Staff Blog
Cornerstone Market and Produce coming to Girard Avenue
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| Photo | Mike Wilkens |
- The owners are Mike Wilkens, a Fishtown resident who's worked in a ton of local bars and restaurants, and father and son team Phil and Mike Leone, both of whom work in the wholesale produce industry.
- The market features between 1200 and 1300 square feet of retail space. They'll be seating in the front of the market looking out onto Girard.
- As you might've guessed, this is gonna be a fruit and veggie destination. A big ol' produce island will greet you as you step in, featuring an abundance of goodies — many locally grown. But it won't be limited to just that. "As much as I love everything organic and local, sometimes cost is an issue for customers," says Wilkens. "A lot of our relationships with growers are all over the world — South America, Europe, Canada. When things are in season, it makes perfect sense to [source] from Jersey and Pennsylvania. But we'll sell exotics, as well." This'll include hard-to-find tropical fruits that can only be grown in their native climates.
- Cornerstone will be dedicated to promoting local and artisanal businesses and purveyors, adds Wilkens. They'll serve, among other things, Torreo Coffee; Metropolitan Bakery products; fresh, locally produced pastas; pickles from West Philly's S&C Pickles; and coffee, danishes and muffins from Splurge Desserts out of South Philly.
- Wilkens on the name: "All the places that we had looked at had been corner building, so it was kind of coincidental. And I've always thought of produce as the cornerstone of a really good diet."
More details in the 3.20 edition of Feeding Frenzy.
