TOUR: Mallard Markets - Lehighton, PA

Mallard Markets
Owner: Karan Patel

Opened: 2016 under current ownership; 2002 previously

Cooperative: none
Location: 161 S 2nd St, Lehighton, PA

Photographed: December 22, 2018

Welcome to Lehighton! This little town of 5400 is situated on the Lehigh River roughly halfway between Allentown and Hazleton. The town has three supermarkets, with a GIANT and an ALDI to the west of town, and the Mallard Markets right in the middle of town. The 8800 square foot store isn't the largest, but it does have a little of a lot of things and is quite the pleasant little store. It's been in business since 2002, although the current owners took over in 2016. I'm not sure what it was prior to Mallard Markets, but I would guess it's been a supermarket for quite some time.

There does seem to be some discrepancy, too, as exterior signage refers to the store as Mallard Markets, while the inside signage says just Mallard Market. I wonder if that means at one point there were multiple and this is the only one left.

We enter and turn left to go into the produce department in the front left corner, with dairy in the first aisle. Meat and deli are on the back wall, with frozen foods on the right side of the store.

As we can see, it's a small place but it's a complete supermarket.

There's also actually a full decor package here too, although it looks like it might be custom for Mallard Markets (which I love, by the way, like the sign there on the back wall), so it doesn't give us any clues to what was here previously.

Meat and deli departments on the back wall. Again, here we can see it's a full supermarket and not just an oversized convenience store, as it has full fresh departments.

If I remember correctly, the store is not a member of any cooperative but uses Essential Everyday products from UNFI.

Maintenance has been great at this store, as it was absolutely spotless at the time of my visit even though we can tell the store is older.

And here's a look at frozen foods in the last aisle. Five aisles total, so it's still a very small but very complete supermarket. 

And a look at the registers in the front. I'm glad to see this store is holding its own despite GIANT, ALDI, Walmart, and Dollar General encroaching from all directions. If you're reading this, you probably already know I'm a big fan of independent small town supermarkets. And good news -- we have another one to check out tomorrow, right here on The Independent Edition!