The Philly suburbs are getting a new grocery store in the coming days. But it isn't any old supermarket.

Grocery Outlet Bargain Market wants households to understand they can eat nutritiously, and still save money.

“We are more focused on finding bargains for our customers,” said Jack Reilly, the director of real estate at Grocery Outlet, told AL DIA News.

The grocery market chain is based out of California.

In addition to one in East Norriton at 2917 Swede Road, which will be opening up on Feb. 25, they also have three other stores opening in the Greater Philadelphia area.

One will open in Mt. Airy on April 22.

Reilly and his team understand the importance of buying wholesome and nutritious foods on a budget, especially during this difficult time.

“We buy opportunistically, and we are focused on buying products outside of the normal retail channel.” he said. “We also pass those savings on to our customers.” 

A feature of its newer stores is also more targeted products serving more diverse customers.

“We do have products that focus more on Hispanic families,” Reilly said.

On top of the grocery store catering to different cultures within different communities, they also plan to hire locally. 

“At this store, we are going to have 28 different positions that will be available in the East Norriton section,” said Reilly. “Once we open our other stores in the area we will have more positions open.”

The store could be a potential boom for employment after countless locals lost their jobs during COVID-19 pandemic. With four different stores opening in the area, more locals will be employed, especially some who haven't worked in months.

“We are also looking for Spanish-speaking residents, that will be important for our stores,” said Reilly.

Beyond providing natural and affordable foods to their customers, they also sponsor a local donation program called Independence from Hunger.

According to the USDA, in 2019, 35.2 million people lived in food-insecure households.

The numbers increased to 50.4 million in 2020 as a result of the economic downturn amid the pandemic.

The California-based chain raised $4 million in donations between June 24 and July 31, 2020.

Each store partners with a local charity it wants to support.

“We managed to receive the donations from all of our stores,” said Reilly.

They are looking forward to raising money and food donations again this summer.

Grocery Outlet has opened over 375 stores nationwide and there are no plans on slowing down now.

“We want our customers to get the best deals that they possibly can, especially when it comes to essentials like food,” said Reilly.

This article is part of Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project among more than 20 news organizations focused on economic mobility in Philadelphia. Read all of our reporting as brokeinphilly.org.