That’s a good point. You’d think Waffle House would take notice and move in somewhere over there. I’m sure the one by Meadows makes a killing lol

Man.. my parents used to take us to the south side Tom’s diner with the buffet pretty close to 10-11pm sometimes after grade school basketball games. You’d definitely see some sights. It totally makes sense why that’s not around anymore with the way the Southside has shaped up. But the total demise of Tom’s/Folino’s/Penny’s is a shame. Such a Pittsburgh staple gone away

I think you’re all right sadly 🙁

I always was frustrated at how little there is, especially with the blank slate we had in the strip, waterfront, and even SSW.. hopefully with some more development on the rivers, we will see people look to incorporate.

I will say if you find yourself in Beaver, there’s a couple unique restaurants along Beaver River: The Standard, which is a bar/grill, Kelly’s Pub, and Mario’s dockside grill.

Another one coming to mind is Farmer Baker which is a breakfast restaurant in the Allegheny River trail park in aspinwall. Great place for Saturday morning stops.

I don’t think there was anything tragic but their challenge is trying to gate sections of the park off while keeping people from breaking in and causing a mess. Highly highly doubt this’ll get to that level though out there in Hartwood lol

It’s also an attempt to bring a large scale music festival to the city which is good for tourism, engagement of the young professionals Pittsburgh sometimes struggles to retain, and pretty exciting no matter how you paint it. Although I agree with it potentially being logistical nightmare and a public park, I think that’s unfortunately what comes with these things (ie Lollapalooza in Chicago). But it’s an awesome step in the right direction in my opinion and there’ll only lessons to learn from it.

I’m assuming Tull is behind this, which if (and only if) he can use his powers for good, I’m all for it.

Waterfront. Unfortunately, Squirrel Hill closed

It is but it’s not closed this weekend like OP asked for.

Good point. Several people have mentioned this and it would definitely ignite the interest from an owner perspective. It’d be great if PA could move beyond prohibition laws. Grocery business is time consuming no matter how big or small so it’d be great if high margins could support somehow. I think this is what we’ve seen with some of the GetGo Neighborhood markets. Granted I’m assuming if they made enough money for the company, we’d be seeing these everywhere by now

That would make a lot of sense. Especially seeing Sheetz and GetGos experiment with these “neighborhood market” models. Sort of what Wawa has done in downtown Philly. And tbh if they would do that, I guess it’d help people get what they need. But it just sucks the days of the local corner stores with things you need are gone for most people. Vast majority living in the city have to hop in their car/on a bus to get their simple needs

You’re obviously missing the point of the post and was stated that this isn’t about the handshake deals Giant eagle may or may not be doing to have a monopolistic hold over Pittsburgh but an understanding of why we’re missing the convenience of smaller locations for produce, milk, eggs, in Pittsburgh in our neighborhoods.

That’s besides the point, I’d also say Wegmans product selection specifically in fresh foods is significantly better quality. But ultimately, it doesn’t matter because they aren’t even allowed to enter Pittsburgh market to then price compare in the first place

You make great points. I think the battle of rents, price of food, wages, and aging owners really play a part. Especially the Bloomfield and Shadyside cases like the ones I mentioned above. Sadly I think we’ve all just accepted Dollar General’s invading our communities. Everything has its place, but unfortunately, the most nutritious product you’re able to get from these places may be Kraft Mac n’ Cheese.

That being said, these places are thriving in places less dense and more impoverished than Pittsburgh and that’s what really makes me scratch my head. Especially within the last 20 years with how much support for self sufficient business districts have been regenerated and walking/biking within neighborhoods have come back around.

Love the Co-op. Wish we could encourage more of these in other neighborhoods

I think you’re spot on with what has shaped this phenomenon especially in the price conscientious middle class of Pittsburgh and probably the development of the grocery business in general, specifically as suburbs grew and these little places couldn’t keep pricing with the larger stores. However, I’d challenge the fact that there are at least 10-12 neighborhoods at this point in time with several demographics (college students, young professionals, people who live on their own) that would greatly benefit from a small one stop shop and there’s simply nothing other than a junk store or a dollar general. I’d also venture to bet you’d have people who would support them even if it is a marginal markup for product if it means they don’t have to take the time and resources to drive to the bigger stores.

Ultimately, it’s a head scratcher to see bodegas succeed in places like Buffalo, Cleveland, and other cities with comparable and even less density than Pittsburgh. Is it as simple as we were trained and forced into hop in our cars/hop on the buses to get groceries? To your point, I think we have been unfortunately. But if that were the case, you’d think you would’ve seen the same in those cities as well.

I guess my question is how can we as a city encourage and support these places like East End co-op but also the original main stays in hopes we see more people drop the junk food novelty shops and bring in produce, eggs, and things to help our neighborhoods, specifically the dense ones, become self-sufficient again.

I think we’re making the same points here. When I say “what will it take” I mean to get these places back in areas where they’re needed. Me personally, shopping at places like these because I want to support local businesses won’t make one magically appear on North Ave unfortunately even though there’s a significant need. I still have to get in my car and drive to them. And if it were as simple as patronizing, then there would be places all over the east end where people actively support small businesses not to mention median income and population are high. Like I said above, you had places like Tom Friday’s everywhere at a point no more than 20 years ago. Not just quirky pop ups, high margin junk stores, or specialty places. So that being the case, how do we get back to that point is my question.