Five Giant stores in Southeastern PA among winning bidders for expired liquor licenses

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) announced winning bidders yesterday for 37 "zombie" liquor licenses, and Giant Food Stores won 11 of them. Interested parties had to submit sealed bids for the licenses, which had expired.

The Giant stores in Southeastern Pennsylvania with winning bids include Bristol Township (Bucks County), Coatesville and East Caln (Chester), and Narberth and Skippack (Montgomery). The Narberth and Skippack licenses sold for $491,300 and $526,000, respectively. According to Philly.com, the selling price for a license in Montgomery County last year was about $250,000.

Convenience store chain Sheetz bought 15 of the licenses.

The PLCB said that about 1,200 licenses have expired since 2000 and will be sold through auctions in the months and years ahead.

Fresh Direct expanding online grocery service to suburbs

Online grocer Fresh Direct, which introduced its service to a limited area in Philadelphia last October, said earlier this week it has expanded into parts of Montgomery and Delaware Counties, and will soon provide grocery delivery for portions of Chester, Bucks, Camden, Burlington and Mercer Counties.

According to the company, the demand for its service prompted a faster rollout than originally planned.

September 28, 2012 post: Online grocer Fresh Direct coming to the Philly market

Giant ready to open first Philly store

Giant is seeing increases in sales and market share in the Delaware Valley, and now they are preparing for the opening of their first supermarket in Philadelphia. The 74,000 square foot store will open Wednesday at 2550 Grant Avenue in Northeast Philly, and will include on-site gas and a pharmacy. It will be open 24 hours a day.

According to Giant, the store will have 275 employees, both full- and part-time.

With the new store, Giant will have 48 stores in the five-county area that includes Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware and Chester counties. According to Food Trade News, these stores averaged approximately $32.5 million in sales in the last year.