From pierogies and pizza to makisuri and menemen, the Pittsburgh food scene has flourished in 2025.
While most of our coverage has centered on restaurants, a host of grocery stores and community markets have been simmering in the background.
Here’s everything you need to know about the stores that were announced — or opened — in the back half of 2025:
The small North Side grocer and deli is set to spread its wings when it moves into the Garden Theater early next year.
Trek Developments has been working on the historic theater site for about a decade, though development attempts span decades before. While apartments have popped up in new buildings immediately next door to the Garden, the theater itself will house retail space for Mayfly and Homestead’s Golden Age Beer Co. Mayfly stands to double its square footage — from 1,500 to 3,000.
“It’s a lot of kitchen expansion,” says owner Ann Gilligan. “We’re going to be able to expand our ready-made food.”
The footprint will also allow for more offerings on the “market” side of the store as well, though Gilligan says it’s too soon to confirm any specific inventory.
Mayfly is looking to make its move from Arch Street to The Garden by mid-January. Gilligan says it will come with a brief closure — a couple days at most, she expects — but the details are not concrete.
“It probably doesn’t look like it, but we’re getting really close to the end,” she says.
Harvest on Main at 808 Main St. — the former address of Brother Tom’s Bakery — is expected to open in February 2026. Photo by Crissy Holtzer.
When Harvest on Main opens in Sharpsburg in early 2026, it will feature the usual deli, bakery and foodstuffs common to small-scale grocers, but it will also offer prepared meals made by in-house chef Chris Condrin and sell produce at zero-margin rates. Harvest on Main will also accept SNAP and Food Bucks benefits.
The new nonprofit grocer was created by the folks behind the Second Harvest Community Thrift Store, which sells gently used clothing, furniture, and home goods. Currently, the nearest grocery store — aside from Family Dollar — is nearly 2 miles away, according to Second Harvest.
Second Harvest Executive Director Bonnie DeMotte says its nonprofit status helps the store make its most nutritious foods the most affordable, as it’s able to secure donations unavailable to for-profit grocers. Nonprofit status also allows them more control over what is sold.
“A lot of the other markets that are opening up are carrying different pieces to be — more than sustainable — profitable,” DeMotte says. “Lottery and skill games and tobacco and things like that we just won’t do.”
Harvest on Main is currently in the midst of a $2 million capital campaign as its storefront is renovated ahead of opening. The address formerly belonged to Brother Tom’s Bakery.
DeMotte says the store will open in February 2026.
817 Liberty Ave. is the future home of Well Well Market, a grocery store set to open Downtown next year. Photo by Roman Hladio.
If you often find yourself needing to make a grocery run after work or a show in the Cultural District, your setbacks will soon be solved: A dedicated grocery store is coming to the heart of Downtown next year.
The impending opening is another quill in the cap of local leaders’ efforts to convert Downtown into a livable neighborhood. Currently, the nearest stores for Downtown residents are Target, a slew of convenience stores, or the North Side and South Side Giant Eagles.
The “fresh-forward neighborhood market” will operate in a 3,800-square-foot storefront. Owners Eric Iacone and Ivy Hu have previously promised that “more than 40% of products in the store will have organic certification and will boast affordable prices,” according to the Downtown Neighborhood Alliance.
Well Well Market did not respond to a request for comment.
Market District at The Meridian opened on Thursday, Nov. 6. Its total footprint is much smaller than sister locations — it’s only about 36,000 square feet compared to the nearby Centre Avenue Market District’s 74,856 square feet. Photo by Roman Hladio.
While the East Liberty-Shadyside-Larimer nexus is chock full of retail spaces, Pittsburgh’s newest Market District adds yet another option. It opened on Thursday, Nov. 6.
The store’s fare is about the same as other Giant Eagle and Market District locations, but it boasts a Millie’s Ice Cream Scoop Shop inside for those who need a cone — or a coffee — while they roam the aisles.
That being said, it is a much smaller store compared to others. The Meridian Market District is only about 36,000 square feet, while the nearby Centre Avenue Market District in Shadyside is 74,856 square feet, according to The Green Building Information Gateway.
The Meridian has long been in development but is finally seeing a slew of other businesses announce tenancy. CAVA, Shake Shack and Sushi Atarashi/Wushiland Boba have already secured retail space. Sephora, J. Crew Factory and Meridian Nail Bar will also have storefronts at the address. Currently, only Market District and Barnes & Noble are open.
The new Giant Eagle Pharmacy on Mount Washington replaced a former Rite Aid. Photo by Roman Hladio.
Here’s one that’s grocery-adjacent: After Rite Aid closed its stores throughout the city, Giant Eagle acquired many of the pharmaceutical records. In late October, they took it a step further and opened the former Mount Washington Rite Aid as an independent Giant Eagle Pharmacy.
While the store is primarily dedicated to filling the gap Rite Aid left, it also brought some “prepared foods, produce and grocery essentials” to the space, according to a press release.
The pharmacy has a surprising amount of stock inside. It didn’t have cocoa powder or cream of tartar for my last batches of cookies, but it did have a small produce display stuffed with tubers and other hearty vegetables, alongside a shelf of Giant Eagle baked goods and a wall of frozen foods. It might not be enough to make it your primary store, but it’ll do in a pinch.
A rendering of the Cranberry Wegmans from July 2025. Image courtesy of Wegmans.
5000 Cool Springs Drive, Cranberry
The grocery store chain known for its high-quality store brand goods made a splash in January 2025 when it announced a store was in the works in Cranberry.
In August, renderings for the site were released, but there’s no word on when construction might begin.
The store is expected to open in late 2027.
Intersection of Route 228 and Franklin Road, Cranberry
A few miles east, Michigan-based grocery store Meijer is similarly setting up shop. On Thursday, Dec. 11, the store’s preliminary land development plans gained approval from township supervisors, according to The Butler Eagle.
It still requires a host of other approvals — the final approval for its land development among them — and comes with no development timeline.
Construction continues on 5880 Centre Ave., on Tuesday, Dec. 16, though the address’ future use is unclear. Photo by Roman Hladio.
Last word on this project officially came in January 2024 when Herky Pollock — working with Global Commercial Real Estate Services at the time — announced he had secured a lease for the former Whole Foods and that national grocery chain The Fresh Market would be moving in.
In the time since, Pollock has spun up Legacy Realty Partners, which is now developing that whole block of Centre Avenue.
It appeared that work was progressing on the building during the afternoon of Tuesday, Dec. 16, but Legacy Realty Partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment ahead of print time.