The Market Report

Ahart's Market Owner: George Ahart Opened:  1999 Cooperative:  Great Valu Markets Location:  248 PA-940, Blakeslee, PA Photographed:  November 29, 2019 We've seen lots of Ahart's in the Lehigh Valley (see Phillipsburg , Bethlehem , and Allentown ), but they have two outside of the immediate Lehigh Valley Area -- which are now the only two stores left. Bath and Blakeslee, both to the north of the Lehigh Valley, have remained in business while the other three have closed. Ahart's remains within the Great Valu Markets cooperative, but they're no longer on their website. At around 36,000 square feet, this store is the largest Ahart's. It opened in 1999 as a new-build, replacing an older store across the street we'll be taking a look at tomorrow. This is also much nicer than the other, older stores, although it hasn't been renovated since it opened and may be starting to show some age. We enter to the grand aisle on the left side of the store, with produce ...

Ideal Food Basket Owner: Juan Diaz Opened:  April 28, 2023 Previous Tenants:  Food Fair (closed 1979) > Food Lane (1979-2001) > Ahart's Market (2001-2021) Cooperative:  America's Food Basket Location:  410 Montclair Ave, South Side, Bethlehem, PA Photographed:  August 25, 2023 Wrapping up this weekend with a look at the Ideal Food Basket in Bethlehem! We've been tracking this store from its time as an Ahart's , then its progress as an Ideal here and here . At just 18,000 square feet, this is a rather small supermarket, but Ideal has transformed it from its days as a dingy, neglected Ahart's to a spacious, modern supermarket. We enter with a refrigerator of deli and baked goods on the left, with sale items and the Beer Cave (plus a small cafe) on the right. Deli/bakery lines the right side of the grand aisle with produce on the left. Meat is on the back wall, and dairy/frozen are on the left side of the store. I was absolutely blown away by how different ...

Original Grocery Tenant: A&P Address: 1213 E Broad St, Tamaqua, PA Opened:  1970s Closed:  1993 Later Tenants:  Ahart's Thriftway (1993-1999) > BRL Grocery Outlet (closed 2018) Photographed:  November 29, 2019 We're now just outside of Tamaqua, a town of around 7000 which these days has a Boyer's right downtown, where we're headed tomorrow. The town also used to have a second supermarket, built as an A&P that closed in 1993 and became an Ahart's Thriftway. Around 2000, the space became a BRL Grocery Outlet, a local chain of discount grocery stores also referred to as Buy Rite Liquidators. They also took a former ACME in Coal Township, seen here . BRL closed in 2018 and mostly cleared out the space, except for some assorted shopping carts and some refrigerator cases seen at the back of the store. It's lucky there were lights on inside! As you can see in the first picture, I was here after dark, so it was just good luck that we can actually see inside...

Ideal Food Basket Owner: Juan Diaz Opened:  April 28, 2023 Previous Tenants:  Food Fair (closed 1979) > Food Lane (1979-2001) > Ahart's Market (2001-2021) Cooperative:  America's Food Basket Location:  410 Montclair Ave, South Side, Bethlehem, PA Photographed:  April 10, 2023 Contributor:  Lucas Finzi The Ideal Food Basket in the former Bethlehem Ahart's opened yesterday. Our friend Lucas was on-site a few weeks ago to check out the store in its final phases of preparation right before it opened, and we see that Ideal did a major renovation on the place, inside and out. While I haven't gotten to the store since my recent coverage, I'm hoping to check it out this summer. In the meantime, you can see a few pictures from WFMZ from Allentown, and Lucas might be able to return to get some interior photos before I can! As you can see, the entire property has been transformed, and if you look at the WFMZ pictures, you can see absolutely nothing is left o...