Groceries, Grocery stores, & Supermarkets (Philadelphia, Penn: university, moving, suburbs)

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by MurrayMoe10

There are. I thought there was a store I had overlooked in the city

There's also an H-Mart in Cherry Hill. Where you are located in the city would dictate which is more convenient.

[MurrayMoe10]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

There's also an H-Mart in Cherry Hill. Where you are located in the city would dictate which is more convenient.

Im in Spring Garden but I do go to Cherry Hill for Wegmans and Christmas Tree Shoppe on occasion.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by MurrayMoe10

Im in Spring Garden but I do go to Cherry Hill for Wegmans and Christmas Tree Shoppe on occasion.

H-Mart is further down 70, just past 295, on the westbound side. It's on the backside of a building. You see the sign, but you don't see the store. Stock up on thermal bags from Trader Joe's & have at it. Go to H-Mart first then head back & you can hit Wegmans & Christmas Tree Shop on the way back. You can even do that in the summer if you add frozen freezer bags in the thermal bags.

[MurrayMoe10]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

H-Mart is further down 70, just past 295, on the westbound side. It's on the backside of a building. You see the sign, but you don't see the store. Stock up on thermal bags from Trader Joe's & have at it. Go to H-Mart first then head back & you can hit Wegmans & Christmas Tree Shop on the way back. You can even do that in the summer if you add frozen freezer bags in the thermal bags.

Thanks! I looked it up on Google maps too. And I have thermal bags (from Wegmans, Incidentally). Hooray!!

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by MurrayMoe10

Thanks! I looked it up on Google maps too. And I have thermal bags (from Wegmans, Incidentally). Hooray!!

You're welcome.

I used to buy frozen food at Trader Joe's, in Delaware, & hit several other stores, then head back to Cherry Hill. Never had a problem, even in 95+ degree weather with one or two freezer packs in the bag.

The rice pops at H-Mart are great!

When you pull into that shopping center, you drive in straight, go down a small hill, & there's more parking. The grocery store is back there.

[MurrayMoe10]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

I used to buy frozen food at Trader Joe's, in Delaware, & hit several other stores, then head back to Cherry Hill. Never had a problem, even in 95+ degree weather with one or two freezer packs in the bag.

The rice pops at H-Mart are great!

The next time I get coupons from Wegmans I will check HMart out.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by MurrayMoe10

The next time I get coupons from Wegmans I will check HMart out.

It's a great store. A former coworker told me about it & told me to drive down the hill. Without that piece of information you wouldn't find it.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

[MurrayMoe10: You get the quarter back when you return the cart! It's no biggie, IMO.]

As to bag your own, I want things bagged a certain way. I want fragile things together. I want refrigerator/freezer items together. The beauty of bag your own at Aldi is you are welcome to take empty boxes as you go through the store to pack you own. When you get home, break down the boxes & put it in your recycling. If Recycle Bank picks up your recycling, you get reward points by weight.

If you live in the City of Philadelphia, RecycleBank operates the city's "Recycling Rewards" program; sign up and you get rewards as well when the city picks up your recycling at curbside.

You put a sticker on your recycling bucket to participate. Sign up here to get one. (Click on "Get Started" at the top.)

Originally Posted by southbound_295

Compare Foods skipped the Pathmark territory because they did a decent job of covering Hispanic needs. If ShopRite has stepped up, that might explain their failure to take advantage of closures.

I'm not sure if this is proof of that or not, but:

So far (and maybe this is all), three of the closed Pathmarks have reopened as Fresh Grocer locations: Cedarbrook Plaza in Wyncote, Grays Ferry Plaza, and 69th Street below Marshall Road in Upper Darby.

Jeff Brown - one of the best ShopRite owner-operators in this market - runs the Wyncote store*. The Burns family, who started the Fresh Grocer chain in response to a request from Penn, operate the Grays Ferry location (as well as all of the pre-ShopRite stores; I live near the Fresh Grocer of La Salle, at Chew Avenue and Church Lane. You might note that three of the five pre-ShopRite Fresh Grocers are located near college campuses; mine, the original one at 40th and Walnut, and the Sullivan Progress Plaza location just below Temple's campus.)

The La Salle Fresh Grocer has an "international" aisle. About half of one side of it is devoted to Hispanic products, mainly Goya and Vitarroz. Asian products are also found in this aisle. About 1/3 of the Hispanic side of the aisle contains Jamaican foods and seasonings - I've got a thing for Grace Scotch Bonnet hot sauce - and in between those two sections are a selection of Haitian items. (I live next door to a Haitian Baptist church.) It had some of these items even before the chain joined the Wakefern cooperative, but it got more of them afterwards.

So you may be on to something there about your theory as to why Compare Foods didn't bother with the Philadelphia market.

*The Wyncote location is also the only Fresh Grocer I've been to to date that features a section devoted to natural and organic foods of the kind you would find in a Whole Foods. There are sections labeled according to the kind of diet the products appeal to (vegan, paleo...) as well. And in case anyone missed the point of this section, for about two months after the store opened, a banner on the outside and signs on the inside read "Say goodbye to 'Whole Paycheck' shopping." (Even Whole Foods CEO John Mackey has referenced the derisive nickname for his chain in talking about steps it's taking to counter that reputation. 365 by Whole Foods Market, whose stores right now are all on the West Coast, is one of the major moves in that direction.)

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

If you live in the City of Philadelphia, RecycleBank operates the city's "Recycling Rewards" program; sign up and you get rewards as well when the city picks up your recycling at curbside.

You put a sticker on your recycling bucket to participate. Sign up here to get one. (Click on "Get Started" at the top.)



I'm not sure if this is proof of that or not, but:

So far (and maybe this is all), three of the closed Pathmarks have reopened as Fresh Grocer locations: Cedarbrook Plaza in Wyncote, Grays Ferry Plaza, and 69th Street below Marshall Road in Upper Darby.

Jeff Brown - one of the best ShopRite owner-operators in this market - runs the Wyncote store*. The Burns family, who started the Fresh Grocer chain in response to a request from Penn, operate the Grays Ferry location (as well as all of the pre-ShopRite stores; I live near the Fresh Grocer of La Salle, at Chew Avenue and Church Lane. You might note that three of the five pre-ShopRite Fresh Grocers are located near college campuses; mine, the original one at 40th and Walnut, and the Sullivan Progress Plaza location just below Temple's campus.)

The La Salle Fresh Grocer has an "international" aisle. About half of one side of it is devoted to Hispanic products, mainly Goya and Vitarroz. Asian products are also found in this aisle. About 1/3 of the Hispanic side of the aisle contains Jamaican foods and seasonings - I've got a thing for Grace Scotch Bonnet hot sauce - and in between those two sections are a selection of Haitian items. (I live next door to a Haitian Baptist church.) It had some of these items even before the chain joined the Wakefern cooperative, but it got more of them afterwards.

So you may be on to something there about your theory as to why Compare Foods didn't bother with the Philadelphia market.

*The Wyncote location is also the only Fresh Grocer I've been to to date that features a section devoted to natural and organic foods of the kind you would find in a Whole Foods. There are sections labeled according to the kind of diet the products appeal to (vegan, paleo...) as well. And in case anyone missed the point of this section, for about two months after the store opened, a banner on the outside and signs on the inside read "Say goodbye to 'Whole Paycheck' shopping." (Even Whole Foods CEO John Mackey has referenced the derisive nickname for his chain in talking about steps it's taking to counter that reputation. 365 by Whole Foods Market, whose stores right now are all on the West Coast, is one of the major moves in that direction.)

I could be totally wrong, but my suspicion of why Compare Foods skipped Philadelphia, initially, was Pathmark. They had successfully integrated Hispanic products, decades ago. Having been in Compare Foods, they have a general grocery area, the Hispanic areas are broken down by ethnicity, & there's an Asian aisle.

On face value, it's nonsensical for a chain out of NYC to skip NJ & Philadelphia & show up in NC, unless there is no need in the closer market areas. I recall Ahold having some Hispanic products, mainly Goya, in Super G. I don't remember them having the Badia spices, which Parhmark carried.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

On face value, it's nonsensical for a chain out of NYC to skip NJ & Philadelphia & show up in NC, unless there is no need in the closer market areas. I recall Ahold having some Hispanic products, mainly Goya, in Super G. I don't remember them having the Badia spices, which Parhmark carried.

Perhaps the family got a good package deal on that passel of former Winn-Dixies.

And FWIW, I'm not aware that the Tarheel State has a significant Hispanic population. I might be wrong.

Anyway, your note about Pathmark carrying Badia spices also suggests to me that Fresh Grocer is indeed a worthy successor. The La Salle store carries them, along with Mimi's, a line you often find in stores catering to Caribbean shoppers.