Ideal Food Basket (future)
Owner: Juan Diaz
The Ahart's Market in Bethlehem, after closing in 2021, has been stripped back to the studs for a major renovation by owner Juan Diaz, who is preparing to reopen the store as an Ideal Food Basket. See the store before its closure in yesterday's post here.
I visited the store to check on the progress over a year ago, in January 2022. Progress, unfortunately, has been rather slow as the renovation appears to be extremely extensive. From my visit to Ahart's, even several years before it closed, it was apparent that a major remodel was quite necessary.
The owners of the Ideal Food Basket, who own among other stores the Ideal Food Basket on Coney Island Ave (which has been remodeled since I was there), have clearly invested a lot of money into this space. In addition to things like changing decor and fixtures, the facade has been redone including new windows and doors in the front. See a more recent update here.
As we can see, the bones of the building were quite outdated and required a lot of work. But all traces of Ahart's hadn't quite been erased yet...
Unfortunately, the property was thoroughly fenced off (understandably so, since it was an active construction area) so I couldn't get any closer to see the interior of the building. Below we can see an overview of the parking lot.
And another look at the storefront before we move on...
You can see the building's position in its neighborhood below. The south side of Bethlehem is a pleasant low-key and very historic neighborhood, with a lot of residences and small businesses. This is by far the largest commercial parcel in the immediate area.
Owner: Juan Diaz
Opening: 2023
Previous Tenants: Food Fair (closed 1979) > Food Lane (1979-2001) > Ahart's Market (2001-2021)
Cooperative: America's Food Basket
Location: 410 Montclair Ave, South Side, Bethlehem, PA
Photographed: January 13, 2022
Tomorrow we're headed to The Independent Edition to check out a small supermarket to the west of Center City!
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