This past weekend I was in the mood for a healthy,
organic, sustainably sourced, trendy lunch. I'm not always healthy, but
when I am I want to do it right. I stopped into the Strip District to check
out the new market pantry that has opened.
Marty's
Market is aimed to sell sustainably sourced, organic grocery items similar to
the Right By Nature that occupied the space before it. It has also added a
barista and a cafe with outdoor seating space.
It pains me to say so, however I was tremendously
underwhelmed. Opening a new grocer with organic, vegan, and consciously
minded foods really excited me. However with prices that average $.50 to
$1.00 more than Whole Foods and on average $2.00 more than say Trader Joe's the
store is missing its mark. Also what disappointed me about the limited
selection was that they omitted prepared foods. Having the cafe has
distracted them from the entire section of foods that busy folks like me enjoy.
I was able to find a salad on the menu at the café, however it was $12.00
and sadly I didn't have a chance to try it.
With as many corporate chain grocers that are available
in Pittsburgh, it has shown to be an extremely difficult task to create a space
that is fresh, organic, different, and fairly priced. If I am able to compare and say that I had an amazing,
delicious, organic, vegan salad that was pre-made and priced at $8.00 instead of being forced to sit down and pay more, I will go
somewhere else.
I commend the owners of Marty's Market for creating a new space and
continuing with the area's growing mission of eating healthy. All the
interactions I had with staff while there were tremendous. For me
however, they are going to have to do some serious overhaul to get me excited
for coming back.
For more information and pictures of the locations, feel free to check out the Pittsburgh Business Time's article:
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/slideshow/2012/07/13/photos-inside-martys-market-in-strip.html
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