Ideal Foodbasket recently opened at Montclair Avenue and Broadway on the South Side of Bethlehem. The building previously housed Ahart’s Market, which closed in 2021.
A new supermarket recently opened in South Bethlehem, helping to alleviate concerns about the growth of a food desert–an area in which there is limited access to fresh food–in the area.
Ideal Foodbasket opened at Montclair Avenue and Broadway in mid-April, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony with elected officials from Bethlehem and others was held last week.
Housed in a building that has been home to supermarkets since the early 1950s, Ideal Foodbasket replaces Ahart’s Market, which closed in April 2021. Prior to that, a Food Lane store that was located there until 2001 was a staple destination for Southsiders for many years.
The new grocery store occupies the same footprint as its predecessors, and offers many of the same services and products, along with some new ones.
A hot food bar is located next to the store’s deli counter, and a beer cave will be located in the northeast corner of the store once final approval is received from the state liquor control board.
Outside in the newly-paved parking lot, there is an electric vehicle charging station.
For electric vehicle owners, Ideal Foodbasket offers the convenience of a vehicle charging station, which is located on the south side of its parking lot.
Ideal Foodbasket is a sister store to C-Town, which is located half a mile away on E. Third Street on the South Side. Both stores are owned by Juan Diaz, according to a report by WFMZ News.
WFMZ reported last week that after purchasing the former Ahart’s for $2.3 million, Diaz completely overhauled the building, installing new coolers, HVAC systems, flooring, lighting and signage.
The owners of Ideal Foodbasket stores are “members of America’s Food Basket LLC, a Cooperative of independent food grocers located in New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island,” the company’s website states.
Ideal Foodbasket is near Lehigh University and St. Luke’s University Hospital in Fountain Hill, and is located just one block from one of Bethlehem’s busiest intersections.
A new AutoZone store is expected to open at the Five Points intersection, where Broadway and Wyandotte Street (Rt. 378) intersect, in the near future.
For more information about Ideal Foodbasket, including the store’s weekly circular, visit IdealFoodbaskets.com.
On Sunday, balloons and streamers still decorated the new Ideal Foodbasket store in South Bethlehem. A ribbon-cutting ceremony with city officials and others was recently held to celebrate its opening following a nearly two-year renovation.
