Groceries, Grocery stores, & Supermarkets (Philadelphia, Washington: sales, apartment, homes)

[Hannah5555]

Going to my first Wegman's later today in Cherry Hill .

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by Hannah5555

Going to my first Wegman's later today in Cherry Hill .

They're amazing, glad they are investing in the Philadelphia area. (unlike another grocer *cough* Trader Joes)

[cpomp]

Also and Aldi opened in Brookhaven, PA. Former Giant space. Giant opened a new store across the street.

[Hannah5555]

Originally Posted by cpomp

They're amazing, glad they are investing in the Philadelphia area. (unlike another grocer *cough* Trader Joes)

OMG I’m in one now. Just had a late sashimi lunch. Who are these people?? Philly could really use one of these. I ended up shipping my car from the west coast, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. Getting my shopper’s club card on the way out .

[briantroutman]

Excuse me if this is old news for anyone here, but the reference to a possible Wegmans in Marple Township requires some context. If built, this store would be part of a much larger project, the redevelopment of the former Don Guanella School property on Sproul Road.

As I understand it, the property is over 210 acres, and currently, less than 40 acres are occupied by the existing school buildings. The nearly 180 acres remaining are forested and essentially undeveloped. A couple of years ago, Goodman Properties proposed a plan to develop nearly the entire parcel as a mixed use “community” with townhouses, retail stores, and office space, similar to the Town Center development in King of Prussia (which, perhaps not coincidentally, also contains a Wegmans). That proposal met with fierce community opposition, and the Marple Township Board of Directors twice rejected the plan, even after modifications were made.

After a failed attempt to sue the township, Goodman finally gave up on the property, and another company, Carlino Commercial Development, announced a proposal for a much smaller mixed use development (around 50 acres) which would keep roughly 160 acres undeveloped. But Save Marple Greenspace, the organization which formed to fight Goodman, isn’t opposing Carlino with any less vigor. I don’t know Marple politics well enough to have a good sense of whether the organization will be successful in blocking redevelopment again.

If any of the above is inaccurate, please correct me.

Anyway, while the opposition may seem like a typical NIMBY protest, and though I’m not familiar enough with the particulars to come down decisively on either side of the issue, I can see some merit to the opposition’s claims. This development would be typical of the type you’d find at a place like King of Prussia or Exton where you have a large and growing auto-centric business district adjacent to a freeway interchange. But the property in question isn’t located at a freeway interchange or along a major commercial corridor. The property abuts I-476 (the tortuous four-lane “squeeze” portion at that), but it isn’t connected to it. The only way for Blue Route traffic to get to the property is by making circuitous connections via State Road (US 1)—or West Chester Pike (PA 3) and Lawrence Road—often slogging through residential neighborhoods along the way.

Even for “locals”—people living as close as Media or Haverford—the most direct route to this area often involves narrow, windy residential backroads like Crum Creek Road, Ellis Road, or Marple Road. And I think it’s safe to say that a Marple Wegmans would be a draw for numerous people along the inner Main Line and throughout Delaware County.

I walk to Trader Joe’s for most of my groceries and periodically drive out to Concordville to visit Wegmans. As much as I’d like to have a Wegmans closer to home, I’m reluctant to support one going in the Don Guanella property.

- - -

And regarding LIDL: I don’t have any inside information, but in the past couple of months, I’ve seen significant progress on the construction of the new store on MacDade Boulevard in Ridley Township. I noticed a “Coming Soon” banner installed a few weeks ago.

[Hannah5555]

Found this while confirming my new account Upcoming locations.

https://www.wegmans.com/about-us/***...locations.html

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Hannah5555

OMG I’m in one now. Just had a late sashimi lunch. Who are these people?? Philly could really use one of these. I ended up shipping my car from the west coast, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. Getting my shopper’s club card on the way out .

There have many discussions about why TJ's is lax about putting stores in this area. Southbound knows a lot about the grocery world so she might want to talk about it some more.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by briantroutman

Excuse me if this is old news for anyone here, but the reference to a possible Wegmans in Marple Township requires some context. If built, this store would be part of a much larger project, the redevelopment of the former Don Guanella School property on Sproul Road.

As I understand it, the property is over 210 acres, and currently, less than 40 acres are occupied by the existing school buildings. The nearly 180 acres remaining are forested and essentially undeveloped. A couple of years ago, Goodman Properties proposed a plan to develop nearly the entire parcel as a mixed use “community” with townhouses, retail stores, and office space, similar to the Town Center development in King of Prussia (which, perhaps not coincidentally, also contains a Wegmans). That proposal met with fierce community opposition, and the Marple Township Board of Directors twice rejected the plan, even after modifications were made.

After a failed attempt to sue the township, Goodman finally gave up on the property, and another company, Carlino Commercial Development, announced a proposal for a much smaller mixed use development (around 50 acres) which would keep roughly 160 acres undeveloped. But Save Marple Greenspace, the organization which formed to fight Goodman, isn’t opposing Carlino with any less vigor. I don’t know Marple politics well enough to have a good sense of whether the organization will be successful in blocking redevelopment again.

If any of the above is inaccurate, please correct me.

Anyway, while the opposition may seem like a typical NIMBY protest, and though I’m not familiar enough with the particulars to come down decisively on either side of the issue, I can see some merit to the opposition’s claims. This development would be typical of the type you’d find at a place like King of Prussia or Exton where you have a large and growing auto-centric business district adjacent to a freeway interchange. But the property in question isn’t located at a freeway interchange or along a major commercial corridor. The property abuts I-476 (the tortuous four-lane “squeeze” portion at that), but it isn’t connected to it. The only way for Blue Route traffic to get to the property is by making circuitous connections via State Road (US 1)—or West Chester Pike (PA 3) and Lawrence Road—often slogging through residential neighborhoods along the way.

Even for “locals”—people living as close as Media or Haverford—the most direct route to this area often involves narrow, windy residential backroads like Crum Creek Road, Ellis Road, or Marple Road. And I think it’s safe to say that a Marple Wegmans would be a draw for numerous people along the inner Main Line and throughout Delaware County.

I walk to Trader Joe’s for most of my groceries and periodically drive out to Concordville to visit Wegmans. As much as I’d like to have a Wegmans closer to home, I’m reluctant to support one going in the Don Guanella property.

- - -

And regarding LIDL: I don’t have any inside information, but in the past couple of months, I’ve seen significant progress on the construction of the new store on MacDade Boulevard in Ridley Township. I noticed a “Coming Soon” banner installed a few weeks ago.

I have actually been following this issue for a while. I tend to see the developer winning in some way or another. But it is possible the land could stay protected. Garnet Valle residents won a fierce battle last year regarding the several hundred acre Beaver Valley tract, and now Westtown residents are fighting Toll Brothers further up 202.

Anyways, development issues aside, I would love another Wegmans further East in Delaware County. The Granite Run Mall site would have been a logical location. I think it is far enough from Glen Mills where they could coexist peacefully. There aren't many other open tracts of land left in the county to hold a store of that size.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Hannah5555

OMG I’m in one now. Just had a late sashimi lunch. Who are these people?? Philly could really use one of these. I ended up shipping my car from the west coast, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. Getting my shopper’s club card on the way out .

Oh, you were talking about Wegman's! Their home base is Rochester, NY.

Afaik, they only do suburbs in whatever metro they go to.

And, yes there has been a lot of discussion here about why they avoid cities or big cities.

[Hannah5555]

Originally Posted by kyb01

There have many discussions about why TJ's is lax about putting stores in this area. Southbound knows a lot about the grocery world so she might want to talk about it some more.

I was in Wegmans .