The Market Report

Xtra Fresh Market Opened: June 10, 2026 Owner: unknown Previous Tenants:  non-grocery tenants Cooperative: Krasdale Location: 7040 Castor Ave, Philadelphia, PA Photographed: June 26, 2026 Happy 4th and happy 250th birthday of America! Also, welcome to the grand opening of Xtra Fresh Market, a small independent grocer that opened last month on northeast Philly's Castor Avenue business corridor. Occupying a former office building, this supermarket occupies somewhere around 7500 square feet, so it's quite small. It's a little under a mile from Castor Avenue's new Compare & Save supermarket . That difference seems to be kind of significant. This store is much closer to a major retail center with ACME, Target, Giant, and Sprouts, and a bit removed from the business district where Compare & Save is. Even just a couple weeks after its opening, this store seems to be getting less traffic than Compare & Save. Above, a photo just before the opening to the left, a...

Extra, a small Newark-area chain, has been rather active lately. Let's take a look at all of their stores to see what's going on! Click on any picture to expand it. Before we begin, though... why are there two Extra Supermarket chains in the Newark area? If you read my previous posts, I usually attempt to explain the split, but rarely come up with a good explanation not having all the inside information. Here's the best I can do with what's publicly available. Extra started in the 80s in East Orange, adding a few locations across the greater Newark area over time. Apparently, it was a family business, with two relatives basically running the whole thing. And it seems they split in 2018. So Mitchel Lopez, who seems to be one of those relatives, kept stores in Newark's Central Ward and Jersey City (adding one in Elizabeth later). Lopez also owns City Supermarkets . while Maplewood, East Orange, and the store in Newark's Weequahic neighborhood were taken over by an...