Grocery store to open on Walnut

A new grocery store will soon move into a space only three blocks away from the Fresh Grocer, but it plans to cater to a different clientele.

Supremo Supermarket, a New Jersey-based chain that specializes in international foods, will open at 4347 Walnut St. this May.

The supermarket will be built in a vacant lot that previously housed a Thriftway food store.

Supremo Supermarkets Director of Operations Miguel Abinader said the store's focus on international flavors will distinguish it from the Fresh Grocer, which is located at 40th and Walnut streets.

"We have ethnic products that [Fresh Grocer] doesn't carry," he said.

Representatives from Fresh Grocer were not available for comment.

Thriftway's business floundered after Fresh Grocer entered the neighborhood in 2001. Its 2004 closing was due to an inability to compete with Fresh Grocer for customers, a Thriftway store manager said at the time.

Still, officials associated with the Supremo project say that the store will be able to maintain its niche in the neighborhood.

Supremo will also feature a more limited prepared-foods section but more overall variety than Fresh Grocer, according to Jennifer Rodriguez, Vice President of Financing Services for the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, which is funding the project.

"They're also more value-oriented than Fresh Grocer," she added.

PIDC, a private non-profit group that provides financing and land for projects in Philadelphia, will support the $1.8 million project because it will create about 70 new jobs for West Philadelphia residents and generate new tax revenue, Rodriguez said.

"It also puts into valuable use what used to be a vacant eyesore in the community," she added.

Abinader said that the chain was interested in a West Philadelphia location because there is a demand for Supremo's products in the local African-American population.

"We are able to offer new varieties of ethnic and Afro-American products," he said. "We are going to have Jamaican, Caribbean, Central American and South American products as well as mainstream items."

But though the chain appeals specifically to certain demographics, Abinader said that Supremo is "looking to cater to everyone -- students at Penn, families in the area, single people and senior citizens."

She said that the space was in "incredible disrepair" before construction on the new Supremo Supermarket last summer.

"It was in really deplorable condition -- it hadn't been renovated in what seemed to be decades," she said. "It really was not a pleasant shopping experience for customers, so the community has been grossly underserved in terms of supermarkets."

Abinader said Supremo has greatly improved the space since construction began.

"We have new floors, new shelving, new refrigerator equipment, new decorations and more lighting," Abinader said.

Supremo Supermarket recently added to its nine stores in New Jersey with three new locations in Philadelphia. Another store is currently under construction in the city at 900 E. Orthodox St.

Abinader said that the store at 4424 N. Broad St., which opened in May 2003, is "doing very well."

But some doubt whether Penn students will visit the new market.

"I think most students would go there if they needed specialty foods, but most people live east of 42nd Street, and walking all the way to 43rd Street is kind of far," College sophomore Ben Nace said.

However, Nursing sophomore Nadine Spigel said that Supremo's location would not prevent her from shopping there.

"I trekked down to Trader Joe's on 22nd Street today, so the location wouldn't stop me from going," Spigel said. "You can't get that much variety at Fresh Grocer, and Fresh Grocer jacks prices up, so being value-oriented is definitely a bonus."

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