Grocery in Philly

May 8, 2009 7:02 PM

I'm going to be moving to Philadelphia soon and I'll be living near 2400 Chestnut St. Can anyone recommend good grocery stores to shop at?

I've been reading some of the reviews of the grocers in the area and they all seem to be overpriced, dirty, or some combination of both. Are there any clean, reputable places within walking distance or reachable by public transit?

posted by Aanidaani to Food & Drink (21 answers total)

Trader Joe's is over at 21st and Market.

If you insist on shopping only within a couple blocks of your house, you are kinda screwed. Mostly it's bodegas and WaWa. You can usually find everything you need by hitting up several small grocery stores and buying dairy products at WaWa (who do plenty of volume).

You're right that the small grocery stores' prices are shitty, and the selection of any one store likewise shitty. But, that's a reasonably posh part of the city, so the market will bear it. I don't know that they're especially dirty, though. Not great for freshness of produce, I admit. But, I never worried.
posted by Netzapper at 7:21 PM on May 8, 2009

You don't have too many choices, but your best bet around there is Trader Joe's at 22nd and Market. For more of a real grocery store, there's Great Scot on the 1700 block of Spruce and the South Square Thriftway on the 2200 block of South. The nearest Whole Foods is 2001 Pennsylvania, up above Ben Franklin Parkway, but that's close if you have a car. It'll be moving a few blocks east sometime in the next few years, or so I've heard.
posted by The Michael The at 7:22 PM on May 8, 2009

Unfortunately there isn't a great grocery store selection within reasonable walking distance from you. By transit, there are wonders. What I would recommend is finding a good grocery store for common items like milk and whatnot (there is a decent place near 23rd and South) and then figuring out where in the city to get the rest of your items. The Italian Market has a great selection of well-priced produce (especially if you go in the late afternoon, as well as a variety of meat shops and seafood selections. It's a great place to shop.

Reading Terminal Market has a lot of the same, but pricier. I recommend going there for more high-end, dinner party items. DiBruno Brothers in Center City has a great selection of cheeses as well as other gourmet items. Le Bus Bakery has fantastic breads. Miel pastry shop has wonderful desserts.

I lived in Philly for 4 years and in my time there, finding amazing ingredients became a part of my life. A weekend activity in general. Now I live in Chapel Hill and I feel stymied. I urge you to take advantage of all the culinary offerings of the city while you are there.
posted by sickinthehead at 7:22 PM on May 8, 2009

2400 Chestnut isn't far from the Trader Joe's on Market, which wasn't overpriced or dirty when I lived in Philly, but has Trader Joe's limited selection of groceries. That's seriously your best bet.

The Whole Foods on South is lovely, but it's a bit of a walk and overpriced. The SuperFresh on 5th St. is tolerable, but it's too pricy and grimy to be worth the walk. The SuperFresh on South was always kind of dire.

I did most of my grocery shopping at the Acme near where I worked on the tail end of the commute, or across the Ben Franklin to fill up on cheap gas and groceries in Jersey.

But it's really Wawa where Philly eats. It's weird to miss a convenience store, but man do I miss Wawa. Don't discount the Wawa.
posted by eschatfische at 7:23 PM on May 8, 2009

n^thing Trader Joe's. You can walk there and back easy. I stop by there at least once a week coming home from work.

I'd say you're close enough to Whole Foods to walk stuff back too, but that's me. I walk a lot... I don't have a car, or license.
posted by SansPoint at 7:37 PM on May 8, 2009

The Italian Market has a great selection of well-priced produce (especially if you go in the late afternoon, as well as a variety of meat shops and seafood selections. It's a great place to shop.

I worked in the Italian Market. The produce is cheap because it's purchased from wholesalers and shippers a mere day or two before it starts to wilt or turn or rot. If you live near the market, and you can shop there for tonight's soup and tomorrow's hoagie, then it's awesome. But, don't for a minute think that you can routinely shop for a week's cooking from the market.

The same applies to the seafood, actually.

The meat shops, on the other hand, are fucking awesome. Oh GOD I want sausages! The Spice Corner is pretty excellent. There're lots of cool shops.

Reading Terminal Market has a lot of the same, but pricier.

The general produce stands (I believe there're two, but maybe just one) at Reading Terminal have quite reasonable prices (well below grocery store), and are significantly fresher than the Italian Market stuff. The specialty stands out in the rest of the market are pretty cool, too... but, not so reasonably priced.

And, I should mention something, because there was a lot of confusion amongst my friends when I lived back in Philly. Neither the Italian Market nor the produce stands in Reading Terminal are farmers markets or organic markets. You're buying commercially and conventionally farmed, commercially shipped, commercially wholesaled and supplied fruits and vegetables.
posted by Netzapper at 7:38 PM on May 8, 2009

Yep, Trader Joe's. But here's a couple more things to think about...Rittenhouse Square has a small farmer's market most weekends in the summer. Also, if you will be working or going to school at Penn, there is a Fresh Grocer at 40th and Walnut that would be convenient for the 40 bus or the Penn bus in the evenings. It is on the pricy side, but they have a wider selection than Trader Joe's.
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 7:56 PM on May 8, 2009

There's a couple of small nice produce shops in the general area to complement the previously mentioned Trader Joe's. Definitely definitely check out TJ's if you've never been, it's great for basically everything but fresh stuff (for which it is just okay). Wish I could remember the exact locations of those small stores - the only one that comes to mind right now is Sue's Produce on 18th Street between Sansom & Walnut Streets.

Where else are you likely to be going to school/working/commuting from?

I buy most of my fresh fruits and vegetables at Iovine in Reading Terminal Market or in Chinatown (both probably too far east for you, around 10th/11th & Arch St.)

Still, that'd be far far closer than the Italian Market.

Otherwise, there's two Whole Foods (both have been mentioned, I think), one around 20th & Hamilton (I guess the cross street might also be 20th & Pennsylvania), and one at 10th & South St which faces a recently renovated Superfresh, which is the one eschatfische mentions and probably one of the ones you read a review of as dirty. It is no longer dirty. It is oddly fancy now, but the prices are still decent. I was just there and bought ice cream :)

Metropolitan Bakery has a few locations, but the nearest one to you would be the one on 19th St just below Rittenhouse Square (between Locust & Spruce St).
posted by polexa at 8:14 PM on May 8, 2009

In addition to the previously mentioned Trader Joe's and Whole Foods (which are both pretty good options), the Thriftway at 23rd and South isn't bad. Polexa mentioned Sue's Produce on 18th Street, which is one of the best places in the neighborhood for produce. In addition, there's a produce market on 20th Street, between Chestnut and Market. They sell cheeses, lunch meats and some other convenience products, but the quality of their produce isn't as good as Sue's.

There's also Di Bruno Bros. at 18th and Chestnut, which is fairly pricey gourmet grocery store. They have an amazing cheese cave though, if you're into that sort of thing. They do have some good deals, like Sausage Sunday, where if you buy two pounds of housemade sausage, you get the third pound free.

Lastly, there's a year-round farmers market at Fitler Square (23rd and Pine) on Saturdays from 10 am until 2 pm that includes bakers, produce and a really great egg/meat vendor.
posted by Marusula at 8:58 PM on May 8, 2009

There's this great place that rhymes with Fader Bros. You should check it out.
posted by ludwig_van at 9:21 PM on May 8, 2009

Zipcar + Suburbs for major outings. There's also a little market next to TLA on Locust Street between 16th and 17th. It isn't too dingy and it isn't overpriced. I can't recall the name now, though.

Welcome to the neighborhood!
posted by greekphilosophy at 9:27 PM on May 8, 2009

There's an H Mart Korean supermarket out near the 69th Street Terminal that has tons of awesomeness. If you need the cheapness and have vehicle just go to the Grays Ferry Pathmark.
posted by The Straightener at 6:03 AM on May 9, 2009

There's a Target and regular grocery store chain at 1 Mifflin Place. Despite the address, you can get there by car via S. Columbus Blvd., which used to be Delaware Avenue. A lot of people still refer to S. Columbus Blvd. as Delaware Avenue when giving directions.

Near the Target strip mall is a Wal-Mart, and other big box chain stores. Ikea's a stone's throw away.

Across from UPenn on Walnut, around 38th street, is an overpriced regular chain grocery store (someone might have mentioned it already).

From your location, you're best bet is to shop at Trader Joes, North or South Whole Foods...

and Target when you need the awesomeness of Target.
posted by vincele at 6:43 AM on May 9, 2009

I hit all the usual Center City places if/when I happen to be walking by -- the Japanese place and Korean fruit stand in the Comcast Center; Trader Joes/Whole Foods when my friend with a car goes; DiBruno Bros and Sue's Produce -- but to be honest, those are all just for occasional or ingredient-specific supplements. I started ordering groceries online from Genuardis.com about a year ago and I never looked back.

It does cost around 10 bucks for delivery, but it's so worth it -- it used to take like all day with the kids and the car, and we'd spend an extra howevermany dollars on crap that the kids grabbed from all the kid-eye-level kiosks. Now I don't have to A) be "that parent" in the grocery aisle with children wailing bitterly because they have been denied something that were they in their right minds and not overstimulated by grocery store excitement they wouldn't really want anyway, B) waste an entire Saturday on driving, shopping, driving back, unloading, and putting away, or C) I don't know about you, but points A and B make such a compelling case for me that I'm happy to never walk the aisles of ShopRite ever again. Best of all, it keeps track of everything you buy, so it's very easy to automatically shop your usual shopping list. I don't mean to sound like an online grocery evangelist, but it definitely changed my life as a city-dwelling grocery shopper!
posted by mothershock at 6:51 AM on May 9, 2009

Ex-Philly resident. You've got slim pickings. Rittenhouse Market, di Bruno and Whole Foods. They have nothing there on the level of a Fairway, Hay Day or even King's for regular everyday grocery shopping.

The Whole Foods near the museums is much better than the one on South. The one on South Strreet is filthy.
posted by Zambrano at 9:29 AM on May 9, 2009

I also wanted to recommend the H Mart. If you take the El to 69th, it's right there. I usually buy things like dry noodles and fish and frozen stuff there -- and then get my produce at Reading Terminal, and my meat from either Reading Terminal or the Italian Market.

I'd also recommend buying a granny cart at a hardware store. It's made shopping -- and carrying -- much easier.
posted by melodykramer at 10:53 AM on May 9, 2009

Thank you for all the great suggestions. It seems like using Philly Car Share or something similar and shopping farther away or ordering groceries online are my best bets.
posted by Aanidaani at 11:39 AM on May 9, 2009

The Whole Foods near the museums is much better than the one on South. The one on South Strreet is filthy.

I respectfully disagree. I live two blocks from the South Street Whole Foods and shop there multiple times per week. It's bright and clean, and has been every time I've shopped there.
posted by The Michael The at 1:24 PM on May 9, 2009

the whole foods on callowhill is much better than the one on south street.

the superfresh on fifth is more expensive than the other superfreshes in the area, and has the added suck of super narrow aisles.

the acme down on oregon ave is better than the acme on passyunk.

the superfresh on columbus/delaware ave is better than the superfresh on fifth or south, but not as good as the acme on oregon.

the trader joes is okay, but i've never really gotten into it as much as other people.

if you shop at the bodegas, be sure to check expiriation dates and the like as they don't do the volume turnaround that wawa does.

there aren't any wawas close to you anymore; they left the area for the most part. there's an old nelson's at 20th and chestnut now where a wawa used to be. if it's anything as horrible as the wawa that used to be at that location...

really your best bet for shopping for staples is to get a car and go to one of the bigger grocery stores (super fresh, acme) and then pick up other things (sammich fixins) at a market or something like that.

while there are people that do it, i don't know how one can do all their grocery shopping at the bodegas and the bodegas alone.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 10:31 PM on May 9, 2009

Long after the question has been asked, but I have some grocery options to add:

1. the grocery store at 42nd and Walnut (I think it is the Supreme) is easily reachable by public transportation and has a wide variety of regular and international groceries.

2. across the parking lot on 43rd is a fruit and veggies truck that sells produce at $1/bag. they service an international population and thus tend to have both standards and a bunch of interesting stuff.

3. the HMart near the 69th St terminal of the Market-Frankfort El is very much worth going to. Produce is good, meat and fish are good ... just about everything is good. You will have a short walk from the 69th St Terminal of about two blocks.

If you're at UPenn, you can get a discounted transit pass for the semester. It is worth it because you will get to know the city better. I suspect that other universities in the area have similar options - they seem not to advertise it all that well though - so look into it.
posted by sciencegeek at 8:54 AM on July 31, 2009

Update: I've been living in Philly for almost three months now and at first I had been using a ZipCar to pick up groceries, but I've now transitioned to using Genuardi's home delivery service. The rates are pretty reasonable ($6.95 / delivery) and they offer all their in-store specials online as well. For other things, such as paper products, cleaners, etc., I try to have them delivered through Amazon or another online service. It's not ideal but it's been working well so far.
posted by Aanidaani at 9:09 AM on August 8, 2009