. While you can never say never, your chances of a problem are miniscule. I'm saying that from experience & I'm female & I'm white.

[moneymkt]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Okay, but I'm serious about asking you to walk there.

How much walking have you done in this city's neighborhoods?

I don't think u understand how long of a walk that is and plus I am not a fan of the EL. I only catch it when I really need to like when I have to clothes shopping in Northeast.

[moneymkt]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

He's absolutely right. While you can never say never, your chances of a problem are miniscule. I'm saying that from experience & I'm female & I'm white.

In this city I know where to go and where not to go and 62nd and Vine is one of those places. lol And this is coming from a tall black man which is why I never had anything happen to me and I will continue to live life this way.

[moneymkt]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

He's absolutely right. While you can never say never, your chances of a problem are miniscule. I'm saying that from experience & I'm female & I'm white.

I just googled the address for Jim's on 62nd street and if you are going to that location as a white female you really need to stop because that neighborhood looks dirty and dangerous.

[Lenses & Lights.]

Originally Posted by moneymkt

I rode pass it the other day and I think it's called Supremo. Is that a regular supermarket or is it something else? I am always looking for another food shopping option other than Fresh Grocer

I don't know much about this location, but I know the location they have on Oxford Avenue, as well as a former location on North Broad in Nicetown, not only sold American foods, but also various ethnic foods. Varieties of Spanish foods, Caribbean, African, etc; I'm not sure if they stock based on neighborhood profiles or if it's universal, but since this one is in West Philly they may have a different makeup in this store to meet the needs of residents in that area. It's worth checking out though.

[Lenses & Lights.]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

The store's roofline betrays its origins.

West Coast residents tend to confuse these stores for Safeways, for that chain's late-1960s stores have similar but shallower parabolic arch roofs, but if you see a store in this area with an arched roof like that one - of any kind; I've seen gyms, drugstores and Ross Dress for Less outlets with them - they began life sometime in the 1950s as Penn Fruit Company supermarkets.

Penn Fruit Co., founded in the 1930s, was the dominant supermarket chain in the Philadelphia market from the 1950s until sometime in the 1970s, when fierce competition from discount operations and chief rival Acme Markets laid it low. The chain folded in the late 1970s.

You can find online - I think it's linked from Groceteria, the most comprehensive supermarket history website - a 1978 article from the mag I work for in which Penn Fruit's last president goes into excruciating detail about how that chain went from top dog to the dustbin of history.

Indeed, it is on Groceteria. It's called "How Penn Fruit Checked Out":

Penn Fruit | Groceteria

Edited to add: After Penn Fruit's demise, the store became part of the Thriftway chain of independently owned supermarkets. Penn students and affiliates complained often and loudly about the store's poor quality and selection (the students often referred to it as the "Theftway"). Supreme/Supremo, a local operator most of whose stores are in heavily Hispanic neighborhoods, took over the store in the early 2000s and improved it markedly. They operated under the now-retired Shop n Bag banner, which stores supplied by the now-defunct Frankford Grocery Company used; Thriftway (which had been but I think is no longer supplied by Fleming Companies) and Shop n Bag combined a few years before Supreme/Supremo took over this store.



Actually, the "incest" is between the two separate but related Aldi companies that do business worldwide. The United States is the only country besides Aldi's home country (Germany) where both companies operate.

Aldi (short for "Albrecht Diskont") was founded right after World War II by two German brothers, Theo and Karl Albrecht. In 1960, the brothers split the company in two (in a dispute over whether they should sell cigarettes in their stores, according to the Wikipedia article on it), with one half operating in northern (West) Germany (Aldi Nord) and the other in its south (Aldi Süd).

Trader Joe's was founded in California sometime in the 1970s and acquired by Aldi Nord in 1979. If you go take a gander at Aldi's international home page, you will find no mention of TJ's on it, and there's no link to the TJ's website from it - clicking on the "United States" link will take you to aldi.us, Aldi (Süd)'s home page.

But were you to go to Aldi Nord's German home page, you'd find its stores advertising products branded "Trader Joe's."



I've been shopping without a car for all 35 of the years I've lived here. I've even hauled granny carts onto SEPTA buses when I wanted to take advantage of some super special at a supermarket chain not located within walking distance of where I lived. Can I get you a granny cart? It's an essential accessory for car-free supermarket shopping, unless you intend to adopt the more Continental urban practice of buying small quantities of groceries on your way home from work.

Good history Market St. "Penn Fruit." (lol) The Original Penn Fruit that Nicetown/Germantown, Hunting Park residents remember (If you're an Old' Head) was located on the 4400 Block of North Broad, and later became a few other super markets of the years, one being "Supremo", then new ownership sunk it a couple of years ago..It's now a Sav-A-Lot. (It's a bunch of low budget suck.) I try to avoid it when I'm in the area, and when I stop by to take my aging aunt and uncle shopping I'll take them to Shop Rite up in Cheltenham or Cousins on nearby 5th St. My aunt likes the choices in spices they sell and my lady who's originally from The Bronx and lives in Chester county really likes their stock of Spanish foods that aren't readily available in her area.

What's a "Granny Cart?"

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by moneymkt

I just googled the address for Jim's on 62nd street and if you are going to that location as a white female you really need to stop because that neighborhood looks dirty and dangerous.

I used to live in Camden County & have had to walk around in downtown Camden many times. Zero problems. About 1971 I had to take a paper to a teacher whose main job was at the Temple School of Dentistry. He forgot to tell me which stop to get off at & I mistakenly got off at Columbia. I had to walk the rest of the way. I was the only white person walking on Broad St, but not one person did anything to me. Some people did say hello. It goes back to what has been said by other people, don't assume the worst. It's unlikely to happen.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by Lenses & Lights.

Good history Market St. "Penn Fruit." (lol) The Original Penn Fruit that Nicetown/Germantown, Hunting Park residents remember (If you're an Old' Head) was located on the 4400 Block of North Broad, and later became a few other super markets of the years, one being "Supremo", then new ownership sunk it a couple of years ago..It's now a Sav-A-Lot. (It's a bunch of low budget suck.) I try to avoid it when I'm in the area, and when I stop by to take my aging aunt and uncle shopping I'll take them to Shop Rite up in Cheltenham or Cousins on nearby 5th St. My aunt likes the choices in spices they sell and my lady who's originally from The Bronx and lives in Chester county really likes their stock of Spanish foods that aren't readily available in her area.

What's a "Granny Cart?"

Granny carts are the foldable carts that will hold grocery bags.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by moneymkt

In this city I know where to go and where not to go and 62nd and Vine is one of those places. lol And this is coming from a tall black man which is why I never had anything happen to me and I will continue to live life this way.

I'm also a tallish black man, and I walk almost everywhere and use public transit (check my posting handle), and nothing's happened to me either.

My suspicion is that you'd probably not want to walk to my local supermarket from my residence on Chelten Avenue just east of Chew Avenue. Of course, I do that all the time. I guess some of us have a higher tolerance for disorder or the appearance of same. I stand by my general remark about fear.

The intersection itself has gotten quiet since the stop 'n' go beer deli on one corner got shut down. The fried chicken place across Chelten from it went out of business shortly thereafter, which tells me how it survived.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Lenses & Lights.

Good history Market St. "Penn Fruit." (lol) The Original Penn Fruit that Nicetown/Germantown, Hunting Park residents remember (If you're an Old' Head) was located on the 4400 Block of North Broad, and later became a few other super markets of the years, one being "Supremo", then new ownership sunk it a couple of years ago..It's now a Sav-A-Lot. (It's a bunch of low budget suck.) I try to avoid it when I'm in the area, and when I stop by to take my aging aunt and uncle shopping I'll take them to Shop Rite up in Cheltenham or Cousins on nearby 5th St. My aunt likes the choices in spices they sell and my lady who's originally from The Bronx and lives in Chester county really likes their stock of Spanish foods that aren't readily available in her area.

What's a "Granny Cart?"

southbound_295 answered the question for you.

I share your opinion of Save-a-Lot, but they do run very good special buys on national brands from time to time - more than Aldi does. But on the whole, I much prefer Aldi to Save-a-Lot. I will, however, allow that the Save-a-Lot that opened in that 66th and last Bottom Dollar at Chew and Washington Lane about six months ago is nicer-looking than the typical S-a-L.

Edited to add: And for those of you who look down your noses at private labels, they do have value: I note that Save-a-Lot has acquired the "America's Choice" brand off the carcass of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. That was one of the highest quality private labels out there, IMO. But something tells me that the products S-a-L slaps it on are no better than they were before. Again, Aldi wins here.

The Cousins' supermarket I've been in, at Germantown and Berks (or somewhere near there; one block of Germantown Avenue was closed to create its parking lot), is really nice and has an excellent selection of products, especially Hispanic fare.