The Independent Edition

BG's Value Market Owner: Dianne Koval Opened:  ca. 1980s Cooperative:  none Location:  70 Kings Village, Minersville, PA Photographed:  November 29, 2019 Welcome to Kings Village, a strip mall just outside of Minersville, PA. The strip mall appears to have been constructed in the early 1960s with a roughly 50,000 square foot King's department store (later Jamesway, now subdivided) and a 14,000 square foot Centennial A&P. The A&P was later expanded out to just over 21,000 square feet, before closing somewhere around the 1980s. BG's Value Market opened at some point thereafter, although I really don't know when. It also appears they take up only the original 14,000 square foot A&P, with the expansion now being filled by a Family Dollar. Based on the name, I was expecting BG's to be a discount store, something like this . Instead, it's a full supermarket with a little bit of everything and a great bakery. It's not high-end, but it's certainly n...

DelCamp's Grocery Owner: Roger Rebuck Opened:  1950 Cooperative:  none Location:  117 E Patterson St, Saint Clair, PA Photographed:  November 29, 2019 McMullen's Market in New Philadelphia is just east of here, and today, we're checking out another independent grocer that's been in business for almost as long. DelCamp's Grocery opened in 1950 in the tiny town of Saint Clair, population 2700, with a roughly 3,000 square foot store. It looks almost exactly the same as it did back in 1995 . The store has a deli, butcher shop, bakery, and sandwich counter in the back, with a few small grocery aisles. There's not a lot here but they do pack in some serious groceries. Today, there's a Walmart around half a mile north of town and a Weis and an ALDI a mile south, but DelCamp's is still the only grocer in the middle of the little town. Saint Clair is about three miles outside the much larger town of Pottsville, where we're headed next. Head over to The Marke...

McMullen's Market Owner: Bill McMullen Opened:  1947-2023 Cooperative:  none Location:  165 Valley St, New Philadelphia, PA Photographed:  November 29, 2019 A very longtime small-town grocer, McMullen's Market served the tiny town of New Philadelphia with their 2000 square foot store from 1947 all the way up to 2023, when the store closed for good earlier this year . In its final years, the store was remodeled to be more of a butcher shop/deli store than a full grocer, but back in 1995 it was a full grocer. There are fewer and fewer independent small grocers like this one around, but there's another one just about five miles west as the crow flies in the small town of St. Clair. We're going to take a look inside that one tomorrow!

Jim Thorpe Market Owner: Frank Paston Opened:  1999 Cooperative:  ShurSave Location:  1 River St, Jim Thorpe, PA Photographed:  December 22, 2018 Our next stop, just north along the Lehigh River from Lehighton , is Jim Thorpe! The town of 4500 was previously named Mauch Chunk before being renamed in 1954 after the Olympic athlete. In the late 1960s or early 1970s, ACME constructed a roughly 11,000 square foot supermarket on the riverfront facing the train tracks in Jim Thorpe, which was ultimately closed and sold to Insalaco's in the early 1990s. When Insalaco's went under, Jim Thorpe Market, an independent ShurSave operator, opened up in 1999 and expanded the store to its present 24,000 square feet. The renovation was extensive, but at certain angles you can still see the bones of the pitched-roof ACME behind the newer facade. On the left side of the store, in fact, you can see the ACME's original side wall. So let's head inside! You enter in the front left corner...

Mallard Markets Owner: Karan Patel Opened:  2016 under current ownership; 2002 previously Cooperative:  none Location:  161 S 2nd St, Lehighton, PA Photographed:  December 22, 2018 Welcome to Lehighton! This little town of 5400 is situated on the Lehigh River roughly halfway between Allentown and Hazleton. The town has three supermarkets, with a GIANT and an ALDI to the west of town, and the Mallard Markets right in the middle of town. The 8800 square foot store isn't the largest, but it does have a little of a lot of things and is quite the pleasant little store. It's been in business since 2002, although the current owners took over in 2016. I'm not sure what it was prior to Mallard Markets, but I would guess it's been a supermarket for quite some time. There does seem to be some discrepancy, too, as exterior signage refers to the store as Mallard Markets, while the inside signage says just Mallard Market. I wonder if that means at one point there were multiple an...