Gerrity's joins Wakefern

Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. No non-grocery posts.
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Re: Gerrity's joins Wakefern

Post by marketreportblog »

mjhale wrote: June 27th, 2022, 3:36 pm
TW-Upstate NY wrote: June 27th, 2022, 9:02 am About this store, I wouldn't be at all surprised they end up closing it. Gerrity's was born out of the former locally-owned Giant Markets chain and the Moosic store was actually one Giant closed probably back in the 70's and converted to a warehouse concept. I was honestly very surprised Gerrity's resurrected it and looking at Google street view pictures recently I noticed they're using the same roadside sign post that was there in the 70's. And I ought to know-I lived in the area back then and remember going to this store a time or two. The Moosic ShopRite is relatively new and is located in the former K-Mart in Birney Plaza which began life as an Arlans in the very early 70's. In other words, it's a large store. Gerrity's Keyser Oak Plaza unit is a rather large one having been relocated to the former Woolworth's on the far end of the complex from the other end of it where it originally was housed in a former Food Fair which Giant had occupied in the early '70's. Matter of fact, that shopping center was built by Food Fair Properties sometime in the '60's.
I've been curious about the Giant Markets chain that was in NE PA. It had no relation to the Ahold owned Giant chain but that is really all I know. Did this Giant succumb to larger regional competitors? Or did it just close quietly and morph into Gerrity's?

And on the topic of Gerrity's, were they a recipient of any of the Acme stores after Acme left NE PA in the 90's? I recall seeing another name - Insalaco's - tied to those old Acme stores in pictures I've seen around on different photo sites.
I also don't know much about NEPA's Giant chain, although I think most of their core stores in the Binghampton area -- which I believe is where they were from -- went to Weis. Similarly, many of the Insalaco's became Bi-Los that ultimately went to Weis, but a few Insalaco's did go to Gerrity's. The Gerrity's in West Pittston, PA is actually located in the Insalaco's Plaza, and Clarks Summit was also previously an Insalaco's. The Nanticoke Gerrity's was previously a Kmart, but replaced an older store in a former ACME. It doesn't look like that one was ever an Insalaco's.
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Re: Gerrity's joins Wakefern

Post by buckguy »

Penn Traffic (which mostly used Bi-Lo and Riverside as its banners) bought Insalaco's shortly before they bought the Acmes in the Wyoming Valley and vicinity. The Acmes were mostly rebannered as Insalaco's. Penn Traffic was a wholesaler as well as retailer and it wouldn't be surprising if they had supplied Insalaco. The Insalaco family is still around and in the real estate business, managing grocery-anchored shopping centers, which probably means that they held on to the real estate when they sold their stores to Penn Traffic.
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Re: Gerrity's joins Wakefern

Post by mbz321 »

mjhale wrote: June 25th, 2022, 7:41 pm Other than the smaller store size, is there any difference between a ShopRite store and The Fresh Grocer? Is it like how Ahold uses Martins in VA, MD and WV for Giant-PA stores because there was a preexisting Giant chain (originally unrelated), same store different name, or is The Fresh Grocer a completely different concept?
From my experiences, and especially since they became part of Wakefern, not really. Maybe a slightly expanded offering of prepared food items (something ShopRite stores don't to be too terribly great at). I know the stores around the few college campuses in Philly did a very good hoagie/sandwich business.

But now, It seems to be just another banner used now to have an illusion of competition. (Example: A Fresh Grocer took over a former Pathmark not long after they shut down in Wyncote, a town right outside of Philly. But there is an existing ShopRite only one mile down the road (referred to the town of Cheltenham, although the store also has a Wyncote address). Both stores are owned by the Brown family who owns the majority of the ShopRite stores in Philly, and surprisingly they both seem to be fairly busy all the time, I've always just found it pretty odd.
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Re: Gerrity's joins Wakefern

Post by storewanderer »

mbz321 wrote: June 28th, 2022, 6:56 pm
From my experiences, and especially since they became part of Wakefern, not really. Maybe a slightly expanded offering of prepared food items (something ShopRite stores don't to be too terribly great at). I know the stores around the few college campuses in Philly did a very good hoagie/sandwich business.

But now, It seems to be just another banner used now to have an illusion of competition. (Example: A Fresh Grocer took over a former Pathmark not long after they shut down in Wyncote, a town right outside of Philly. But there is an existing ShopRite only one mile down the road (referred to the town of Cheltenham, although the store also has a Wyncote address). Both stores are owned by the Brown family who owns the majority of the ShopRite stores in Philly, and surprisingly they both seem to be fairly busy all the time, I've always just found it pretty odd.
Doesn't Shop Rite have lower pricing than The Fresh Grocer?

Or is this something that just varies by operator and isn't a banner specific matter?
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Re: Gerrity's joins Wakefern

Post by mbz321 »

storewanderer wrote: June 29th, 2022, 5:40 pm [
Doesn't Shop Rite have lower pricing than The Fresh Grocer?

Or is this something that just varies by operator and isn't a banner specific matter?

Pricing might vary slightly, but I've never noticed any huge difference. Both banners tend to follow the exact same sale ad and Price Plus loyalty card.
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Re: Gerrity's joins Wakefern

Post by marketreportblog »

Wakefern has announced opening dates for the upcoming conversions:

702 S Main Ave, Scranton - 8/12
1782 N Keyser Ave, Scranton - 8/19
100 Old Lackawanna Trl, Clarks Summit - 8/26
320 Meadow Ave, Scranton - 9/2
4015 Birney Ave, Moosic - 9/9
2280 San Souci Pkwy, Nanticoke - 9/16
801 Wyoming Ave, W Pittston - 9/23
2020 Wyoming Ave, Wyoming - 9/30
552 Union St, Luzerne - 10/7
1880 Stefko Blvd, Bethlehem - 10/14

Looks like they're pretty much doing one a week -- maybe they're planning a real grand opening for each one. As far as I could tell, at the Nicholas Markets conversions, they didn't do official grand openings but just simple conversions.
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Re: Gerrity's joins Wakefern

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

marketreportblog wrote: August 6th, 2022, 6:59 pm Wakefern has announced opening dates for the upcoming conversions:

702 S Main Ave, Scranton - 8/12
1782 N Keyser Ave, Scranton - 8/19
100 Old Lackawanna Trl, Clarks Summit - 8/26
320 Meadow Ave, Scranton - 9/2
4015 Birney Ave, Moosic - 9/9
2280 San Souci Pkwy, Nanticoke - 9/16
801 Wyoming Ave, W Pittston - 9/23
2020 Wyoming Ave, Wyoming - 9/30
552 Union St, Luzerne - 10/7
1880 Stefko Blvd, Bethlehem - 10/14

Looks like they're pretty much doing one a week
When this alliance was announced, Joe Fasula (the owner of Gerrity's) posted a video on the company's Facebook page saying pretty much the same thing that it was going to be done over a period of time and one store at a time.
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Re: Gerrity's joins Wakefern

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

TW-Upstate NY wrote: August 7th, 2022, 7:09 am
marketreportblog wrote: August 6th, 2022, 6:59 pm Wakefern has announced opening dates for the upcoming conversions:

702 S Main Ave, Scranton - 8/12
1782 N Keyser Ave, Scranton - 8/19
100 Old Lackawanna Trl, Clarks Summit - 8/26
320 Meadow Ave, Scranton - 9/2
4015 Birney Ave, Moosic - 9/9
2280 San Souci Pkwy, Nanticoke - 9/16
801 Wyoming Ave, W Pittston - 9/23
2020 Wyoming Ave, Wyoming - 9/30
552 Union St, Luzerne - 10/7
1880 Stefko Blvd, Bethlehem - 10/14

Looks like they're pretty much doing one a week
When this alliance was announced, Joe Fasula (the owner of Gerrity's) posted a video on the company's Facebook page saying pretty much the same thing that it was going to be done over a period of time and one store at a time. I think it's a good strategy because it allows them to work out any "bugs" which may come up and prevent them from occurring across all the stores.
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Re: Gerrity's joins Wakefern

Post by marketreportblog »

Now C&S is suing Gerrity’s for what appears to be breach of contract (though I can’t get past the paywalls). If they had a contract in place that Gerrity’s failed to properly end, they might have a point. If, as the second article’s headline suggests, they are focused on the potential revenue loss and “reputation damage,” they are likely spouting nonsense to see if it sticks.

https://www.citizensvoice.com/news/gerr ... 452ad.html

https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts ... db45e.html
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