The Independent Edition

Saleen Supermarket Owner: William Diaz Opened:  2007 Cooperative:  none Location:  1701 Wakeling St, Frankford, Philadelphia, PA Photographed:  July 2021 I've mentioned in a previous post that Philadelphia has fewer, larger supermarkets than New York City which tends to have many small supermarkets. That leaves more neighborhoods of Philadelphia completely without a supermarket, including parts of Frankford. Corner grocers like this one, which appears to be around 1400 square feet, have to pick up the slack. This particular one looks like it was previously the Wakeling Supermarket, and later Torres Supermarket before becoming Saleen Supermarket in 2007. It wouldn't surprise me if, way back, this building was home to some chain grocery store, probably back in the 1930s or so. Regardless, until a few years ago, Frankford was served by a larger supermarket just to the north a few blocks from here. We're taking a look at that store tomorrow on Grocery Archaeology !

Mayfair Market by Hung Vuong Owner: Phat Mot Opened:  2019 Cooperative:  none Location:  6410-12 Frankford Ave, Mayfair, Philadelphia, PA Photographed:  December 2021 Just about a quarter mile west of yesterday's ShopRite is the 30,000 square foot Mayfair Market by Hung Vuong. The Asian supermarket chain opened up shop here in 2019 following the closure of the Mayfair Shop n Bag in 2017. The Mayfair Shop n Bag was one of two that outlasted the Shop n Bag cooperative, but the other is actually still going strong as part of Allegiance Retail, the cooperative that supports Foodtown, Green Way, Pathmark, and others. Hung Vuong Food Market already had two locations in Philadelphia at the time this store opened, and a fourth opened in 2020. I'm not sure about how this store compares to the others, but it felt like they were making an attempt to add some basic American groceries here alongside the imported Asian products to fill some of the need left by Shop n Bag, but ...

Seabra's Market Owner: Jose Seabra Opened:  2018 Cooperative:  Key Food Stores Location:  1350 Galloping Hill Rd, Union, NJ Photographed:  July 29, 2022 We are returning to the Seabra's Market at Five Points in Union , which is a former A&P, later Foodtown and Food King before being purchased by A Seabra Foods, which in turn rebranded to Seabra's Market in 2018. The store has been shuffled around a little, and there are a few indications that Seabra's might be finding the 30,500 square foot store a bit large for them. Their other large store is the Lafayette Street location in the Ironbound, which with its various extensions and expansions comes in right around 30,000 square feet too. But that store is in the Ironbound, with a dense urban surrounding and a very large Portuguese population. The other big change to report on here at Union is that the Union and Elizabeth locations of Seabra's Market are now affiliated with Key Food, no longer Associated Supermark...

No. 1 Asian Supermarket Owner: unknown Opened:  2018 Cooperative:  none Location:  2842 St Vincent St, Mayfair, Philadelphia, PA Photographed:  July 2021 Not a great shot, but a picture nonetheless of the No. 1 Asian Supermarket just off of Roosevelt Blvd in Mayfair, Philadelphia. The 52,000 square foot building appears to be home to the supermarket and a food court. A while back, the space was home to National Wholesale Liquidators, then by 2012 the First Northeast International Market, which closed and was reopened by 2017 as the First Oriental Supermarket. And by late 2018, it had become the No. 1 Asian Supermarket. Out of curiosity, anybody know what this space was before National Wholesale Liquidators? (I remember going to their Linden, NJ location -- previously a Pathmark and later a Foodtown -- when I was little and loving their toy department.) These days, the No. 1 Asian Supermarket looks a little plain but large and nice inside. If you're interested in As...

Double Tree Market Owner: unknown Opened:  2016 Cooperative:  none Location:  3500 Cottman Ave, Mayfair, Philadelphia, PA Photographed:  July 2021 Just up the street from yesterday's former Penn Fruit is this small grocer, which looks to be in the range of roughly 1600 square feet. It's really more of a convenience store or a bodega than a supermarket, but there are so many small independent grocers like this one throughout Philadelphia. The balance of Philadelphia is very different from the balance of grocery stores in New York City, which I'm more familiar with -- NY has many more supermarkets, but they're much smaller . Philadelphia has fewer, but much larger , supermarkets. Okay, those are extreme examples, but you get the point. I'm sure this spot has been a grocery store for many decades, but prior to Double Tree's opening in 2016, it was the Party Time Deli & Grocery. Tomorrow, we're headed up to Roosevelt Blvd (US-1) for our first of two stores...

Doscher's IGA Owner:  Johnny Doscher III Opened:  1974-2022 Cooperative:  IGA Location:  1133 Savannah Hwy, West Ashley, Charleston, SC Photographed:  June 2022 Contributor:  Carlton Swift We are returning to Charleston, South Carolina for an update at Doscher's IGA, which we saw in a tour not too long ago. I haven't been back to Charleston since my initial visit in January 2022, but our contributor Carlton Swift who lives in the area was able to capture Doscher's during its store closure on its final days. The store is set to be demolished for a residential development. Carlton gives us some information on the store itself too: A&P opened in 1963 as a Centennial and closed in 1974. Doscher's opened the same year. The store was expanded to its current size and shape in 2003. We'll see where the building originally ended. Interestingly enough, that means the facade we see here was actually constructed in 2003 and is not an original Centennial facade. Th...