Chester Residents Rally For A Supermarket
Another Genuardi's supermarket has closed in the Philadelphia suburbs, because of too much competition, on the same day that Chester residents rallied to get a supermarket in their town.
The Landsdale Genuardi's succumbed to pressure from new chains, such as Wegman's and Aldi's, and non-traditional grocery sellers, such as Target, according to spokeswoman Maryann Crager:
"The grocery business is fiercely competitive by nature and with new entries into the market it's becoming more difficult in the Philadelphia area to operate. Genuardi's stores have now closed in Voorhees, Newtown Square, Concord and Chesterbrook."
Meanwhile, in the city of Chester, there is no supermarket; hasn't been since 2001 so a handful of residents protested outside the Philadelphia Union soccer game, to highlight the fact that a supermarket was promised in return for the generous taxpayer subsidies of the stadium.
Fred Jones is one of the organizers:
"The people are frustrated, they're tired of having to go outside the city just to do their basic food shopping."
Jones says there was no response from the developer or public officials.
Reported By Pat Loeb, KYW Newradio
