Reading Terminal Market Aims To Meet Demand For More Center City Grocery Options

The Reading Terminal Market is a historic mainstay for Center City, but changes that include new grocery options could help meet the demand for more supermarkets in the neighborhood.

A new Pennsylvania Dutch retailer focused on fresh produce from Lancaster County is set to open this spring, while longtime tenant Nanee’s Kitchen, which offers Indian and Pakistani food, is in the process of adding a new grocery section.

The offerings are part of market leadership's new five-year strategic plan unveiled late last year. The plan is aimed at boosting the well-known tourist spot’s status as a grocery destination for regular Philadelphians.

“The difference between a public market and just a food hall is really that we still have those core purveyors,” market CEO Annie Allman told Billy Penn. 

“We have great butchers, fishmongers and produce vendors. Those are the hardest merchants to develop and hold on to, so we’re always on the lookout for grocers, fresh food and other specialty items.”

Allman said that despite the market’s reputation for artisanal goods, it isn't out of reach for Philadelphians with more modest budgets.

“What many people don’t know is that we are believed to be the single largest location for EBT or SNAP redemption in the entire commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” she said.

A survey conducted by the Center City District last summer found that additional grocery options are a priority for 34.1% of respondents, 91% of whom live in the central business district and adjacent neighborhoods.

New supermarket leases also played heavily in the 600K SF increase in retail net occupancy seen across the Philly region last year, according to a CBRE report.

“We’ve actually had 18 full-service supermarkets open across Greater Center City since 2011, and we have five more set to open just in the next calendar year,” CCD Vice President of Economic Development Clint Randall told Billy Penn last year.

The closure of the high-end Giant Heirloom location at Eighth and Market streets, just a few blocks from the Reading Terminal Market, made headlines when it was announced in November. 

Shortly thereafter, the chain revealed plans to open a new location at the corner of Washington Avenue and Broad Street. That neighborhood has seen a significant amount of new multifamily construction in recent years.

But that trend hasn’t been mirrored in the area around Reading Terminal Market.

Allman called it “the perfect work week lunch spot” in her introduction to the report, although Market East isn't an office hub to the same degree as the neighborhood west of Broad Street.

The most recent foot traffic data from CCD found that Market East had 10,620 employee pedestrian visits in January, which is less than half of the 22,156 recorded in the West Market Office District. Still, the worker count in Market East was up 13% year-over-year at the time, while West Market Office District traffic increased only 3%.

Office vacancy in greater Philadelphia has remained stubbornly high in the wake of the pandemic. The regionwide fourth-quarter vacancy rate of 18.6% was up 70 basis points year-over-year, according to a Colliers report.