BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Bethlehem Co-op Market is celebrating a new milestone in the lengthy process of opening its brick-and-mortar grocery store.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Refrigeration installation work at the site at 250 E. Broad St. is complete.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“That milestone does get the board closer to setting an opening date,” Co-op Board Chair Todd Mertz told 69 News via email.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next step in the process is getting the site ready for inspections. The co-op is asking its members to help this weekend with assembling shelving and equipment inside the store, as well as moving heavier items into place and cleaning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mertz said he wasn’t aware of a specific date for the inspections, but added, “We\u2019re working closely with the city and hope it will go smoothly and quick.”<\/p>\n
The store will have to pass an inspection from the city as well as the state Department of Health. Once that happens, the co-op will then be able to secure its Certificate of Occupancy (CO). “That means the store becomes ours,” Mertz said.<\/p>\n
What about circling an official opening date on the calendar? Not yet.<\/p>\n
“It remains the most popular question the board gets from everyone,” Mertz said, in the email. “We get it and we\u2019d love to have an answer.”<\/p>\n
The co-op previously pledged to stop setting opening dates after several came and went over the years.\u00a0Plans for the grocery store were first announced in 2021, and ground was broken at the construction site the following year.<\/p>\n