The Market Report

Shady Maple Farm Market Owner: Marvin Weaver Opened:  1970 Cooperative:  none Location:  1324 Main St, East Earl, PA Photographed:  August 20, 2019 Any frequent fliers on senior bus trips to the Pennsylvania countryside from northern New Jersey? I took one once (with my grandmother) and we stopped at the Shady Maple Smorgasboard for lunch. What is the Smorgasboard, and what is Shady Maple? Good question. Shady Maple is a giant complex, spanning nearly 50 acres, with several proportionately massive businesses. There's Good's Store, an 80,000 square foot general store; Gish's furniture; a banquet and conference center; the nearly 150,000 square foot Smorgasboard (complete with an all-you-can-eat buffet seating 1200 people, a fast food restaurant, and a 50,000 square foot gift shop); and the 110,000 square foot Shady Maple Farm Market. How was this created? If you're curious, here's their history timeline. I couldn't even begin to describe the layout here, becaus...

BB's Grocery Outlet Owner: Nevin Martin Opened:  2011 Cooperative:  none Location:  150 Morview Blvd, Morgantown, PA Photographed:  August 20, 2019 For those not from this area, including myself, it may be a surprise to find that there is a very common type of grocery store found in this part of Pennsylvania not really found in too many other places. The Lancaster area is home to a large Amish population, as is well-known, but what is less well-known is that the Amish community owns a lot of discount, salvage, or outlet type grocery stores. BB's, here in Morgantown (with other locations in Quarryville, Myerstown, Newburg, and Oxford, PA), is the first one of this type of store we'll be seeing. This farm country-inspired store takes up roughly 35,000 square feet of a small strip mall roughly 25 miles outside of Lancaster city. It's set up perpendicular to the parking lot, so the entrance here brings us on the right side of the building with checkouts on this wall, as...