Giant expanding its Philly footprint with two grocery store openings next month

Giant's rapid expansion in the Philadelphia region is continuing with the opening of two full-fledged grocery stores and an Heirloom market next month. 

The Pennsylvania-based supermarket chain will open a new grocery store along the Delaware River waterfront and an Heirloom market at the Fashion District in Philadelphia. A third store will move to a new location in Doylestown, Bucks County.

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Giant already has opened two stores in the city this year, including a new supermarket that debuted in Northeast Philly last week. And it has two more in the works. 

The new 46,000-square-foot Giant store at 1403 S. Columbus Blvd. will open Dec. 3. It will include sushi made in-store, a plant-based food section and a Beer and Wine Eatery. The supermarket will be open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and employ roughly 150 workers. National Realty Investment Advisors has planned a residential complex at the waterfront location, too.

The Center City Heirloom Market will open Dec. 16 at the site of the historic Strawbridge's department store building. The 32,000-square-foot facility will have grab-and-go meals, a gluten-free food section, a gourmet cheese department, kombucha on tap and a Beer and Wine Eatery. 

The market also will feature products from Claudio Specialty Foods, Isgro Pastries and One Village Coffee. The Heirloom market will be open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and employ about 100 employees. 

This will be Giant's fourth Heirloom Market in Philadelphia. The supermarket chain's other three smaller-format locations are in Graduate Hospital, Northern Liberties and University City.

The new Doylestown supermarket will open Dec. 10 at 4377 Swamp Road, moving from its current location next door. The 72,500-square-foot facility will include a Beer and Wine Eatery, an in-store Starbucks and Frutta Bowl, additional beauty and health care offerings and a specialty cheese shop. It will operate from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and employ about 225 workers.

Giant Direct, the supermarket's online grocery pick-up and delivery service, will be available at all three locations.

"The city of Philadelphia and the surrounding community continues to play a central role in our growth strategy, bringing customers fresh meal solutions both in-store and online," Giant's divisional vice president of Greater Philadelphia Manuel Haro said. "We are excited to debut three new stores for our customers just in time for the holiday shopping season and look forward to providing time-saving conveniences to help families spend more time together around the table."

The new stores come on the heels of the openings of a new Giant at 2201 Cottman Ave. in Northeast Philly and an e-commerce facility in Southwest Philly that is stocked with over 22,000 products and enables Giant to complete 15,000 home grocery deliveries each week. The 124,000-square-foot facility allows Giant to serve customers in South Jersey for the first time. 

Earlier this year, the supermarket chain's flagship, two-level grocery store opened at the new Riverwalk mixed-use development. More stores are coming, too. 

A 40,000-square-foot Giant store is planned as part of developer Bart Blatstein's South Philly development project at Broad Street and Washington Avenue. A 50,000 square-foot facility will open at the corner of North Broad and Spring Garden streets in conjunction with developer EBRM's plans to build two apartment towers.