The Market Report

Weaver Markets Owner: Michael Weaver Opened:  1962 Cooperative:  none Location:  2610 N Reading Rd, Denver, PA Photographed:  August 20, 2019 Our final store in the Lancaster County group is another massive independent supermarket. The 84,000 square foot Weaver Markets (which previously also had a location in Adamstown) is the only major supermarket between Ephrata and the immediate Reading suburbs -- which, to be clear, is not that long of a distance, about 15 miles. The store is stuck in time in a way, but in the best possible way. Its decor is not up-to-date, but the place is maintained flawlessly. The prices (especially for the "snack bar," which we'll get to) are great, and a lot of the perishables sold here are store-prepared and homemade. My mother and I were in this store, and her first reaction was that it felt familiar. When we thought about it a little bit, we realized this store looks a heck of a lot like how her Pathmark did in the 1980s. The expansive produc

Ebenezer Groceries Owner: Jonah Dodd Opened:  2002 Cooperative:  none Location:  465 N Reading Rd, Ephrata, PA Photographed:  August 20, 2019 One more salvage grocery store in the Lancaster County area for us to see, and it's this one, Ebenezer Groceries! (Obviously there are many more I haven't been to yet, but this is the last one I have visited.) This store is located just outside of Ephrata, PA and appears to be around 30,000 square feet. It's in the front part of a light industrial building with a few other tenants, and it's a nice place with high ceilings, not to mention that it appears to be relatively newly-renovated. We see a lot of new fixtures, freshly painted walls, new carts, and so on. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be matched with an improved product mix. I found Ebenezer's selection to be even more idiosyncratic than most salvage grocery stores, with general product quality being lower. Produce was noticeably worse than some of the other sto

Redner's Warehouse Markets Opened: 1987 Previous Tenants:  GIANT Food Stores (planned, never opened) Location: 423 N Reading Rd, Ephrata, PA Photographed:  August 20, 2019 Our last mainstream supermarket here in Ephrata is the Redner's Warehouse Market, a PA chain of lower-end mainstream grocery stores. The stores tend to be large and value-based but not discount supermarkets. This store is slightly smaller than the neighboring Weis , at about 48,000 square feet. JoshAustin610 explains that this store was planned in 1986 as a GIANT Food Store, but they ultimately backed out before opening and Redner's moved in instead. We do have one more Ephrata store before we move on, and it'll be another salvage store on the eastern side of town on The Independent Edition tomorrow!