The former Whole Foods in Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood is nearly back to being a grocery store.
The Fresh Market is scheduled to open March 18 at 5880 Centre Ave, returning an upscale grocer to the site four years after Whole Foods left for new digs in East Liberty.
North Carolina-based Fresh Market is a specialty grocer with 175 stores across the U.S.
The company styles itself as a “European shopping experience,” geared more toward short trips for day-of dinners than massive grocery hauls. It targets high-income consumers, with prices at or above Whole Foods, and offers a limited selection of in-house label products.
The Fresh Market has just one location in Western Pennsylvania: a Mt. Lebanon store that’s more than a decade old.
In 2024, the Fresh Market moved to expand its Pittsburgh-area presence and leased the highly desired 32,000-square-foot site in Shadyside. Renovations and other preparations have taken more than two years.
The space will feature a full-service butcher, a beer and wine section and a bar and restaurant area with 45 indoor seats, plus another 28 seats outside. The Fresh Market also touts its open layout and attentive guest service.
An already bustling grocery business in the East End has grown more competitive in recent years with Aldi moving into Lawrenceville, Giant Eagle adding a Market District in East Liberty and Asian grocer Enson Market opening in Point Breeze.
“We don’t necessarily choose our areas based on competition,” said Sam Wrobleski, a spokesman for the Fresh Market. “It’s a spot we think is going to be accessible.”