Brandon Addeo | The Duquesne Duke
For the first time since 2010, Downtown Pittsburgh has its own grocery store.
Market Street Grocery, aptly named for its location at 435 Market Street, is the area’s first grocery store since the Rosebud Fine Food Market and Deli closed five years ago.
The new store, which celebrated its grand opening Wednesday, offers produce and meats, some of which are locally sourced, as well as prepared foods and beverages. The grocery also has a wine bar, a coffee bar that serves nighttime cocktails, a pastry baker and an in-house chef, according to Meade Johnson, who does marketing for the store.
The grocery store, just a 15-minute walk from Duquesne’s campus, was originally supposed to open in Spring 2014, but there were construction problems due to the building’s status as a historic landmark, Johnson said.
“There are certain things that you need to do when you’re redoing [the building] to restore it properly and you sometimes run into some bumps in the road,” Johnson said. “We have an old building and we want to maintain the integrity of it.”
The market is housed in the former Thompson building, which was built in 1928 as one of a chain of Thompson’s restaurants and is now part of the Market at Fifth historic site, according to the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks foundation.
Johnson said she expects the store to attract many customers, Duquesne students included.
“If [students] make it to Market Square, there are plenty of things to entice … and tickle your palate,” Johnson said.
The store is long and narrow, with the bakery and coffee bar flanking the both sides as the customer walks in through the front doors. Shelves with various bagged, bottled and canned products line the right wall of the store, and freezers are in the center and left sides.
The wine bar, located in the rear of the market, is connected to the main store and has its own entrance on Graham Street.
Prices in the store vary by product. Certain canned products like specialty dips and salsas are priced around $5, whereas small bottles of olive oil and vinegar are priced upwards of $12.
Duquesne’s Brottier residents are not required to have meals plans and often travel off-campus to shop for food and supplies.
Caitlin Young, a Duquesne senior, said she shops for supplies at the South Side Giant Eagle and the Monroeville Target.
Young said she looks forward to the opening of the new market.
“As soon as I heard about it I was super excited,” Young said. “This is exactly what [Downtown] Pittsburgh needs.”
