Grocers Take Advantage Of Greater Philly's Vacant Pharmacy Spaces
Financial struggles for national pharmacy chains have led to a large amount of retail space hitting the market across greater Philadelphia.
While some of those spaces remain vacant, two of them have been snatched up by grocers, according to reports over the last week.
Met Fresh plans to open a supermarket in a former Walgreens space at Broad and Snyder streets in South Philadelphia. Across the river, a supermarket is coming to a former Rite Aid outpost in Penns Grove.
The 13K SF South Philly store plans to open early next year and employ between 30 and 40 people, owner Omar Hamdan told The Philadelphia Inquirer last week.
The neighborhood’s walkability and lack of grocery competition made it a “perfect fit” for a new Met Fresh, he told the newspaper. The chain already has several locations in New York City.
A pharmacy department is part of Hamdan’s plans. The Walgreens closed last year, and a nearby Rite Aid shuttered this summer, which means the closest drug store is nearly a mile away.
Penns Grove Mayor La’Daena Londo shared news about the new 12K SF supermarket coming to her town in an Oct. 21 social media video. It will also include a pharmacy.
While it isn’t yet clear who will operate the store, there is a sign on the building at 130 E. Main St. confirming the plans.
Penns Grove has been without a grocery store since an Incollingo’s Market location closed in 2022, 42Freeway reported.
Rite Aid officially shuttered its last 89 stores earlier this month, following its second bankruptcy in two years.
“It is the most sought-after real estate for varied reasons,” Philadelphia-based Colliers broker Todd Sussman told Bisnow of Rite Aid’s real estate holdings in May.
“They’re usually a clear-span space,” he said. “You can do almost anything you want.”
Several of the chain’s former stores in greater Philly were already being repurposed at the time.
OCF Realty plans to build 16 condos and nine single-family homes on the site of a former Rite Aid it owns at 801 S. Ninth St. near the Italian Market.
Activate, a team-based experiential gaming company, is taking over a former Rite Aid at 1509 Route 38 in Cherry Hill.
