TOUR: Fine Fare Supermarkets - Reading, PA

Fine Fare Supermarkets
Owner: Juan Diaz

Opened: 2010

Previous Tenants: A&P (closed ca. 1980) > IGA > Compare Foods

Cooperative: Retail Grocers Group

Location: 200 W Buttonwood St, Reading, PA

Photographed: August 20, 2019

Welcome to the city of Reading, PA for our first supermarket! This 30,000 square foot supermarket was built in the 1970s as an A&P, before closing around 1980. It became an IGA shortly thereafter, then a Compare Foods more recently and most recently a Fine Fare in 2010. (It's possible the owners of the Compare Foods and the Fine Fare are the same.) The best part about this store is that, although there have been some modifications inside, it's still got almost its entire A&P decor package intact.

Reading is a lower-income but fairly large city, with a population of about 100,000 and a median household income around $26,000. It's about 60% Hispanic, meaning that several of the urban NYC coops (Fine Fare, Krasdale, and most recently Ideal Food Basket) have set up shop in the city. But it's estimated that around 33% of the population of Reading is below the poverty line.

The first aisle is the produce department, which has definitely been expanded from the A&P days. I'm not clear on what's happening on the right, which seems to be something recently removed. It just feels like a big empty space now. Meat and seafood are on the back wall, with frozen foods in the middle of the store. Dairy is in the last aisle on the left with deli and hot food in the front left corner.

I'm assuming that the flooring is left over from day 1 as an A&P, as the decor (once we get out of the repainted first aisle) certainly is...

This is the full decor package of the style we saw in the Great Neck Associated. Interestingly enough, that store has repainted almost the whole store except for the produce department. This one has repainted the produce department but not the rest of the store. Clearly, some of these fixtures are new.

Meat and seafood service coutners with what I assume is a new awning here in the back of the store.

And frozen foods, in much older cases, in the middle of the store. Despite the fact that the store is older, it's in pretty good condition. It's clean and has been maintained fairly well.

More ice cream than cold cuts here these days, but the beautiful A&P sunrise sign remains.

And dairy, which also appears to be in newer cases, in the last aisle. It looks like these fixtures might be newer too.

And in the front corner we have deli and bakery, including a hot food department.

Obviously the deli lettering isn't left over from A&P, and neither is the Hot Food sign (not to mention that A&P's deli might not have been here). But it does appear to have been created to mimic the A&P style signage.

Again, it looks like the fixtures here are newer than the decor.

We're missing the second P in shopping, but the A&P sign remains on the front wall! No A&P logo these days, of course.

Speaking of remaining logos, it's been two stores since IGA was here but there's still a sign out on the street with the IGA logo prominently displayed. I guess IGA isn't too concerned about it.

Then again, this sign is almost invisible from the street (much like the store) because of the trees. Anyway, we're going to head about half a mile southwest towards downtown for tomorrow's store, another NYC-area cooperative with a Hispanic food focus. Come back tomorrow to check it out!