The Fresh Grocer

The ol’ FroGro… let’s face it, you shop here because it’s the only game in UCity (the one on 43/​Walnut kinda nasty) and you ain’t driving to South Philly or the Suburbs. So ya gotta take the good with the bad… this ain’t Whole Foods in the MainLine people.

The Good:
–open 24 hours
–the take out/​prepared food is pretty good, reasonable price, and you get a boat load of food
–the hoagies are ridiculously huge!
–they usually have at least one of everything if you ain’t too picky about brand
–NICE selection of take out beer
The Bad:
–staff can be… hmmmm…not real customer service oriented…(although I am fine with the service)
–they don’t have a huge selection, the store just isn’t that big
–the aren’t all gourmet like (go to DiBrunno’s if you want to get fancy)
Bottom line… I am grateful we have this store near by and I shop here often.

Delicious freshmade pizzas for a good price. Just be careful that they don’t charge you for a different product, instead of pizzas. The workers can be quite careless.

I come to this store quite often. I hve never had an issue. Food is great there. However i encountered the rudest cashier on friday at 40^th street location (natasha was on my receipt) she didnt greet anyone, didnt look at anyone and was throwing my food around that i had just purchased from the pizza section. She look like she thought she was cute chewing this gum and moving slow. She needs to be fired. She was rude to me, my mother and a stranger in line. Disgusting customer service. Wont come back there.

It is the most comprehensive grocery store in University City. If you live in the area, this place is your oxygen that you can’t live without!
However compared to suburban groceries, the collection is narrower, and prices are steeper. But if you really live in University City, then those would be the last things on your mind.
And the best thing about FroGro (not a fan of the nickname) is you get freshly made ready to eat meal options.

This is an update review, I still believe this is a pretty good market. I always place my order online, and the woman who delivers my food is the niciest woman ever! Connie is the best!

In addition to being overly expensive, the store systematically scams customers. Try buying pizza slices. They should be 2 Dollars. However, on multiple occasions, the sales people «accidentally» put another product on the price sticker. Last time, I had a pizza without pepperoni in a box that said that it contained pepperoni. Today, I had to pay a Dollar extra because my vegetarian pizza was sold as vegetable soup. How can this accidentally happen 2 times in a row? It’s just plain CRIMINAL.
Another problem that I have with the sales people is that they are NOT FRIENDLY at all. If you ask the name of a pizza slice, they don’t know it. If you point out a pizza slice, they will complain that it is unclear and that you did not refer to it by name. That is completely unreasonable, especially given the fact that they don’t even know the names themselves. Moreover, they are also totally NOT MOTIVATED to sell anything. They ask you whether they can help you. If you say yes, they walk away and do administration for a minute before they get back to you. If you complain about anything, they blame you. If you threaten to go to the manager, they LAUGH at you.
If these people were my employees, I would definitely fire them. This is the total opposite of customer friendliness.

I’ve had to downgrade my review. Everything I said in the previous review is still correct EXCEPT rotisserie chicken is now $ 5.99.
Also — when I went last night, they were out of EVERYTHING. Seriously, unacceptable. No onions, NO GARLIC — not one garlic left. Almost all the salads /​lettuce everything was gone. Are they closing? Or terribly inefficient at re-​stocking items during peak shopping time (it was appx 6−7pm at night).
What if I ran to the store just to get garlic? Are you kidding me? So inconvenient and unacceptable. Although Supreme’s has less options, I honestly prefer them over Fresh Grocer now just for CONSISTENCY sake. Terrible experience, my definition of failure. Step it up.

Don’t come in here if you’re in a rush. The way the store is laid out is a headache in itself. For the most part, there aren’t good sales. Since this is an area near a lot of Universities, they up the price heavily. There is a mix of folks from the neighborhood and students, so this place is almost always crowded. They have a huge selection but it’s never worth it to look through the place since it’s so hectic.
They have a big selection of takeout food, and also a little hidden beer area which I just discovered.
I only come here because it’s close to my job. Otherwise, I would never. Aldi’s at 46^th and Market is so much better.

I haven’t encountered any issues with the Fresh Grocer, but then again I don’t go often. I mainly visit here when I get really tired of the fact that most supermarkets/​grocery stores near my apt (in Fitler Square) are just too tiny and lacking in selection for all my needs.

Nearly everybody who works here hates their job. I have never seen more unhappy people than those that work the checkstand. I’m glad they recently renovated the place, because it was (and probably still is) the most poorly organized grocery store in the world. They also own a monopoly on groceries in University City, so unless you want to go to Trader Joes in Center City or Supreme Shopping Bag, you don’t really have a choice. I remember my greatest moment was when I asked someone with the green Fresh Grocer t-​shirt where the spaghetti sauce was, and they said, «how would I know?» LOL

Small but comprehensive grocery store that has been taken over by Shop Rite. The aisles are small and the selections aren’t as good as you will find in a suburban store, but the location is convenient, and the prices are fair. Unfortunately, it takes forever to check out– there are always long waiting lines to pay, whether you use the self-​checkout lanes or not.
Decent takeout area with (Americanized) Chinese, hot roasted meats and sides, pizza, made-​to-​order hoagies, and sushi.

The Fresh Grocer is okay if you need to pick up groceries near UPenn, but it’s not great. I only shop here when I absolutely can’t get anywhere else, but I sure appreciate that Fresh Grocer is there for those times.

Expensive grocery store, only notable for its proximity to campus.
Tips:
+watch out for rotten /​moldy vegetables and fruits — more common that you think :(
+if you have the time, do yourself a favor and go to another grocery store

Like others said. Super expensive grocery. I feel the veggie ok fresh though. I went to Chinatown the next day for grocery. A lemon costs 60% less than fresh grocer. I seriously thin this is a whole foods standard price but not whole food standard quality.
Too bad we just have no other choice on campus.

I didn’t think a grocery store could be as bad as 2 stars. But Unilocal was right. AVOID THE FRESH GROCER. It is at best 1 star (solely for existing)
The aisles are disorganized, chaotic, and narrow. You should be given a helmet at the door to fight your way trough the aisles. The selection isn’t great for anything-​coffee, dairy products, soy milk, eggs, chips, breads, etc.
Everyone we encountered here appeared to hate life. (The seafood counter guy was just mean.) But the kicker was the employee at checkout named DACIA (yes, I checked my receipt) who attempted twice to tell me to bag my own groceries (I had a baby with me!) and when I refused proceeded to throw our groceries haphazardly into bags. Frozen items were mixed with chips, eggs with apples… no effort was made. All my fruit was bruised when I got home. She should be fired. I will never return here even though it is the closest grocery store to my house.
Way to lose thousands of dollars in purchases, Dacia & Fresh Grocer… We won’t be back!

I see that it has several addresses listed on Unilocal and in all three it has bad reviews. Not a surprise, is a big store with nothing, is not cheap, is not very expensive but very low quality in all products, from the vegetables, fruits and the fish and meats. I really don’t like this store and I wish someone would open a better one nearby.

A co-​worker and I went to this store for lunch today. We knew that they had salmon in their prepared food section and that’s what we decided we wanted to eat. We immediately noticed that there were flies around; one landed on a piece of salmon. The person behind the counter ignored it and when we bought it to her attention she tried to continue ignoring it; she asked us if we wanted something. My co-​worker asked her if she was going to throw it away and she said, «Yeah. I will.» We stood still, not believing her, and finally she takes the piece, puts it in a container and merely puts it to the side. After that our appetite for anything in that store was ruined. We did contact a manager but that is going to be the absolute last time I go there for lunch.

Not so fresh, Fresh Grocer!
Unfortunately, this is the closest grocery store to me within walking distance so I frequent here often. Their items are a little pricier than other grocery stores but I’m willing to spend a few extra bucks since it’s most convenient.
They don’t have a huge selection of fresh produce and meats. And what they do have are not of the best quality. I love fresh fruits, and the fruits they offer at Fresh Grocer are old, moldy, or rotten. I distinctly remember coming in intending on getting some strawberries. I saw a few boxes of strawberries that looked promising. Upon picking a box up, I saw that there was mold on one or two of the strawberries. Appalling really. I picked up a few other boxes, deciding to take my chances, but lo and behold, other boxes also had mold growing on the strawberries. Such a disappointment.
Sad to say that I will continue coming back here since it’s the closest grocer to me. If I wasn’t so lazy to traverse to Trader Joe’s, I would definitely be there for my groceries.

I give this 3-​stars mainly for convenience, which matters a lot to me as a busy student. This store is open ²⁴⁄₇ and located right by Penn’s campus. However, do not recommend if you are close to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, which are far better options for groceries. Even though the quality is better, Trader Joe’s is often cheaper than Fresh Grocer.
Ever since they became part of ShopRite, I’ve noticed a definite improvement in the quality of their sourcing. For example, I can now find decent mozzarella, organic eggs/​milk, higher quality meat than they had in the past. Their olive bar was nice when I was there earlier this week. This is all a big improvement from the past. The ShopRite store brand also brings a lot of lower-​priced products which is a great relief. I’ve bought ShopRite brand mozzarella, milk, eggs, hummus, and olive oil at a price much less than major brands.
Additionally, a major sticking point is the low quality of their veggies and fruits. This is particularly noticeable when comparing to T Joes or other decent grocery stores.
Also, the quality of their prepared food is severely lacking. It is a good place to buy basic groceries and perishables, but not good for picking up prepared food, which makes it a lot less useful for someone that wants quick dinner options. The pizza is cheap, but also lacking in quality, and the hot bar is a mix of items like mac and cheese and chicken wings and needs to be updated.

Fresh Grocer, or «Fro Gro» is one of the worst grocery stores I have been to in the United States. The only reason I frequent it is because of its proximity to Penn’s campus; it is the closest grocery store for me to go to given that I don’t usually have time to go to Trader Joe’s or another store in Center City. This is the reason I gave it 2 stars as opposed to 1.
The organization of the store is really annoying. It’s really hard to find things because of the weirdly diagonal aisles and random items being in arbitrary locations. And to make matters worse, the staff has NO IDEA what is going on. If you ask them to help you find something, they will either not know, not respond, or just shrug. It’s TERRIBLE!
Prices are also on the higher side given their Penn monopoly status. Furthermore, their fruits and vegetables are often expired or going bad. I have even found expired milk in their fridges. So much for the «Fresh» Grocer. I once brought this up to a staff member and they told me that I shouldn’t buy expired products. YOU SHOULDN’T SELL EXPIRED PRODUCTS.
I really hope that in the coming years, a competitor comes up and wipes them out or whips them into shape.