Lack of access to healthy food is a critical issue in the Delaware Valley. There are 35 food deserts in Philabundance’s nine county service area as determined by the USDA, one of which is the City of Chester’s west end.
In response, Philabundance is opening a nonprofit grocery store called Fare & Square in the summer of 2013 in the City of Chester, Delaware County. Chester has been without a grocery store since 2001 and more than 54% of families in the City must travel too far for groceries, according to a Philabundance Community Survey conducted in July 2010.
Fare & Square will offer shoppers convenient access to “good food right around the corner” that has not been available to residents in a full scale grocery store. Fare & Square will sell nutritious food staples with a focus on fresh produce, meats, dairy, seafood, and frozen foods and will help stretch customers dollars so that they get more for their money. SNAP (food Stamps) will be accepted in conjunction with everyday low pricing for all customers, as well as a percentage off of future purchases for eligible members. Fare & Square will also offer SNAP outreach.
Click to see photos from the Fare & Square Groundbreaking
Philabundance is rehabbing the entire 21,000 sq. ft. building, creating a new gateway on the west end of Chester at the corner of 9th and Trainer. Fare & Square will be a 13,000 sq. ft. grocery store, located in the site of last supermarket within Chester city limits. In addition, Family Dollar will be reconfigured to take up the 9th street corridor and receive an improved facade. What’s more, Fare & Square will create 40 to 50 new jobs in Chester, hiring from the community when possible.
Everyone is welcome to shop at Fare & Square upon signing up for a free annual membership. The store will be open seven days a week, 12 hours each day. What’s more, Fare & Square will create 40 to 50 new jobs in Chester, hiring from the community when possible. Philabundance hopes to replicate the Fare & Square model in other communities in need in the Delaware Valley.
Philabundance has served the residents of Chester for more than 20 years and currently provides food to 14 member agencies in the city, 11 of which are food pantries. Fare & Square will be a supplement to the agencies that already help those in need of food assistance.
For more information on the project please contact FareandSquare@philabundance.org.
Find more information on the Fare & Square Fact Sheet!
Spread the word with our Fare & Square flier!
Keep up with the Fare & Square newsletter, The Purple Carrot!
Fare & Square in the News
- Philabundance to Open Grocery Store In Chester
- Congressman Brady Announces Site Acquisition for Philabundance’s Community Food Center in Chester
- Johnson Foundation Gives $800,000 to Philabundance for Nonprofit Market in Chester
- Philabundance Awarded Major Funding from Robert Wood Johnson to Improve Food Access in Chester
- Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District scores high on hunger scale
- Poverty Puts Chester into a Food Desert
- Philabundance and Chester
- Phila-Area District 2nd Hungriest in US- Study Says
