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 ...

Boyer's Food Markets Owner: Dean Walker Opened:  early 2000s Previous Tenants:  Sunshine Market (closed 1996) > Gerrity's ShurSave (1996-early 2000s) Location:  999 W 15th St, Hazleton, PA Photographed:  December 22, 2018 It's time for another Boyer's, this one in more of an urban location than they typically are! With a population of 29,000, Hazleton isn't a major city but it's definitely a sizeable town. This store also has some interesting history, having been built as an outpost of the local Sunshine Market chain, then closed by 1996 when it became a Gerrity's, which in turn appears to have sold the store to Boyer's in the mid 2000s. It's certainly a unique building, which I believe is thanks to Sunshine. The store has very obviously been expanded many times, bringing it to its current 26,000 square feet from the original 10,500 square foot space. In the picture above, it's not hard to tell where the store was expanded out to the right. T...

Shop Fresh Marketplace Owner: Nick Nasser Opened:  March 3, 2023 Cooperative:  Great Valu Markets Location:  7 Naughright Rd, Hackettstown, NJ Photographed:  June 13, 2023 We return to Shop Fresh Marketplace of Hackettstown, which opened in March in a former A&P on route 46 just outside of the town. In fact, I attended the soft opening on its first day in business, March 3rd. An official ribbon-cutting was later held on April 1st. I returned to the store on June 13th to find the store well on its way to going out of business. Think I'm exaggerating? I was one of two customers in the store and found the shelves mostly empty... While the store is still very attractive, it is also clearly soon to close. Social media posts as far back as late April show shelves beginning to empty out, and clearly that process has only continued. Most of the service departments have closed, too, leaving only the deli in operation. All the prepared foods are gone... ...and although ...