Grocery Archaeology

Original Tenant: Penn Fruit Address: 301 W Chelten Ave, Germantown, Philadelphia, PA Opened:  1950s Closed:  ca. 1976 Later Tenants:  ShopRite (ca. 1976-ca. 2003) > The Fresh Grocer (ca. 2003-2011) > subdivided Photographed:  July 2021 Not a great picture, but a quick shot of the former Fresh Grocer in Germantown. This store, just a block west of Chelten Market , was originally a 1950s-era Penn Fruit before being sold to some ShopRite owner in the late 70s (probably in 1976), which closed around 2003. The Fresh Grocer opened shortly thereafter and then closed in early 2011. The 33,000 square foot store was subdivided into several smaller stores, including a Dollar Tree. At the same time, Save-A-Lot built a new store behind this existing building with a roughly 17,000 square foot footprint. Interestingly enough, at least initially, the Save-A-Lot was relocating from 5753 Wayne Ave and would be, like the closed Fresh Grocer, owned by the Burns family . Interes...

  It's time to move on to our final group of stores in Philadelphia! Again, the map in the graphic above is approximate, but it gives you an idea. We're in northwestern Philadelphia, starting in Germantown which is about five and a half miles outside of Center City. From there, we move into seriously suburban Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill in the far northwestern corner of the city. Germantown has a small business district area, where we'll be seeing three stores (plus one out in East Germantown). Mount Airy has a few scattered supermarkets and so does Chestnut Hill. It's not a very long group -- it'll only take up about two weeks before we move on to our next round of Philadelphia suburbs. But there are certainly some interesting things to see around here. Head to The Market Report on Monday for our first stop in East Germantown!