The Market Report

Ebenezer Groceries Owner: Jonah Dodd Opened:  2002 Cooperative:  none Location:  465 N Reading Rd, Ephrata, PA Photographed:  August 20, 2019 One more salvage grocery store in the Lancaster County area for us to see, and it's this one, Ebenezer Groceries! (Obviously there are many more I haven't been to yet, but this is the last one I have visited.) This store is located just outside of Ephrata, PA and appears to be around 30,000 square feet. It's in the front part of a light industrial building with a few other tenants, and it's a nice place with high ceilings, not to mention that it appears to be relatively newly-renovated. We see a lot of new fixtures, freshly painted walls, new carts, and so on. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be matched with an improved product mix. I found Ebenezer's selection to be even more idiosyncratic than most salvage grocery stores, with general product quality being lower. Produce was noticeably worse than some of the other sto...

Redner's Warehouse Markets Opened: 1987 Previous Tenants:  GIANT Food Stores (planned, never opened) Location: 423 N Reading Rd, Ephrata, PA Photographed:  August 20, 2019 Our last mainstream supermarket here in Ephrata is the Redner's Warehouse Market, a PA chain of lower-end mainstream grocery stores. The stores tend to be large and value-based but not discount supermarkets. This store is slightly smaller than the neighboring Weis , at about 48,000 square feet. JoshAustin610 explains that this store was planned in 1986 as a GIANT Food Store, but they ultimately backed out before opening and Redner's moved in instead. We do have one more Ephrata store before we move on, and it'll be another salvage store on the eastern side of town on The Independent Edition tomorrow!

Weis Markets Opened: late 1970s Previous Tenants:  ACME Markets (1970s) Location:  331 N Reading Rd, Ephrata, PA Photographed:  August 20, 2019 The Weis of Ephrata, PA was actually built in the 1970s as an ACME, replacing an older store in town on West State Street, according to JoshAustin610 . Obviously, Weis has done some major renovations on the store, expanding it to just over 56,000 square feet or slightly larger than Martin's . In fact, it doesn't really hold any evidence of the previous tenant at all, as far as I can tell. Weis typically does consistent and major renovations, although I've seen some older stores without the upgrades you might expect (though not many). Inside, the Weis looks pretty average , which is to say pretty good but not exciting. It competes with another Pennsylvania chain right next door, which we'll be seeing right here on Monday!

Martin's Country Market Owner: John Martin Opened:  1983 Cooperative:  IGA (Family Owned Markets) Location:  1717 W Main St, Ephrata, PA Photographed:  August 20, 2019 It's time for our next Family Owned Markets-affiliated IGA with Martin's Country Market! The 52,000 square foot store was constructed in 1983 along with the rest of the Lincoln Mall, including a furniture store owned by the same family. Speaking of the same family, the owner of this store also owns the John F. Martin brand of meat and deli products (his name is John F. Martin, which will not surprise you). Their cheddar is excellent. The missing letter in the supermarket's sign did not give me high hopes for the store's interior, but I was very pleasantly surprised. According to the store's website , they did a full remodel in 2012. I'm trying to remember the specific layout, but I believe grocery aisles run parallel to the front wall. Bakery, produce, and dairy are on the left-side wall, wi...

Sharp Shopper Grocery Outlet Owner: Mike and Darren Sharp Opened:  2000 Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  1041 Sharp Ave, Ephrata, PA Photographed:  August 20, 2019 Welcome to Sharp Shopper Grocery Outlet, a discount/salvage grocery store in Ephrata, PA. This is our first stop in Ephrata, a slightly larger town than some we've been seeing with a population of 13,000. Sharp Shopper is a nine-store chain in the Lancaster County, PA area and also a few locations to the south in Virginia. I got the impression (from the single store I visited, so maybe I need to visit more salvage grocery stores around here to be sure) that Sharp Shopper is a step up from some of the other similar salvage grocery stores in this area of PA. The store struck me as cleaner and better organized, and the products seemed to be a little better quality. I believe Sharp Shopper is also the largest salvage grocery store chain in this area. The aisles run front to back, wit...