Snapshot: Saleen Supermarket - Frankford, Philadelphia, PA

Saleen Supermarket
Owner: William Diaz

Opened: 2007

Cooperative: none
Location: 1701 Wakeling St, Frankford, Philadelphia, PA

Photographed: July 2021

I've mentioned in a previous post that Philadelphia has fewer, larger supermarkets than New York City which tends to have many small supermarkets. That leaves more neighborhoods of Philadelphia completely without a supermarket, including parts of Frankford. Corner grocers like this one, which appears to be around 1400 square feet, have to pick up the slack. This particular one looks like it was previously the Wakeling Supermarket, and later Torres Supermarket before becoming Saleen Supermarket in 2007. It wouldn't surprise me if, way back, this building was home to some chain grocery store, probably back in the 1930s or so. Regardless, until a few years ago, Frankford was served by a larger supermarket just to the north a few blocks from here. We're taking a look at that store tomorrow on Grocery Archaeology!