The Independent Edition

Schiel's Family Market Owner: Frank Schiel Opened:  2005 Cooperative:  ShurSave Location:  7 George Ave, Wilkes-Barre, PA Photographed:  August 12, 2020 Welcome to the other Schiel's! This one is five years newer and, at 51,000 square feet, more than double the size (it was a new-build store opened in 2005). The ShurSave-affiliated store is very similar to the more southern location in town, but we can tell it's newer and larger inside. This store also has a state-run Wine & Spirits store inside of it. The layout is roughly the same but larger, with produce in the front right corner, deli/bakery in the first aisle, meat on the back wall, and dairy/frozen on the left side of the store. This store, too, feels a little on the older side these days but that's mostly cosmetic stuff (the decor and some fixtures could stand to be updated a little, but everything else mostly looks good). We can tell the store is larger because the deli and bakery departments are much la...

Tony's Meat Market Owner: unknown Open:  2011-2023 Cooperative:  none Location:  124 Grove St, Wilkes-Barre, PA Photographed:  December 22, 2018 Tucked away into a neighborhood of southern Wilkes-Barre is this 4,000 square foot butcher shop/corner grocer that appears to have been in business for a very long time. Prior to 2011, it was the Grove Market, which was affiliated with AWI, a cooperative I discussed at length in yesterday's post . In 2011, it became Tony's Meat Market, which then earlier this year became the Grove Mart . Inside, we can tell that the store has been a grocery store for a very very long time. The store was Passeri's Cash Market from 1936 through at least 1974 (and later in its life called Passeri's Master Market), although founder Joseph Passeri retired in 1966. It appears in 1966, the store was sold to Benjamin Leggieri, who around the late 70s appears to have converted the store's name to Leggieri's. Leggieri's was in business un...

Schiel's Family Market Owner: Frank Schiel Opened:  2000 Cooperative:  ShurSave Location:  30 Hanover St, Wilkes-Barre, PA Photographed:  August 12, 2020 Here in the southern part of Wilkes-Barre we find a Schiel's Family Market, one of two in the city. The stores are affiliated with ShurSave and currently supplied by C&S. While I can't find much on the history of ShurSave, it was originally affiliated with Reading, PA-based Associated Wholesalers Inc., or AWI, which declared bankruptcy and was mostly acquired by C&S in 2014 (following a merger with Carteret, NJ-based White Rose in 2006). At the time of the merger in 2006, AWI supplied upwards of 800 stores, although it's not clear how many of those were ShurSave stores. 20 years ago, there were 30 ShurSave stores, and today, there are just 12. This building was built in the 1960s as a Food Fair, then closed around 1970 and was turned into a Giant Market location (that is, the local chain from the Binghamt...