May 30, 2024
Provided Image/Fishtown Seafood
The new location of Fishtown Seafood opens Saturday at 2131 Pine St. in Fitler Square.
A Fishtown shop is bringing its "new school" approach to selling fish to Fitler Square.
Fishtown Seafood, which has operated in the River Wards for three years, will open its second location under the same name Saturday at 2131 Pine St.
The shop offers fish that is purchased directly from processors, producers and importers, shortening the supply chain. This increases transparency with customers, owner Bryan Szeliga said. And like the original store, the new location doesn't have a traditional seafood counter.
"It creates a space and an opportunity for a different level of dialogue and communication with our customers that you can't really have when there's this big, natural barrier," Szeliga said.
He's hoping to mirror the first location as much as possible, offering a lot of the same products and keeping the same shopping experience. But the new, 800-square-foot store will have more space for Fishtown Seafood's in-house classes, where experts teach seafood preparation and answer questions about buying fish and the supply chain. Customers can also pick up grab-and-go sushi, a new offering.
Szeliga got into the fish industry after he moved to Philadelphia with plans to open a sustainable seafood restaurant. After the funding for that project fell through, he started working for a seafood importer and eventually opened the original shop in 2021.
"I opened another location because I want to grow the business model and want to have more access and more reach to people," Szeliga said.
To celebrate the opening, Fishtown Seafood is giving away five golden oysters for its weekly "one buck youse shuck" deal on Fridays. Inspired by the golden tickets in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," the five shoppers who find the golden oysters get 20% off the store for life.
