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...

Original Tenant: The Fresh Grocer Address: 100 Kirkpatrick St, New Brunswick, NJ (aka 95 Paterson St) Opened:  2012 Closed:  2014 Later Tenants:  Key Food (2015-2017) > SuperFresh (2017-2019) Photographed:  July 2020 Welcome to Wellness Plaza, a highly-touted development in the center of New Brunswick that can be described as, at best, a complex with no real effect in downtown, and at worst, a largely-abandoned, expensive eyesore that detracts from the thriving city. The complex opened in 2012 with an RWJ (Robert Wood Johnson, a division of RWJ Barnabas, a healthcare provider affiliated with Rutgers University, I believe) Fitness Center, a large parking garage, and a 50,000 square foot supermarket. It was a location of Philadelphia chain The Fresh Grocer, which is located in several similar developments in and around Philadelphia. Almost immediately after this store opened, The Fresh Grocer's owners left the small and relatively weak cooperative Great Valu Marke...