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The Fresh Grocer is my unofficial-official after party. Open 24 hours, if someone with a car wants to drive me to Fresh Grocer at 2:30am when there's nothing else to do I'm all for it. If you think this sounds like a lame way to spend a late Friday or Saturday night, you're wrong.
Fresh Grocer is full of and surrounded by entertainment. There are homeless people sleeping up on the cushioned benches by the bathrooms. The bathrooms smell so clean it's hard to breathe over the scent of sanitation. (That doesn't mean they ARE clean.) The aisles are organized so that they only time they make sense is after a night spent imbibing. They have the worst selection of frozen pizza ever. When I was there are 3am on Friday night, I saw a dude who resembled Carrot Top. They sell incense and do rags and kosher dill pickles, rugs, baseball hats and scented oils.
The other drunks around the premises are also very amusing.
I'd probably never do any real food shopping here, but I rarely do real food shopping anyway. But there's something to be said about having a supermarket basically all to yourself.
Not only is this crap-hole of a grocery store over-priced for the most essential and generic of items, but it also has mice. Oh, yeah - that's right. I used to run into this place once a week on my way into the office (I work at Penn) and let me tell you, if I hadn't been buying something safe (securely sealed yogurt), I would not buy anything from this place.
I recently stopped in when I was in a hurry and in the neighborhood and thought, "hey, I'm sure they've dealt with their little problem with the furry friends." Well, call me a kumquat, but I'm certain that the bag of nuts that I picked up had holes chewed in it. Lordy.
Careful where you tread if you're going to shop here. This is just one more reason to get the bulk of your foodies from the farmers' market at Clark Park.
Your staff is incredibly rude and incredibly lazy.
You should have a meeting and tell them to say "excuse me" when they block the aisles doing bullshit work.
So what, it's open 24 hours. So is 7/11 and you're getting the same quality shit there, too. And a… Read more »
It has all of the amenities that one needs, which is nice. It's the most complete grocery store around Penn. I wish that the deli was open later and that prices were a little lower.
A "meh" place, if there ever was one.
The most dimly lit aisles of any store I've entered. Perhaps they're powering the place from a generator out of consideration for the dying planet. Or perhaps the managers think a post-apocalyptic feel will inspire customers to stock up on canned goods to store against yet grimmer days.
This is dangerous because you might trip over the unseen skeleton of a customer who failed to escape the labyrinthine aisles. When relatives come to Philly, bring them to see this wonder, especially if you want to lose them in the less-trafficked warrens of the maze and have the afternoon to yourself. A joke can be taken too far, though: If they're hefty, they might become permanently stuck as even two slim shoppers cannot walk abreast in many aisles.
I've had no problem with the food selections. Lots of energy bars toward the front for those with a trek ahead. (See survival issues above.)
I'm not holding the store responsible for those loitering outside, but this isn't a safe place to send lil' Fauntleroy for milk, in most cases. (See section above re: losing unwanted relatives.) A toothless harridan haunted the sidewalk. She pointed at me, her mouth fell open, and I expected her tongue to be black as a chow's so inhuman was this wraith. Nearby, a man with afterbirth for an eye muttered sweet felicitations at the clouds he favored most.
Press past these quaking gatekeepers and brave the journey ahead.
A typical train of thought while shopping at Fresh Grocer:
"So much prettier and cleaner than Supreme! Yay! OK, wait, that's a little pricey. I'll make do. Oh, excuse me - sorry to run into you it's just a bit of a tight squeeze through here. Now where is the - wait, nope, not there. Odd. Seriously, where is it?! Ooo, that looks good! And they have the kind of Kashi I want! It's more expensive than other places, but it's the kind I want. But where is the - wait, how did I end up over here? Where am I! F$*(&^ YOU, FRESH GROCER!"
Boiled down, it's a pretty store at first glance and you can find some stuff here that other West Philly grocery stores are seriously lacking (especially in the way of vegetarian/vegan options). But you'll pay more than you would at Supreme and have the constant feeling that you're being put through a rat maze. Maybe that's it. The whole store is Penn's psych department running an elaborate research study...
Let's start out with what I love about Fresh Grocer:
1. Fresh Grocer is open 24 hours a day. Yes, I like to do grocery shopping at 3 am. Gotta bake those cookies! (Although they close all the entrances except one, and you have to walk by security. That confused me at first.)
2. The place is always very clean.
3. Location, location, location.
4. The hot food, sometimes. Although I think I got my sodium intake for the year with the mashed potatoes... A drunk guy was VERY happy to point out the "huge" top bread of his sandwich which he only paid TWO DOLLARS!@!#@# for at about 2 am one day though, haha.
Okay, now for the things that aren't so endearing...
I hate finding parking the times I've managed to catch a ride here. There are a few parking meters directly in front which have good rates, but during the daylight hours you oftentimes find yourself driving through the congestion and resorting to bumper car techniques. When they have sales, for some reason whenever I go there it always seems to be the same item, and then the next week they'll just add fifty cents. For example, the pasta will be $2.00 one day. Then the next time I go there the same pasta is on sale for $2.50. Huh? Once I wanted to make ziti though, and almost every single ingredient I wanted to buy was on sale. Yay! Did they coordinate that?!
Okay, like every other review when I first walked into the store I was like, WHAT IS THIS PLACE?! Yes, the layout is rather confusing, but I'm used to it by now. They added racks of chips in one of the frozen food aisles though, and I can't help but feel a bit claustrophobic. It's two miniature kid aisles now...maybe they're hoping the kids will get ice cream and their parents will be too intimidated by the tiny spaces to put it back.
The prices aren't that great, from what I know of grocery shopping, but buy things on sale! The strawberries were pretty horrible though, which is probably why they've been on sale the entire summer...
Oh, and well, commenting on the customer service aspect, I'm one of those people who loves to shop without assistance. I could be lost in the middle of the Sahara and still be determined to find those chocolate chips on my own. If you're like me, I think you'll generally be fine with the staff, I, thankfully haven't had a problem yet.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Dante, your words have never been so applicable.
Where do I start with the Fresh Grocer? I would have to say their most egregious offense is the palpable contempt emanating from the staff - I cannot set foot in here without feeling loathed (and, I consider myself a pretty likable guy). In all fairness, there are one or two nice staff members.
The only thing worse than employees who hate me, is when there are not enough employees who hate me to ring up my order. It feels like there are never more than a couple of cashiers operating simultaneously at any given time.
If you must go here, here is a trick that I've learned when I only have an item or two to pay for: during lunch time, pay at the main registers; at prime food shopping times, pay at the coffee bar. Hope that helps.
I won't even get into the haphazard, somewhat-insane organizational schema employed by the Fresh Grocer.
Anyway, at this point, Fresh Grocer has somewhat of a monopoly in U City, but hopefully that will change someday.
Just because I hate to write a review without saying anything positive - their prepared food section is fairly comprehensive and the sushi is not bad (for supermarket sushi).
I must be on a nostalgic kick, because here I am, in DC, and I'm reviewing places from my college years.
Staff's attitude aside (I go to grocery stores to get groceries, not to make friends with the cashiers), FroGro (yes, I'm one of those people who call it "FroGro") has always been pretty good to me. Come on, it's open 24/7!
Because I've always been very nocturnal and have an intense tendency to procrastinate (and therefore cram), I found that the best study breaks at 4am were my grocery shopping trips at the Fresh Grocer.
Yeah, it's a bit expensive, but at 4am I didn't have much of a choice. Plus, if you're thrift savvy, a weekly trip won't break your bank account. And they have a restroom upstairs if you're taken by a sudden urge to empty your bladder (or stomach, depending on how drunk you are when you go there and/or how allergic you are to UGGs and sweatpants. and messy ponytails. But I digress...).
One more thing: I used to go there around 5am (when they stocked the shelves) to get empty cardboard boxes (for packing and moving out).
Yeah, good times.
The only reason I go to this store is that it's walking distance from my apartment.
If I wanted pain, to be degraded, etc., I'd get a dominatrix. I've never once had a cashier say, "Hello", "How are you?" or "Have a nice day." to me. All through high school I worked at a grocery store and employees lost their jobs over not being courteous. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be buddies with the employees but eye contact while I'm being rung up would be nice.
Honest to Pete, I'd rather walk from Trader Joes, with heaping bags and a full back pack then avoid going to 'FroGro'.
Yikes, this place is horrible. Yeah, it's kind of spendy, overrun with undergraduates in sweatpants and Ugg boots (hey! you're going out into public, change out of your pajamas), poorly organized, et cetera. . . but these are potentially expiable offenses. What really pushes this place into the realm of inexcusability is the complete failure of its staff to convince me that they don't hate me and want me to leave immediately.
I've spent 40 hour weeks behind a cash register, so I know it's not always so easy to maintain the I-don't-hate-my-job pretense, but honestly, I have never witnessed so flaccid and apathetic a performance as the ensemble effort put forth by the cast of the Fresh Grocer. Is the work environment that unbearable?
Unfortunately, I will probably continue to play the role of patron as long as their location remains so damn convenient, but seriously, if it can be avoided, go to Supreme three blocks west instead (where the staff may not enjoy their jobs any more, but at least they don't let on).
Pros:
Free parking
Nice coffee shop
Close to my house
Decent selection of items
Cons:
Rude employees
Expensive
Can never seem to find specific items
Flies sit on the produce and pizzas and stare up at you
Saw a mouse there once
Conclusion: If you dont have a car, then the place is fine. If you do, go to the ShopRite on 52nd or Whole Foods.
Some girl climbed on top of here in a cry for attention / suicide threat. That is the best thing about this place.
It does look very fancy from the outside though.
It may not be cheap, but it's the closest grocery store to my apartment and that's all that matters to me. A walk is much better than spending money on gas, so it's not as pricey for someone who depends on her sneakers to get to where she needs to go. Thank goodness this is only a block away from me, too.
The only downside is that they don't always have everything I need. The staff isn't really rude nor friendly, they're just sorta ... there. Working. Also it gets really crowded as HELL on some days, so be sure to go during hours where people are normally at work or something. Nothing like trying to go down an aisle and having ten or so people blocking your way. MOVE woman! Read the box at the side of the aisle!
Besides, I'd choose this over some of the other shady look stores in the area. Sorry, but I guess I like to shop where I know there isn't a rat scurrying by.
I hate this place so much. It's not even the poor selection, terrible organization, and high prices that make me give it one star (though I hate those things, too). It's the goddam terrible service. If you want to buy things from people who don't know what the groceries are (green onions? what?) or where they are located, or try to hand money to someone who is talking on her cell phone, eating, or talking over your head to another employee, this is your spot. And no one has any power there (perhaps rightly so). If they ring something up wrong or can't find the price or need to make a refund, they have to page a manager, and you both stand there, forever, you slowly dying inside, and she, snapping her gum and rolling her eyes. At you. For being a pain in the ass. For just wanting someone to do their job. There is one helpful floor manager here, but I just don't see him enough.
The other day was THE LAST STRAW. I actually got stuck, while trying to buy SEPTA tokens, in the middle of a physical fight between a manager and a cashier, both of them screaming about respect. How about a little respect for your customers?
The worst part is, I know I'll be back. It's right by my work, and I don't always get my ass in gear to buy groceries on the weekends. And sometimes I need to buy work stuff (like dishwashing detergent) there, to save time. And the deli isn't terrible. Man, do I hate this place.
this store has the worst layout of any store in the united states. narrow diagonal aisles with random obstacles in the middle of each, choked with penn douchebag upon penn douchebag. the selection is decent for everything except vegetarian/vegan food and for produce (their produce is always way overripe or way underripe), but their stock is extremely inconsistent; often if you buy a product week after week, it will never be restocked again once you've bought the last one. also, you can only get $20 cash back if you pay with your debit card, and you have to spend $5 to get it.
they do have good made-to-order food and an excellent selection of fancy pants candy bars, though.
A typical grocery store, except for the layout. The isles are small and slanted, difficult to navigate when the store is crowded, which it often is. I'm pretty sure a midget with one orthopedic shoe designed the place. You can get discounted hot goods at midnight sometimes so that is pretty cool. I much prefer the former thriftway, now supremo, a few blocks away.
i LOVE grocery shopping. i meander up and down the aisles. take probably 3 laps around the entire store. sample. a lot. and definitely stand there with two similar items in each hand, mulling over which one is better. it's a nice little day for me.
the Fresh Grocer on 40th and Walnut pretty much ruins my experience as soon as i go to pay. it IS incompetent worker day, every day, there. if i don't get a snarl from a worker, i get completely ignored. save for the occasional congenial worker...actually, the best cashier i've encountered looked like he was about 15 years old...so gentlemanly.
but even more than just attitude, my meandering is often halted by the store's disorganization. it's just set up poorly. my younger sister (who is a sucker for marketing tools) was visiting and wanted to go in and shop there because it looked so nice and simple and organized. don't be deceived.
I remember when this first opened and they were complaining that the ceiling leaked, the floor was uneven, and the grocery cart return didn't work as expected from the garage space above. I don't think any of those issues has been resolved, yet...
This was probably one of the best things to happen to the university students nearby. No longer forced to trek into West Philly for the Thriftway or out to Grey's Ferry for the Pathmark there, students can be found at all hours here shopping for basic necessities. While not as cheap as your Pathmark or hometown suburban grocery stores, its still certainly better than nothing, and there's a small hot food section (a good roast chicken meal deal, usually), bakery, fish & seafood area, a selection of kosher food, and some random gourmet items, along with your usual grocery aisles.
Be ware of coming on a weekend, the student lines can be quite long. They do pay for a couple hours of parking in the garage if you buy at least $x of groceries, though, which is better than many places in the city that have -no- parking, so for those who complain about it being a "required" part of a grocery store, they're definitely from a suburban location, not the city.
fuck this place. Srsly. Shitty attitudes for days, high prices, and a racist jerk at the hot lunch line. I'll never go back.
My solution to this places problems? Fire everyone. All of them. Then close your doors, redo the shitty ass layout that makes it take people four hours to find a can of black beans, and get some decent staff who can handle ringing me out with out bitching and eating bbq potato chips.
Ok, so I dont live in the area and have to drive here. It costs money to park, and it can be pricey at times. So why do I come here? Many reasons. For starters, whenever I go to The Bridge and see a movie, I cant resist walking across the street to pick up items. Even on a regular day, this is one of my favorite places to get sushi to take home when I don't feel like being bothered with a restaurant. Parking is free if you spend $10 or more and get your ticket validated. I also get an occasional slice of pizza or egg roll. I cant completely explain it, but I love this place.
Fresh Grocer isn't SO bad, but I always wind up getting really frustrated in there. It's always something. They're out of one thing, or something costs way too much, or the cashier treats me like a jerk. I will say that the place seems to be pretty clean and organized. That counts for a lot. It's just always a madhouse in there, which drives me crazy!
Worst layout for a grocery store ever. Nuff said.
Is there anyone that the Fresh Grocer would not hire? This supermarket is run by a bunch of surly, incompetent kids. Oh, and the prices suck.
When I first moved here I once tried their "coffeeshop". I don't think anyone had ever actually ordered a coffee there before, or since.
Supreme is a tad more ghetto but you get the feeling someone there cares a little bit. I would rather drive to Delaware and back than revisit the Fresh Grocer.
Good selection, produce is MUCH better than Trader Joe's and great international and hard-to-find items.
Love the parking in the building.
Employees clearly all hate working there and are often rather unpleasant to customers.
I HATE THE FRESH GROCER! I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT! I hate this place but I can not stop going. The Fresh Grocer is a great concept and has the potential to be an amazing store... it is just so ghetto! The produce is disgusting; I would say that at least half of the fruit looks bruised or dented. The service is horrible; the cashiers curse at each other, answer cell phones and give you attitude for no reason. The prices are a little on the expensive side.
Also, THEY RUN OUT OF TRANSPASSES AND TOKENS BY MONDAY! If you know you keep running out, why not order more?? If I come on Monday at 9am I see no reason for you to be out consistently!
I guess you are asking yourself why I keep coming back. One, the pizza is pretty good. The slice is 1/6 of a pizza, cheap and pretty delicious. Two, FroGro has a monopoly on the University City market. There is no other supermarket nearby. So if you have somewhere else to grocery shop, go there and steer clear of FroGro.
This grocery store really polarizes its customers. Some people hate it, others swear by it. Personally, I'm more on the fence.
During regular business hours, this place certainly lures you in. They have a lot prepared foods that beats a lot of what's readily available in this area. The stuff's pretty gourmet, and closer to Whole Foods status, better than Trader Joe's, and Pathmark - ha.
I used to hit this place up very late at night, which they do stay open for. Nothing is terribly overpriced, but you'll never get the sale/advantage card savings that you will at a monstrous super market. All that said, I think this place serves University City well. Most college kids aren't filling their carts... and while a lot of families do shop here, they never seem to buy packing away the groceries.
An added note: free parking if you spend over $10, just remember to get validated. I think that attracts city workers on their way home, which is smart biz.
What a cool store! I love to browse interesting groceries. They had some great deals on salads and prepared foods in the deli case when I visited. I was overwhelmed by choices. But I did have trouble finding my way around. The layout is not simple, and it was hard to find someone to help me. I couldn't find honey ANYWHERE in the market. I know it was there somewhere....
The lines at the checkout were long, but it may have been due to a computer issue. All in all, it was a good market. I'd recommend shopping there. I'm sure after a few visits you can find things easily.
I think this place is great! They carry really quality items have fairly friendly staff and are pretty clean!
It's tough to find good Grocery stores in this city! While I am currently spoiled by the Italian market being in my back yard...winter is something else over there, so I rely heavily on grocery stores. I like this one...just wish it weren't so far away!
The layout of this store is absolutely horrible, and it's often overcrowded with hordes of students making small purchases. The people who work the registers usually seem to be on a different planet. On the flip side, there are more specialty foods than your average supermarket, the people who work in the prepared foods section are nice (they hooked me up with tons of pizza dough for $2), and the sale prices are usually decent.
All in all, definitely not my first choice for food shopping.
I don't know of too many grocery stores that allow me the opportunity to play Bumper Carts in narrow, horribly laid out aisles with spacey shoppers either staring at the 45 different kinds of chicken soup or yakking away on their cell phones. Who knew rotting produce and overpriced groceries could provide the endless possibility for entertainment?
Thanks, but no thanks. If I feel the need to shop at a Fresh Grocer, I'll drive down to the 56th and Chestnut location. It's cleaner, fresher, bigger, far easier to navigate, and I can park in a hassle-free lot.
This place is essentially Whole Foods combined with Super Fresh. on paper that either sounds like a really good thing or a collision waiting to happen from within - and this store manages to be both. it's pretty useful to find a lot of stuff inside one store. But don't expect to find too much help or anyone who has a standing knowledge of the more exotic (Whole Foods style) products.
Getting stuff like Annie's Natural Foods, and Cliff bars here aren't even worth it because most of the higher end stuff is nearly twice the price of what they cost in Whole Foods.
It's great for a quick lunch. and the fact that it's open pretty late can be useful. but I wouldn't rely on it to heavily for everyday grocery shopping.
Fresh Grocer, or FroGro, as we used to call it, is a pretty damn convenient little supermarket. As the only food-selling establishment on the University of Pennsylvania campus, the gourmet supermarket charges a premium for its goods and services. But it's also one of the only supermarkets in the area where you can get a diverse line of great, fresh produce --- during a phase in my life when I wanted to learn how to cook exotic foods, I used to go there for things like plantains and fresh herbs. The prepared food is very pricey, but it's also fresher and tastier than a lot of the area restaurants.
Other highlights include: a multistory parking garage, the gigantic sandwiches (with, literally, over a pound of meat), and the comfortable eating area on the second floor, which overlooks Walnut Street.
Negatives are: a sometimes impatient, even downright testy staff, who get worse than you can imagine when the place suddenly gets packed, as it has been known to do.
Hmmm.. where else can you get a rather decent pizza slice for a buck or so.. 24/7? Not bad.
I have no clue about the grocery of this place. I've only purchased pizza and salad from their food bar, so my review/stars are reserved for it alone. We found this place by accident after getting back from a trip and needed late AM food. For a buck, I was expecting very bad pizza, recalling past grocery store pizza slice incidents-- but that was not the case:
The plain slice is rather good.. though the base tasted like a purchased base-- not "home made", though it was not bad at all. The veg pizza is actually good for its price.
There is another location in Philly, which has free parking, I just can't remember where. It had an even better rendition of a vegetarian pizza, with big sweets onions baked directly on its base and under the sauce (adding a new flavor), and lots of vegetables on top. It surprisingly tasted better than more expensive vegetarian pizza renditions I've tasted in gourmet places (except for the base, which is not bad, absolutely fine.. but is not the best base).
The quality varies and depends on the day and the maker too. Mostly, it is a good convenient place to grab a quick salad or pizza slice during those late hours.
The Fresh Grocer is sort of a mixed bag. On one hand they have good prices in some areas, such as seafood and meats. They're always nice and clean and open 24/7, they have plenty of specialty items, and they have free parking if you're using a car (usually I'm not but it has come in handy). On the other hand the service is usually pretty lousy, and the prices for a lot of other items are pretty crazy. It is a momentous occasion when the cashier actually bags your groceries instead of making you do it yourself as usually happens. I've been given the wrong price for crab legs and waited at the seafood counter for something like twenty minutes for somebody to print out a new barcode with the right price. The bathroom is nasty, but at least it's there. Single boxes of cereal start at $5 or more, which is more expensive than the Powelton bodega Kimi's Place. They do at least have occasional 5-for-$10 specials on the cereal that I like, which means I get it cheap, but it also means I have five boxes of Lucky Charms on top of my kitchen cabinet.
Unfortunately they are pretty much the only supermart in UC, especially for those without cars. The closest alternative is Trader Joe's which is not really well suited for those with mainstream preferences. Fortunately TFG is not too bad, so I'll keep going there until I get a car and can frequent Costco or until I move.
TFG is nothing special. As soon as you walk in, the smell of no-so-fresh produce meets you at the door. It doesn't slap you in the face, mind you, it just kinda wafts over - any of you with small children/nieces/nephews will get what I'm saying. The place is small, but the smell is lethal. The place is small and overpriced, with rude staff - but that's about to be expected for a place like this in the city. I guess if I really want Whole Foods' hospitality, I should just save my $3 and stay in Jersey. Anywhoo, I ordered a smoothie from TFG one evening, and it tasted like it was made with plain yogurt, milk and air - nothing else. Needless to say, 10 minutes and $7 later, I was very disappointed. I'll probably only go back to TFG if I'm in the neighborhood and want a bottle of Fiji or something.
It's 24 hours, it has everything you need, and it's walking distance from Penn.
It's also overpriced at times, the aisles are REALLY narrow, and sometimes the items are difficult to find or reach.
Most people know I do things late at night, so naturally Grocery Shopping is one of the them. The Fresh Grocer is my salvation. It is somewhere between the likes of a Whole Foods / Trader Joes / Superfresh. They have a nice fresh selection, but most of there boxed / canned groceries are mainstream selections. However, all of that fall by the way side because it's open 24/7. Sweet!
When they opened, it was great. There was finally reasonable produce in the neighborhood. There was finally a reasonably stocked grocery store in the neighborhood. Once their only competition (Thriftway) closed shortly thereafter, the quality went down, the prices went up and I just started avoiding the place.
Now we have the Supreme. The best produce in the area is still sold off the back of a truck on 44th between Walnut and Chestnut, but I don't have to go to Fresh Grocer to wait in line while a student pays for a bag of chips with her credit card. Outside of the school year, lines are shorter are more practical.
True, this place is open long hours which does make it useful, but the cons far outweigh the pros. One nice thing about the long hours is that after a certain time at night, the previous day's prepared food goes on sale - you can get dinner for a buck or two.
I wouldn't buy produce here, but for everything else it's pretty awesome. There's a huge selection of international foods, they're open 24/7, and they sell packets of beer pong balls at the cash register. Clearly they know their market.
Neighborhood: University City
Category: Grocery
Neighborhood: Powelton Village
Category: Farmers Market
Neighborhood: University City
Category: Grocery
Neighborhood: Logan Square
Category: Grocery
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square
Category: Grocery
Here are the places that I can think of open 24/7…
Anybody living on Drexel campus or around Powelton…
