The Market Report

Mahatam Mini Mart Owner: Pravin Patel Opened:  1989 Cooperative:  none Location:  1002 N 3rd St, Harrisburg, PA Photographed:  August 14, 2022 This small grocer is only 1300 square feet, and although this particular business has been here since 1989, I'm not sure how long it's been a grocery store. Back in the late 1910s and early 1920s, it was a real estate office, but unfortunately I can't find any records between 1923 and 1989. Our trip to Harrisburg is relatively brief, and unfortunately this is the last stop in the city itself for us. But don't worry, we're going to spend a few days wandering around the suburbs too, so head over to The Market Report tomorrow to check out our first Harrisburg suburb store!

Radish & Rye Food Hub Owner: Dusty & Julia James Opened:  2018 in Broad Street Market, 2020 here Cooperative:  none Location:  1308 N 3rd St, Harrisburg, PA Photographed:  August 14, 2022 Today's stop is very different from yesterday's . The Radish & Rye Food Hub is a small grocery store collecting local and artisan food items along with locally grown produce. The business was previously located at the Broad Street Market, a public market diagonally across the street from this storefront, and this storefront opened shortly after the Broad Street Market location closed in the summer of 2020. This is the only store of its kind in this part of the city, but there's another small grocer about three blocks south into downtown that we'll be checking out tomorrow!

YC Sayford Supermarket Owner: Yong Kwon Opened:  2006 Cooperative:  none Location:  1307 N 3rd St, Harrisburg, PA Photographed:  August 14, 2022 The only supermarket or large grocery store in midtown Harrisburg is the YC Sayford Supermarket at N 3rd St and Calder St. The 6700 square foot store looks like it may have previously been more of a supermarket than it is now, as it's really more of a large bodega these days. The history of the building is a bit murky, as back in 1931 this address was a Harley-Davidson dealership. (And in 1889, there was a piano and organ dealer here, although I have to assume not in this building.) By 1946, however, there was a business called Lee's Delicatessen at 1307 N 3rd St, and I can't find any records after that. When we enter the Sayford Supermarket, we can tell it's been a grocery store for quite some time. It's seen better days, but there's still some grocery items to choose from here. The back wall of the store is covered b...

Original Grocery Tenant: ACME Markets Address: 250 Reily St, Harrisburg, PA Opened:  1940 Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  assorted non-grocery tenants Photographed:  August 14, 2022 Midtown Harrisburg is home to this 10,000 square foot building today housing the Midtown Cinema, but originally a 1940-built ACME. The building's facade was recently renovated, and here's a look at what it used to look like. The building is long and thin in the style of ACMEs of that era. I don't have a closing date for this store, and I also don't know if it relocated somewhere nearby or just closed. There's a grocery store just a few blocks away from this building still in operation today, and we'll be checking it out on Monday on The Independent Edition !

Original Grocery Tenant: unknown Address: 2300 N 3rd St, Harrisburg, PA Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  assorted non-grocery tenants Photographed:  August 14, 2022 Now I'm not sure that this building ever contained a grocery store, but what's now the Emerald Chinese Restaurant at Emerald and N 3rd in Harrisburg has some of the markers I look for in early 1900s grocery store buildings. The sign and awning have some similarities to early grocery stores, but I think more important is the windows along the left side wall of the building that look a lot like windows that run down the side of grocery stores elsewhere. On the other hand, I'm sure that tomorrow's stop was a grocery store -- come back to check it out tomorrow as we move towards downtown Harrisburg!

Original Grocery Tenant: Weis Markets Address: 2304 N 3rd St, Harrisburg, PA Opened:  1960 Closed:  1999 Later Tenants:  Emerald Food Market > Eagle Supermarket > Uptown Food Market Photographed:  August 14, 2022 A quick look at what used to be Uptown Harrisburg's largest supermarket, a 16,000 square foot former Weis that later became a series of independent grocery stores, Emerald Food Market, Eagle Supermarket , and Uptown Food Market . Today, it's split between a Family Dollar and a laundromat, but the distinctive tower is still there. Next door, we have a building I suspect is also a former grocery store, but a much earlier one than this. Come back tomorrow to check it out!

CTown Supermarkets Owner: Ramon Contreras, Yamelyn Vargas, and Camila Contreras Opened:  2021 as Market Fresh, 2022 as CTown Previous Tenants:  Bravo Food Market > F&E Supermarket > J&G Supermarket Cooperative:  Krasdale Foods Location:  2446 N 5th St, Harrisburg, PA Photographed:  August 14, 2022 Here's our look at one of the few supermarkets in Uptown Harrisburg! And it is, of course, a name we're familiar with from the NYC metropolitan area. CTown Market Fresh -- previously just Market Fresh before their CTown affiliation -- opened in 2021 in an extensively renovated small grocery store space on North 5th St in Uptown. The 6200 square foot store brings a rather full-service supermarket to the area which would otherwise be a food desert, except for a Save-A-Lot about half a mile north. We enter in the front right of the store to the deli and hot food counter, with produce on the right side of the store lining the first aisle. Dairy is split bet...

Original Grocery Tenant: Miles D. Fry Address: 3200 N 2nd St, Harrisburg, PA Opened:  by 1921 Closed:  by 1925 Later Tenants:  assorted independent grocers Photographed:  August 14, 2022 While walking around uptown Harrisburg, I spotted this house with the telltale box built out of the side of it. This is a classic design for old grocery stores, primarily built from around 1900-1930, as the owner of the grocery store would also own (and live in) the attached house, or sometimes house with apartments rented out. While this was not a grocery store in any recent history, it was in fact a grocery store in the 1920s. Between 1921 (the earliest record I can find online of this address) and 1925, it was owned by Miles D. Fry, then R.E. Hoverter in 1925. By 1930, the space had been taken over by Harry Loper, who ran a pharmacy at the corner store. (In 1932, the attached house advertised an apartment for rent.) And as recently as 2014 , the remnants of a Family Pharmacy sig...