The Fresh Grocer / Pathmark, Wyncote, PA
I was a bit disappointed in the diversity of the management team. In a store where 95% of the shoppers and workers were people of color, the management team seems very white. This is in direct contrast to the new ShopRite of Newark, NJ, where the management team was taken directly from the community and much more accurately reflects the shoppers and employees there. Jeff Brown (the owner of this new store) is known for his savvy in operating urban stores which connect with the community, so this was surprising. Hopefully, the team diversifies as the store matures.
One thing was clear to me, in speaking with the workers: these guys were proud as hell to work for the Brown Family. More than once, someone told me "This is a Jeff Brown store..." In this day of giant, faceless retail companies like Walmart, Ahold and Safeway, this was very refreshing--and this attitude reflects really well on the store.
This 65,000 sq. ft. former Pathmark held its Grand Opening as "The Fresh Grocer", just over the Philadelphia border in Cedarbrook Plaza in Wyncote, PA.
Cedarbrook Plaza is a former enclosed mall opened in 1964 with Korvette's and Pantry Pride as its anchor stores. The mall declined in the 80's when both Korvette's and Food Fair/Pantry Pride went bankrupt, and the property was blighted before being de-malled in the 90's. It now functions as an awkward 4-sided shopping plaza. The 65,000 sq. ft. Pathmark was added as an outparcel in 1995 and closed with the bankruptcy of A&P in 2015.
The Fresh Grocer has completely remade the inside of the store, adding a beer garden, hot food bars, a sit-down cafe, and a 5-aisle natural/whole foods section with its own dairy and frozen area. The pharmacy has been removed (shoppers are directed to the nearby ShopRite Pharmacy in the Cheltenham Square Mall, which is also owned and operated by Brown's Superstores) and in its place is a huge customer service counter, replacing the small desk that functioned as Pathmark's customer service.
This is the first new The Fresh Grocer store to open since the company joined the Wakefern Food Cooperative (the ShopRite and PriceRite folks,) in 2013. I believe it is also the first to be owned by anyone other than The Fresh Grocer founder Pat Burns.
The store competes with a Walmart Supercenter in the same shopping plaza.
The Fresh Grocer / Pathmark, Wyncote, PA
I was a bit disappointed in the diversity of the management team. In a store where 95% of the shoppers and workers were people of color, the management team seems very white. This is in direct contrast to the new ShopRite of Newark, NJ, where the management team was taken directly from the community and much more accurately reflects the shoppers and employees there. Jeff Brown (the owner of this new store) is known for his savvy in operating urban stores which connect with the community, so this was surprising. Hopefully, the team diversifies as the store matures.
One thing was clear to me, in speaking with the workers: these guys were proud as hell to work for the Brown Family. More than once, someone told me "This is a Jeff Brown store..." In this day of giant, faceless retail companies like Walmart, Ahold and Safeway, this was very refreshing--and this attitude reflects really well on the store.
This 65,000 sq. ft. former Pathmark held its Grand Opening as "The Fresh Grocer", just over the Philadelphia border in Cedarbrook Plaza in Wyncote, PA.
Cedarbrook Plaza is a former enclosed mall opened in 1964 with Korvette's and Pantry Pride as its anchor stores. The mall declined in the 80's when both Korvette's and Food Fair/Pantry Pride went bankrupt, and the property was blighted before being de-malled in the 90's. It now functions as an awkward 4-sided shopping plaza. The 65,000 sq. ft. Pathmark was added as an outparcel in 1995 and closed with the bankruptcy of A&P in 2015.
The Fresh Grocer has completely remade the inside of the store, adding a beer garden, hot food bars, a sit-down cafe, and a 5-aisle natural/whole foods section with its own dairy and frozen area. The pharmacy has been removed (shoppers are directed to the nearby ShopRite Pharmacy in the Cheltenham Square Mall, which is also owned and operated by Brown's Superstores) and in its place is a huge customer service counter, replacing the small desk that functioned as Pathmark's customer service.
This is the first new The Fresh Grocer store to open since the company joined the Wakefern Food Cooperative (the ShopRite and PriceRite folks,) in 2013. I believe it is also the first to be owned by anyone other than The Fresh Grocer founder Pat Burns.
The store competes with a Walmart Supercenter in the same shopping plaza.