The Independent Edition

Shawnee General Store Owner: Bill Rooth Opened:  2000 Cooperative:  none Location:  542 River Rd, Shawnee, PA Photographed:  May 31, 2021 Today's post is a quick one -- a stop by the Shawnee General Store in Shawnee, PA. The general store/eatery claims to have been in business since 1859, which looks fully possible if perhaps expanded and remodeled a few times. We're about five miles outside of Stroudsburg here, and before we get into the town itself we're headed up to the northeast to pass through East Stroudsburg with a few stops along and near US-209, the main drag that goes from Stroudsburg to Port Jervis. Head over to Grocery Archaeology on Monday to see something that may have been a supermarket in the past -- but, admittedly, probably wasn't. Then we're on to checking out a couple of stores still in business up that way!

Portland Market Owner: unknown Opened:  unknown, closed by 2022 Cooperative:  none Location:  409 N Delaware Dr, Portland, PA Photographed:  December 22, 2018 and May 29, 2022 Portland, PA is a tiny town of under 500 people directly across the Delaware River from the even tinier Columbia, NJ, with a population of just over 200. Portland might not be large enough to support a full supermarket, but they did have this small grocery store at around 6000 square feet until its closure in around 2022 or possibly earlier. This building has certainly been a grocery store for quite some time, probably nearly a century. Notice the bricked-over windows on the side here, and this wonderful cart corral on the side of the building... So let's head in and see what the Portland Market was all about. When it was in business, the store was nearly a full supermarket, even if drastically reduced in amenities. Produce was in the front right corner as seen here, with dairy and frozen taking up the rest

Main Street Market Owner: Duane and Nichole Smith Opened:  1995-2022, sold in 2019 Cooperative:  none Location:  90 N Main St, Bangor, PA Photographed:  December 22, 2018 Today's store has a bit of an interesting history. As you might be able to guess from the facade in the first picture, it was built as an A&P, probably in the 1950s. In the 1970s, it became a Thriftway , then Main Street Market in 1995. I visited in late 2018 and the following year, the store was briefly closed and then sold. After some light renovation, it was reopened only to close again in 2022. The 13,000 square foot store has a great classic supermarket feeling, or I suppose it had that feeling since it no longer exists -- and as far as I know, the space is currently vacant. You enter on the right side of the storefront, seen here facing the parking lot, and walk across in front of the registers to the left side where produce and meat line the wall. Deli is on the back wall, with frozen partially in aisl