Whole Foods Poised to End Fishtown Grocery Drought

Fishtown is one of the hottest neighborhoods in Philadelphia, but it lacks a large-scale grocery store chain. Whole Foods Market has designs to change that.

The supermarket is eyeing a 9,400-square-foot lease at Fishtown Collective’s 1716 Frankford Avenue, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported. The store would occupy the ground-floor of a 40-unit development.

The Amazon-owned grocer presented its plans to a neighborhood association meeting earlier this week. A point of contention is a 24-hour loading zone on the avenue for deliveries, which the developer said is necessary for Whole Foods to execute the lease.

Parking and traffic were among the concerns of Fishtown residents who attended Tuesday night’s meeting. But a majority of those with ballots at the meeting voted in favor of the loading zone. The recommendation will go to the local Council member before the City Council weighs in.

Whole Foods did not respond to a request for comment from the publication.

The three-story development on Frankford Avenue includes more than 12,000 square feet of retail space, meaning there is available space for two more tenants on the ground floor outside of Whole Foods. There will be apartments on the second and third floors of the building, 20 on each level.

Construction began at the start of the year and is expected to wrap in the next 12 months.

As it stands, Fishtown and its close neighbor to the south, Northern Liberties, have seen thousands of units come online in recent years, but no major supermarkets in the former. The latter has an Acme Supermarket, a Sprouts Farmers Market and a Giant Heirloom.

There are two standard-format Whole Foods stores already in operation in Philadelphia. A smaller-format Daily Shop is expected to open on South Street in the next couple of years. Six Amazon Fresh stores closed in the city when the tech giant shut down that business line at the start of the year.

— Holden Walter-Warner