Last summer, we mentioned rumors that the extremely popular and often overcrowded Trader Joe’s at 22nd & Market would be undergoing renovations and an expansion. And when we stopped by to pick up some essentials the other day, we discovered that the much-anticipated renovations have been completed. A new front flower display was unveiled five days ago, and just yesterday TJ’s revealed the first big changes to the store since it opened in 2003.

New entryway

Flowers and prepared foods on the right

All seems the same from the usually-jammed parking lot, but as you enter into what used to be an enclosed foyer of mixed bouquets and cinnamon brooms you now face doors for cart traffic in and out, and an open expanse of the bright store. The flower market leads you in and to the right, which is…

A thread popped up on Philadelphia Speaks the other day, wherein someone posted that they had heard a rumor that a Trader Joe’s could be taking over the Superfresh location at 5th & Spruce. This could certainly be a legit possibility or it could equally end up simply being a rumor that never comes to pass. Whichever it is, it brings about an interesting conversation about whether we have enough access to grocery items in greater Center City.

Superfresh

If you ask us, it seems that 10th & South is where the rubber meets the road in this town for groceries. Convenient for pedestrians and with easy parking, a Superfresh and a Whole Foods provide thousands of area residents access to groceries. Many people even visit both stores in one trip to this…

Thanks in part to a $2.75M redevelopment assistance grant from Governor Corbett, it seems that Mantua will be getting a new supermarket in the next couple of years. Termed “Westview Plaza” by development partner Aquinas Realty Partners, this project has the potential to transform a depressed section of a neighborhood that hasn’t had a supermarket for decades. This project will combine lots that stretch over four city blocks (!), encompassing the northern side of the 3600-3700 blocks of Haverford Ave., both sides of the 3600-3700 blocks of Mount Vernon St., and most of the southern side of the 3600-3700 blocks of Wallace St.

The rendering below is a preliminary site plan from the Aquinas website.

Plan is probably different already

A parking lot seems to cover the majority of this suburban pad-site retail center, with a privately owned supermarket…

Councilman Darrell Clarke and state representative Michelle Brownlee had a great deal of support last week as they presented their updated project plans for the supermarket at 31st and Girard Avenue. Soloff Realty is buying the site from Westrum Development and building a Bottom Dollar, similar to the one they just put up in the Oak Lane section of Philadelphia on N. Broad Street. The development site first received attention in 2009 when the Community Design Collaborative, which provides preliminary design work to nonprofits and communities, worked on a conceptual design for the site through its Infill Philadelphia design initiative. The conceptual design by Interface Studio Architects explored strategies for redeveloping a sloping, hard-to-develop site,” said Linda Dottor, program manager at CDC. The final plans for the site call for an 18K-square-foot Bottom Dollar, 5K square feet of additional retail stores, a 94-care…