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Special Report: Ideal Food Basket - Bethlehem, PA

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By Zachary
Ideal Food Basket
Owner: Juan Diaz
Opened: April 28, 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: August 25, 2023
Wrapping up this weekend with a look at the Ideal Food Basket in Bethlehem! We've been tracking this store from its time as an Ahart's, then its progress as an Ideal here and here. At just 18,000 square feet, this is a rather small supermarket, but Ideal has transformed it from its days as a dingy, neglected Ahart's to a spacious, modern supermarket.
We enter with a refrigerator of deli and baked goods on the left, with sale items and the Beer Cave (plus a small cafe) on the right. Deli/bakery lines the right side of the grand aisle with produce on the left. Meat is on the back wall, and dairy/frozen are on the left side of the store.
I was absolutely blown away by how different this store looks and feels (and smells!) from the old Ahart's. I wish the produce were a little better, but overall, I was thoroughly impressed. There's a much larger selection than Ahart's had, and lots more emphasis on the fresh foods.
Like Ahart's, Ideal Food Basket sells Essential Everyday and Wild Harvest items.
This decor is similar to some of the newly-renovated New York City stores, like this one in Brooklyn. That store feels much more upscale than this one, which feels more like a mainstream supermarket.
There's a service bakery counter for custom cakes, but it looks like there's relatively little actually baked in-store. There are some cool desserts from local bakeries, along with fresh bread from the NY area.
Produce department is looking good, though!
And as we move towards the back, we move into bakery and meat. I love the old Bethlehem pictures in this area!
Bread and meat in the back. It looks like Ideal pushed the back wall into the backroom more than Ahart's was -- compare here.
Meat looks great too!
Now let's head over into the grocery aisles. There's a bit of a limited selection given the store's relatively small size, but it's still a very substantial grocery department.
Flooring, ceiling, and shelving look great. I like the track lighting in the grand aisle, and I would love to see more specific lighting around the rest of the store.
There's also a selection of kitchenwares.
There's a pretty substantial selection of nonfoods, which may be making up for the relatively limited shopping choices on the south side and in Fountain Hill nearby.
A beautiful, orderly dairy and frozen department! But of course, there's only 7 aisles here, so dairy and frozen together take up just one aisle.
And a look across the front. I will say that the decor is not holding up well here very soon after the store's opening, with the "Proudly Serving Bethlehem, PA" signage kind of falling down, as we can see below. Otherwise, the store looks great!
I loved this store, although it's got some room for improvement. And I'm looking forward to seeing the other stores that might be in the pipeline for Ideal. Don't forget to see everything else from this weekend here! 

Saturday

Sunday


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