Acme to be repaced by residences in Society Hill, Philadelphia

The Acme store in Philadelphia's Society Hill will close once its lease expires in two years and be replaced by a residential building, according to a report in today's Philadelphia Inquirer. The report says that Alterra Property Group received a conditional zoning permit last week that allows for the demolition of the current building as well as the construction of a five-story structure with 43 underground parking spaces.

Neighborhood residents and the Society Hill Civic Association oppose the project, which needs to be reviewed by the Philadelphia Historical Commission since it's located within a historical district.

Acme acquired the store after A&P's bankruptcy in 2015. It had been operating for several years as a Super Fresh.

Wegmans and Aldi are cleanest stores in Philly, Bucks

The Philadelphia Inquirer examined two years of health department reports for large grocers in Philadelphia and Bucks Counties and determined that Wegmans and Aldi were the cleanest supermarket chains.

Fresh Grocer, Whole Foods and Shop N Bag ranked at the bottom of the list, while Giant, ShopRite and Acme were in the middle of the pack.

According to Supermarket News, a recent study found that 83% of customers only pick retail outlets that appear clean to them, and 33% of customers said that have left a store that did not seem clean.

The results:

1. Wegmans

2. Aldi

3. Walmart

4. Target

5. Giant

6. Save-A-Lot

7. Thriftway

8. ShopRite

9. Acme

10. Fresh Grocer

11. Whole Foods

12. Shop N Bag

Major supermarket chain rumored to be looking in Center City Philly

Philadelphia Inquirer Reporter Joe DiStefano reported last week that "real estate people say a major supermarket chain has lately been scouting sites for new Center City stores." DiStefano lists possible locations as the Gallery at Market East, the Girard Block redevelopment proposed for 11th-12th Streets, Market-Chestnut, and Bart Blatstein's Broad and Washington retail site.

More on the McCaffrey's-Giant-Genuardi's deal...

Although I already wrote about McCaffrey's deal with Giant to take the Genuardi's space in Newtown, PA (McCaffrey's to acquire Genuardi's in Newtown, PA), Maria Panaritis' story in today's Philadelphia Inquirer sheds more light on the deal.

Philadelphia Inquirer: In the end, a small supermarket chain gets its Genuardi's

Peapod by Giant online grocery shopping to serve Greater Philly

Ahold, the international retailer that owns Giant Food Stores, announced earlier this week that starting this Friday, Peapod will offer service to Philadelphia and Delaware counties, as well as the southern portion of Montgomery county. Peapod is an Internet-based home shopping and grocery delivery service.

Customers will be able to order groceries online through Peapod.com or through PeapodMobile, a free app available for iPhone/iPad, Android and Palm Pre users. Orders can be delivered the next day.

According to a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Peapod fills orders from an Internet-only storage warehouse in Maryland. Groceries are placed in temperature-controlled tote bags before being shipped by truck to a central location, where they are placed on smaller trucks and delivered to customers. Delivery fees start at $9.95 for a $60 minimum order and go down as the order size increases.

ShopRite tops Acme for grocery sales leader in Philly market

I am anxiously awaiting the June issue of the Food Trade News and it's annual market study. Although I haven't received it yet, Maria Panaritis of the Philadelphia Inquirer obviously has.

According to Maria's story yesterday about the study, "ShopRite, ringing up $1.7 billion in sales across the eight-county Philadelphia region, grabbed the top spot from Acme, which has struggled to cut costs by shutting down underperforming stores and recently laid off 900 part-time employees."

Here are more market study results (thanks, Maria):

• Acme's sales dropped to $1.6 billion (from $1.8 billion in the previous 12-month period) for the period from April 1, 2010 through March 31, 2011.

Third - tenth place:

• Giant ($1.5 billion)
• A&P - Super Fresh / Pathmark ($851 million)
• Genuardi's ($734 million)
• Wegmans ($372 million)
• Save-A-Lot
• Thriftway / Shop 'n Bag
• Redner's
• Whole Foods ($192 million)

According to the study, ShopRite's ascent, along with the growth of Giant, Wegmans and Whole Foods, came at the expense of hundreds of millions of dollars that used to be spent at Acme. (Genuardi's, Super Fresh and Pathmark have closed stores and lost sales as well.)

Food Trade News - Market Study 2011

ShopRite Edges Acme in Philadelphia-area grocery sales, by Maria Panaritis