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TOUR: Redner's Fresh Market - Wyomissing, PA

Redner's Fresh Market
Opened: 2019
Previous Tenants: Redner's Warehouse Markets (1991-2019)
Location: 1149 Berkshire Blvd, Wyomissing, PA
Photographed: August 20, 2019
We're here in Wyomissing to check out our second Redner's Fresh Market! This 60,000 square foot store was built by Redner's in 1991 as a Redner's Warehouse Market, then converted to the higher-end Fresh Market format in 2019.
The store might not be quite as impressive as Audubon, a really beautiful store, but this is by its own right an impressive grocery store.
How about this -- an automated frozen yogurt machine, located right inside the entrance of the store? There's also a coffee bar and other types of similar amenities.
The produce department is in the front right corner along with bakery. The Wall of Values is on the right side of the store, with meat, seafood, and deli on the back wall. Frozen/dairy are on the left side with a Beer & Wine Cafe in the front left corner. The grocery aisles run side to side in the store, rather than front to back.
Also present in the bakery department is a fresh popcorn department!
With lots of choices of flavors and toppings, no less.
The grocery aisles look more like the older Redner's style we might be familiar with, although the shelving has either been repainted or replaced.
Sale items on the right side, with seasonal items in the back corner. Redner's is a value-focused store, but not a discount supermarket. It's definitely a full-service, complete mainstream supermarket.
Notice that this shelving was not painted or replaced.
But it looks like the perimeter was fully remodeled. In the back, we move on to bulk foods before we get to the service departments.
I particularly like the brightly colored wall decor, along with these posts with vertical signage you can see below.
Taking a tip from PA convenience store chains like Wawa and Sheetz, the short-order prepared foods department uses digital ordering screens for custom orders.
Self-serve prepared foods bars face these departments.
Here we can see the split down the middle of the grocery aisles, which notice runs front-to-back rather than side to side.
Moving into the meat and seafood departments, we again see brand-new fixtures and much higher-end merchandising.
Beautiful display cases! Definitely not something Redner's would've previously done.
Here's an overview of the meat, seafood, and deli departments.
In the last part of the back of the store, we have packaged meats, dairy, and frozen.
Dairy lines the left-side wall of the store in brand-new cases, as we see here.
And HABA is in the first aisle, which faces the registers on the front wall.
It's a somewhat unconventional layout, but I believe it's standard for most Redner's stores, especially the older ones.
Now let's take a look inside the Beer & Wine Cafe...
In this area, too, we have bagels and store-made pretzels, again displayed particularly well.
On one side of the beer and wine department is packaged beer and wine to purchase. The area also has a cafe and a bar for seating.
I wish the ceiling had been exposed and painted black throughout the store, not just in this area. That would really elevate the experience in the store.
It looks like this bar is used for special events, like tastings and so on. It's a very nice concept, although it was also introduced right before the coronavirus which of course threw a wrench into everything like this.
We're headed into Reading up next, beginning on Monday with a supermarket on the west side of downtown Reading here on The Market Report!

Comments

  1. Not quite sure that Coke and Potato Chips qualify as seasonal, but I guess maybe in August they do?

    Also, probably not too many stores outside this area in PA that would have a soft pretzel display!

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    1. Ha! In defense of Redner's, there is another department sign just to the right of that frame and we can see "Di..." which I'm going to say is probably something like Discounts, so perhaps the chips and soda belong to that department sign and not the seasonal one.

      I agree! Although I did get a really nice soft pretzel at an Associated on Staten Island from the bakery, but alas it was only one bin and not a full display.

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  2. Is Redners looking to transform into a more upscale grocer with lower pricing like we see in this remodel? This is a far cry from the usual white walls and basic but functional that I am used to seeing from Redners. If this format is successful they could be good local competition to Giant and Weis. I also wonder if Redners is looking more to get outside their central PA base. They have gone into Delaware, one store in the Baltimore area and one in Chestertown, MD. A format like Redners has here might work in larger areas that are used to full featured stores.

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    Replies
    1. It's hard to tell what their strategy is. Their new stores seem to all be the Fresh Market concept but I believe this is the only one that's actually been remodeled from a Warehouse to a Fresh concept. I agree with your assessment, though!

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