South Square Town Watch

According to Philly.com, a Bfresh store will be moving into the ground floor at 2300 Bainbridge Street. Anyone familiar with them? Full story here.

Two more central Philly Bfresh stores planned by parent of Giant markets

Dutch supermarket giant Ahold Delhaize, whose brands include Giant and Food Lion, intends to open at least two more of its smaller-format, urban-focused grocery stores in central Philadelphia, in addition to an already acknowledged location planned for South Street.

Ahold Delhaize’s Fresh Formats LLC unit has leases for Bfresh brand stores on the ground floor of the Bloc23 condominiums being built at 2300 Bainbridge Street and at the former Eastern Mountain Sports location at 3401 Chestnut Street in University City, Robert Gorland, a supermarket-site-selection specialist with Rahway, N.J.-based Matthew P. Casey & Associates, said in an interview.

Fresh Formats said last year that it plans to open a store at on the ground floor of the Abbotts Square condominium building at Second and South Streets.
Gorland, whose remarks were based on conversations with industry contacts, did not know when the stores would open.

Since December 2014, Fresh Formats has operated the 3,700-square-foot Everything Fresh grocery store at 1222 Walnut Street, which it has cast as a testing ground for its smaller-footprint shops.
Three Bfresh stores currently operate in the Boston area. A Fairfield, Conn., shop closed in April 2016, less than six months after opening, according to published reports.

Ahold USA spokesman Christopher Brand did not respond to an email seeking details on plans for Philadelphia.