What type of supermarket is that on 43rd and Walnut? (Philadelphia: buying, school)

[Hannah5555]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

The store's roofline betrays its origins.

West Coast residents tend to confuse these stores for Safeways

Probably been a while since you've been to a Safeway in California, but no one would ever confuse Supremo stores with Safeway .

[southbound_295]

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.

I plan to invest in a granny cart the next time I see them at Aldi, so I'll have it when the time comes. I could have used one yesterday after walking to RiteAid. My adjustment will be switching back to more frequent stops at the grocery stores after switching to going once a month, for one big ugly shopping trip at each store.

[moneymkt]

Originally Posted by Muinteoir

IMO, most of the Grocers in West Philly are pretty blah. I'd go to the Aldi on 46th and Market just for the lower prices: nothing you find in that Supremo will be much better.

And all the food in university city is also blah. I had to order a steak from 62nd and woodland to be satisfied

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Hannah5555

Probably been a while since you've been to a Safeway in California, but no one would ever confuse Supremo stores with Safeway .

There were Safeway stores in Kansas City when I was growing up. At that time, KC was the easternmost market where the company had stores save for Washington, DC.

The one at 35th and Prospect, built in 1966, still stands, vacant since the early 1980s, and I can certainly tell the parabolic arches apart.

But I have seen a couple of people with Western roots who are new to this area look at photos of former Penn Fruit stores and ask if they were Safeways. Some folks don't process or pay attention to the differences in their roof profiles.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by moneymkt

And all the food in university city is also blah. I had to order a steak from 62nd and woodland to be satisfied

Ever gone to the original Jim's Steaks at 62d and Vine?

[Hannah5555]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

There were Safeway stores in Kansas City when I was growing up. At that time, KC was the easternmost market where the company had stores save for Washington, DC.

The one at 35th and Prospect, built in 1966, still stands, vacant since the early 1980s, and I can certainly tell the parabolic arches apart.

But I have seen a couple of people with Western roots who are new to this area look at photos of former Penn Fruit stores and ask if they were Safeways. Some folks don't process or pay attention to the differences in their roof profiles.

Absolutely right. I wasn't thinking about the roof, just the front facade and overall building structure.

[moneymkt]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Ever gone to the original Jim's Steaks at 62d and Vine?

No since it's not on Grubhub or Ubereats

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by moneymkt

No since it's not on Grubhub or Ubereats

Do me a favor:

Take the El to 63d Street.

Get off the train and walk there.

I've walked down North 63d from Lansdowne Avenue to the El station without incident. (62d is one block east. If I turned left at 63d and Vine, I could stop at Jim's before heading to the El.)

I don't know if you've followed my comments on this board enough, but one of the things that bugs me is that people let fear govern their lives and behavior too much.

Generally speaking, you won't run into trouble in a "rough" neighborhood because the people who make it "rough" aren't interested in you - they're carrying out their own beefs and grudges against one another or others they know. They don't know you, and they really don't care to know you.

(I think I can speak with some authority because I live in a "rough" neighborhood, though once you cross the street I live on headed north, it gets not-rough in a hurry.)

If you really want to know this city - and maybe you don't - you won't know it by having it delivered to your door. You have to walk its streets, including the ones you might not think of walking.

[moneymkt]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Do me a favor:

Take the El to 63d Street.

Get off the train and walk there.

I've walked down North 63d from Lansdowne Avenue to the El station without incident. (62d is one block east. If I turned left at 63d and Vine, I could stop at Jim's before heading to the El.)

I don't know if you've followed my comments on this board enough, but one of the things that bugs me is that people let fear govern their lives and behavior too much.

Generally speaking, you won't run into trouble in a "rough" neighborhood because the people who make it "rough" aren't interested in you - they're carrying out their own beefs and grudges against one another or others they know. They don't know you, and they really don't care to know you.

(I think I can speak with some authority because I live in a "rough" neighborhood, though once you cross the street I live on headed north, it gets not-rough in a hurry.)

If you really want to know this city - and maybe you don't - you won't know it by having it delivered to your door. You have to walk its streets, including the ones you might not think of walking.

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

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by moneymkt

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

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

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