The Market Report

Back in September 2017, we saw the former IGA Market on Forbes in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The store had recently closed and even, from the outside, appeared to still be in business. I returned to the area in early 2018, and found that the sign had been removed. With that, it's pretty much impossibly to tell the building was ever home to a supermarket. The store is at 3609 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA.

We're jumping back out to Pittsburgh, PA here for a look at a small, closed store just outside of the Oakland neighborhood. In my long walking tour of the city, I saw many closed stores just like this but very few actually in business. I don't know whether this store would have had a deli or a butcher, or if it sold produce. But regardless, Pittsburgh's grocery-store situation (especially in the lower-income neighborhoods) is pretty bad.

Pittsburgh, PA is a large city but has surprisingly few supermarkets. The Oakland neighborhood (where I stayed on a recent trip to Pittsburgh), for instance, has a bustling main street -- Forbes Ave -- with plenty of shopping but no grocery stores! Of course, the Market on Forbes IGA opened in 2008 but closed very recently in April 2017. The sign is intact, though, and I remember seeing it in business on a prior trip to Pittsburgh although I didn't go in. I believe that the supermarket was actually on the second floor of this building. It's a cool building and I like the way the IGA logo fits into the arch of the facade. This is a pretty good head-on shot from sunset time. After an (unexpectedly) long walking tour of Pittsburgh, I can say that much of the city must be food deserts. There are large, obviously lower-income, neighborhoods with only corner bodegas and convenience stores for food shopping. I wonder if there's any market for some of our small ur...