ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A new destination for fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, eggs and other food is welcoming shoppers at a Lehigh County shopping center.
Valley Fresh Marketplace, a store selling produce, canned goods, snacks and other groceries, opened Saturday at 1384 Hanover Ave. in Allentown, manager Eddie Mashraki told 69 News.
The store, owned and operated by partners David Saad and Naseef Mashraki, occupies an updated space in the Allentown Commons shopping center.
“We live in Allentown, we grew up in Allentown, and we’re excited to do something positive for the city and Lehigh Valley overall,” Eddie said.
Individuals can shop a wide variety of high-quality fruits and vegetables, sourced from venerable suppliers across the country, along with other grocery items such as meats, cheeses, milk, juice, soda and candy.
The store also carries a large selection of unique, international groceries that aren’t often found at large chain supermarkets, Eddie said.
For example, a wide variety of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern items include falafel, labneh, hummus, tahini, phyllo dough, tyropita, spanakopita, knefeh, kataifi, sujuk, shawarma spices and Turkish delights, among other items.
There are also Latin American staples such as empanadas, tostones, maduros, fried plantain cups, tortillas, churros, various types of rice and a wide selection of Goya products.
“We’ll have a little something for everybody,” Eddie said. “We’ll have groceries from Latin America, Jamaica, the Middle East, everywhere. The produce will be of the highest quality and very affordable.”
A large portion of the store is devoted to fresh produce, including apples, peaches, pineapples, bananas, oranges, avocados, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and eggplant.
A diverse selection of other goods includes fish and other seafood, pasta, tomato sauces, olives, breadsticks, butter, croissants, extra virgin olive oil, nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cookies, honey, coffee, tea and milk.
Valley Fresh Marketplace also plans to wholesale produce to other local businesses, including minimarts, restaurants and supermarkets, Eddie said.
The store is operating 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.
“There’s a lot of community support for our store,” Eddie told 69 News on the store’s opening day.
“We haven’t done much advertising, but we’ve already had a lot of customers, and the feedback’s been great.”
Allentown Commons is a contemporary five-building shopping center with 70,612 square feet of retail, office and medical space.
The shopping center is home to a diverse mix of tenants, including Planet Fitness, Family Dollar, Health Network Laboratories, Popeyes and Big Woody’s, among others.
First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union plans to open its new Allentown Financial Center – a modern facility designed to enhance the in-person and drive-up banking experience for the community – at the Allentown Commons on March 31.
Also, Larken Associates, a leading full-service commercial and residential real estate firm, in December announced two other leases at Allentown Commons: a 2,606-square-foot lease with Albert Appliances, LLC, an existing tenant offering a wide variety of new and used refrigerators, stoves, washers, dryers, and other household appliances at competitive prices; and a 2,150-square-foot lease with Root’d Corp, a new community-focused juice and smoothie bar offering a broad range of nutritious options.