Submitted by HarpPgh t3_11aiqge in pittsburgh
I’ve been seeing conversations the last few days about Giant Eagle specifically bringing valid points on how expensive the biggest grocer in town has become. There’s constantly rumors of handshake agreements intentionally keeping major chains out of market creating a monopoly (look into the wegmans agreement and the walmart McCandless debacle). Price has definitely become a significant factor, but I’m wondering what sort of negative impact this has had on convenience as well; specifically local stores/bodegas in Pittsburgh metropolitan area.
Being ignorant and only citing what I grew up with in the 90s, Schwartz’s market had a lock on the Southside and surrounding for years. Their markets seemed to perfectly fit the neighborhoods they served; especially the little one on mission street🥲. I’m imagining there were other awesome neighborhood markets in Pittsburgh just like this that also unfortunately failed to stand the test of time, probably also losing out to the ominous bird.
It’s tough to go to cities like Buffalo, Cleveland, Rochester etc, that seemingly still have these thriving corner stores. A lot of them have essentials like produce, eggs, and milk. Pittsburgh has seemingly dropped the ball here. Most recently we watched Shadyside and Bloomfield, two of our densest neighborhoods, lose several stores in the past couple years alone. Unless you’re in an area with a major store close by or able to drive, we’re seeing an increase in what’s considered food deserts in our neighborhoods.
Rather than shouting at clouds and shouting into the void, it made me wonder what it would take for us to be able to reestablish bodegas in Pittsburgh and serve our independent unique neighborhoods once more. What would it take for these stores to thrive in our neighborhoods? I also wanted to highlight the ones that may currently exist so that people can support them as well!
imadv8r2 t1_j9scfnm wrote
There are a few independent stores that deserve recognition here: Northside: Tom Fridays Market; East Side: Squirrel Hill Market; Bloomfield: Line Verde Green Market; West Hills: Sil’s; South Hills: Ruthfred Market.
Then you have Kuhn’s (not a Bodega, but independent); and then smaller places like Mayfly Market (Arch St), Dylmato’s (Hazelwood), Heisler’s McMurray (though the family owns several Foodlands around town), Community Grocery, IGA including Ferri’s, and then there are numerous ethnic grocers like Pitaland, Labriola’s, Little Tokyo, Panda, Lotus, New Young’s Oriental, Salem’s, Patel Brothers, Kiev Market and Nataliya’s European Grocery.
There are numerous other Middle Eastern and Asian grocers, and other neighborhood stores scattered about underserved neighborhoods like The Hill District, Lincoln Larimer, Wilkinsburg, McKees Rocks and more, but many just have snack type foods which are grab and go for those buying cigarettes and playing the lottery.
GE has sadly done a good job shutting down local grocers from both a geographic and inventory perspective, but they’ve also prevented welcome competition like Wegmans and Kroger from moving in.
Luckily, places like the Squirrel Hill Market (from imported butters, local cheeses, to local and regional PA brands including Middleswarth and PSU ice cream), Tom Fridays (last full service butcher/corner grocery in the city), and Linea Verde (only rue green grocer in town) have sufficiently different products (in addition to staples) than GE, Foodland, Shop n Save, et al, and worthwhile seeking out if you want that Bodega-like experience.