ShopRite, Acme, Giant or Redner's (Philadelphia, Levittown: buy, construction, organic)

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by thedirtypirate

RIP Genuardis and Superfresh. Picking out of the group listed, ShopRite (The Fresh Grocer in the city).

Fresh Grocer is an alternate nameplate that ShopRite store owners can do business under ever since the guy who launched the chain, Ron Burns, bought into the Wakefern cooperative three years ago. (Actually, it may not have been a buy-in, for Wakefern bought the Fresh Grocer trademark from him when he joined the co-op.)

You will find both ShopRite and Fresh Grocer stores in the city and suburbs. Any ShopRite owner can choose to run a Fresh Grocer as well. So far, only two do: Burns and Jeff Brown. Burns operates one ShopRite - the former Fresh Grocer in the Drexeline shopping center in Upper Darby, his original store - while Brown operates ShopRites in West Philadelphia (Park West Shopping Center, 52d and Jefferson) and East Falls (Bakers Centre, on Fox Street at the Roosevelt Expressway).

Three of the Fresh Grocer chain's nine stores are near college campuses. This is in part because the chain was born in a deal with the University of Pennsylvania to operate a supermarket the university wanted for an anchor for the neighborhood west of campus in the early 1990s. That store, at 40th and Walnut, almost became an Acme when the university and Burns got into a dispute over renewing its lease, but Burns managed to hang onto the store. La Salle University got Burns to move a store he ran in a former Shop n Bag on Germantown's west side over to a strip mall it built just north of its campus in East Germantown (that store is two blocks from my home, and I am grateful to La Salle for having done this); I think the Progress Plaza store was not Temple's doing but rather Leon Sullivan's outfit (OIC), which owns the shopping center.

Two of Brown's three Fresh Grocers (all former Pathmark stores) are in the 'burbs: one at Cedarbrook Plaza in Wyncote and another on 69th Street in Upper Darby. Burns runs a Fresh Grocer in Wilmington. So far, the Collinses - who run two ShopRites in Philadelphia, at One & Olney Square and Oxford Avenue and Levick Street - have shown no interest in opening a Fresh Grocer. I don't know who runs the ShopRite in Whitman Plaza or the ones on Aramingo Avenue in Port Richmond or Ridge Avenue in Roxborough; one of these may be a Jeff Brown store.

Forgive the thread hijack. Genuardi's never recovered from Safeway's trashing of the chain, and SuperFresh parent A&P simply couldn't shoot straight; its acquisition of Pathmark (a chain formed when the largest owner of ShopRite stores in New Jersey, the chain's birthplace, decided to go it alone) only made matters worse. I don't live in Lower Bucks, but I have been in a McCaffrey's store, and they're really nice. ShopRite is definitely the low price leader of the bunch, but each ShopRite is only as good as its owner; Brown is one of the best; all of his stores under both banners are clean, attractive, and well-stocked, with attentive service. (He also makes a point of hiring former convicts, giving them a chance to re-enter society with a legit job.) Acme strikes me as almost as pricey as Giant now; that certainly wasn't the case when I moved here. But that was many moons ago, when the chain still owned the Philadelphia market.

[SE Pa Fanatic]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

ShopRite stores are not franchised.

They are independently owned, and the owners of the stores together own the wholesaler (Wakefern Food Corporation, owner of the ShopRite and Fresh Grocer trademarks) that supplies them.

In other words, it's a cooperative.

Learn something every day!

[Marv95]

Outside of baked goods it's Giant>>Shoprite. You can get better deals on frozen/non perishables at Giant and Shoprite isn't cheap. Then it's Redners and Acme.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Marv95

Outside of baked goods it's Giant>>Shoprite. You can get better deals on frozen/non perishables at Giant and Shoprite isn't cheap. Then it's Redners and Acme.

(emphasis added)

You're the first person I've ever heard say this.

ShopRite is the region's market leader in sales for a reason.

[Hannah5555]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

(emphasis added)

You're the first person I've ever heard say this.

ShopRite is the region's market leader in sales for a reason.

Yes. ShopRite/Fresh Grocer is definitely cheap. For better and worse. I don't do a lot of shopping there.

[jazzy jeff]

Originally Posted by NYtoNJtoPA

In Lower Bucks area, which is better or the best? Why?

Of the four you mention, Shop-Rite. However you want savings with good quality on most items, excluding meats, Aldi's. I know there is one in Bensalem and one in Levittown.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Hannah5555

Yes. ShopRite/Fresh Grocer is definitely cheap. For better and worse. I don't do a lot of shopping there.

Just curious: what things would you say ShopRite/Fresh Grocer is better on and what things are worse?

I know I've said in the past that their private label products are hit or miss, and if you're going to save serious money at any supermarket, you need to go with the private label products. (These make up the overwhelming bulk of the items offered at the deep-discount no-frills supermarkets. Aldi's private label products are for the most part very high quality; the only areas where I've found them wanting so far is in some of the crackers they offer. And they also offer a changing selection of specialty products, something not found at most no-frills grocers.)

[Hannah5555]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Just curious: what things would you say ShopRite/Fresh Grocer is better on and what things are worse?

I know I've said in the past that their private label products are hit or miss, and if you're going to save serious money at any supermarket, you need to go with the private label products. (These make up the overwhelming bulk of the items offered at the deep-discount no-frills supermarkets. Aldi's private label products are for the most part very high quality; the only areas where I've found them wanting so far is in some of the crackers they offer. And they also offer a changing selection of specialty products, something not found at most no-frills grocers.)

I'm not sure I'm the best one to comment since I don't do a lot of home cooking and rely on take out a lot, That said, I think their produce is pretty fresh, good variety of fruits and vegetables. The fish looks pretty fresh but when I buy fish, I tend to buy swordfish and tuna, and at least at the University City store that's not offered. Their meats department is perfectly fine and I've gotten hamburger and chicken there. The frozen foods selections are also really good. I just don't buy it a lot and especially not in the summer time (except for ice cream).

On the down side, I couldn't find decent bread. Nothing fancy, just regular seedless rye or sliced french (Acme has both for instance), and most offered looks like that Wonder Bread we knew as kids you could roll up into a little ball . Also couldn't find canned tuna in olive oil (not water). And the deli was disappointing . I have no idea how they cooked it, but the deli sliced roast beef I bought was inedible. Maybe they did it in a microwave? And the takeout I tried a couple of times was gloopy.

But, because it is in UC, they have fun stuff I needed when I first got here: emergency blanket, kitchen tools, tea kettle, and having a small beer and wine selection available is also a plus.

My perfect grocery shopping combo is on South Street, Acme and Whole Foods side by side. I'm a Prime member and the discounts we get now are definitely worth shopping there. Fresh Grocer IS cheap though and if I were a college kid at Drexel or UPenn, I wouldn't shop anywhere else .

[moneymkt]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Fresh Grocer is an alternate nameplate that ShopRite store owners can do business under ever since the guy who launched the chain, Ron Burns, bought into the Wakefern cooperative three years ago. (Actually, it may not have been a buy-in, for Wakefern bought the Fresh Grocer trademark from him when he joined the co-op.)

You will find both ShopRite and Fresh Grocer stores in the city and suburbs. Any ShopRite owner can choose to run a Fresh Grocer as well. So far, only two do: Burns and Jeff Brown. Burns operates one ShopRite - the former Fresh Grocer in the Drexeline shopping center in Upper Darby, his original store - while Brown operates ShopRites in West Philadelphia (Park West Shopping Center, 52d and Jefferson) and East Falls (Bakers Centre, on Fox Street at the Roosevelt Expressway).

Three of the Fresh Grocer chain's nine stores are near college campuses. This is in part because the chain was born in a deal with the University of Pennsylvania to operate a supermarket the university wanted for an anchor for the neighborhood west of campus in the early 1990s. That store, at 40th and Walnut, almost became an Acme when the university and Burns got into a dispute over renewing its lease, but Burns managed to hang onto the store. La Salle University got Burns to move a store he ran in a former Shop n Bag on Germantown's west side over to a strip mall it built just north of its campus in East Germantown (that store is two blocks from my home, and I am grateful to La Salle for having done this); I think the Progress Plaza store was not Temple's doing but rather Leon Sullivan's outfit (OIC), which owns the shopping center.

Two of Brown's three Fresh Grocers (all former Pathmark stores) are in the 'burbs: one at Cedarbrook Plaza in Wyncote and another on 69th Street in Upper Darby. Burns runs a Fresh Grocer in Wilmington. So far, the Collinses - who run two ShopRites in Philadelphia, at One & Olney Square and Oxford Avenue and Levick Street - have shown no interest in opening a Fresh Grocer. I don't know who runs the ShopRite in Whitman Plaza or the ones on Aramingo Avenue in Port Richmond or Ridge Avenue in Roxborough; one of these may be a Jeff Brown store.

Forgive the thread hijack. Genuardi's never recovered from Safeway's trashing of the chain, and SuperFresh parent A&P simply couldn't shoot straight; its acquisition of Pathmark (a chain formed when the largest owner of ShopRite stores in New Jersey, the chain's birthplace, decided to go it alone) only made matters worse. I don't live in Lower Bucks, but I have been in a McCaffrey's store, and they're really nice. ShopRite is definitely the low price leader of the bunch, but each ShopRite is only as good as its owner; Brown is one of the best; all of his stores under both banners are clean, attractive, and well-stocked, with attentive service. (He also makes a point of hiring former convicts, giving them a chance to re-enter society with a legit job.) Acme strikes me as almost as pricey as Giant now; that certainly wasn't the case when I moved here. But that was many moons ago, when the chain still owned the Philadelphia market.

That Fresh Grocer on 40th and Walnut is the worst supermarket in the city

[selhars]

That Fresh Grocer on 40th and Walnut is the worst supermarket in the city

Well, I don't know about that.

Whatever incarnation of a supermarket -- at the shopping center at 58th and Baltimore has got to be a contender for the worst supermarket in the city.

I went there ONCE -- granted -- decades ago when it was a Shop-n-Bag. I was shocked. Floor? Filthy. Produce? Brown, AND limited selection. Those two things alone were enough for me to say to myself, "OMG, People shop for their food here? THIS is their grocery store?" OMG. I'd never seen a grocery store so dirty. I left there stunned.

Of course that store has changed names over the years. Every time I drive by, I see nothing to make me think that whatever is there now, is a store I'd EVER want to go into again. Ev.er.