Philadelphia’s grocery market is getting more crowded, with Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe’s, and Sprouts Farmers Market all lining up new stores across the city and surrounding suburbs. The activity ranges from compact urban markets to traditional supermarkets in suburban shopping centers. Several of the projects have surfaced within the past three months, adding to expansion already underway from the three specialty grocers.
Whole Foods Market has two Philadelphia locations in development. The Amazon-owned grocer signed a lease at 2221-2225 South Street in Fitler Square for the city’s first Whole Foods Market Daily Shop, its smaller store format designed for dense urban neighborhoods. The location will replace South Square Market, a long-time independent grocer. An opening date has not been set. Daily Shop carries a narrower assortment than a traditional Whole Foods Market while retaining departments such as fresh produce, meat and seafood, prepared foods, and bakery. Stores also stock 365 by Whole Foods Market products and items from local and regional suppliers. A second Whole Foods Market is proposed for 1716 Frankford Avenue in Fishtown. Plans presented for the mixed-use development call for an approximately 9,400-square-foot grocery store on the ground floor of a 40-unit apartment building. The project would give Fishtown its first location from a major national supermarket chain. Whole Foods Market has not confirmed whether the proposed market would operate under the Daily Shop name.
Trader Joe’s is also moving beyond its existing Center City stores. The Monrovia, California-based chain has signed a lease to anchor a planned shopping center at 1505-25 S. Columbus Boulevard near Dickinson Street in Pennsport. The store would be Trader Joe’s third within Philadelphia city limits and its first outside Center City. The grocer currently operates at 1324 Arch Street and 2121 Market Street, along with several suburban locations including Ardmore, Media, Wayne, Jenkintown, and King of Prussia. Construction on the Columbus Boulevard development is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.
Sprouts also has several Greater Philadelphia projects moving on a shorter timeline. The Phoenix-based grocer is scheduled to open a 23,000-square-foot store in Washington Township, New Jersey, on August 28th. Located on Egg Harbor Road in Sewell, it will become Sprouts’ fourth South Jersey market, joining Haddon Township, Marlton, and West Deptford. Across the Delaware River, another store is under construction at 36 W. Ridge Pike in Limerick, Pennsylvania, with an October opening planned. Sprouts has also signed a lease for a 29,500-square-foot supermarket at Llanerch Shopping Center in Havertown, its first location in Philadelphia’s western suburbs. That store is expected to open in early 2027. The Havertown project will put an unused grocery space into operation after years of vacancy. Amazon Fresh leased the site for roughly six years but never opened the planned store. Sprouts will take over the existing space rather than build a supermarket from the ground up. The new stores follow several recent Sprouts openings within Philadelphia itself. The chain opened supermarkets at Roosevelt Mall and Quartermaster Plaza in 2024, followed by a Northern Liberties location at the Rivermark development in June 2025. It also operates a store on South Broad Street. Sprouts’ format centers heavily on produce, natural and organic foods, bulk items, vitamins and supplements, meat and seafood, deli products, and prepared foods. Its newer stores generally run smaller than a conventional supermarket, with the Washington Township location measuring 23,000 square feet and Havertown planned at 29,500 square feet.
Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe’s and Sprouts are pursuing different types of real estate as they add stores around Philadelphia. Whole Foods Market’s two city projects are tied to smaller urban spaces, while Trader Joe’s South Philadelphia store will anchor a new retail development. Sprouts is adding locations on both sides of the city through a mix of new construction and reused supermarket space. The additions will put more stores from all three chains within the region over the next two years, with openings stretching from South Jersey and Montgomery County to Philadelphia neighborhoods that do not currently have locations from the respective retailers.
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