Providing information to customers is also a top priority for Vena, so keeping the company’s “website and social media outreach fresh and appealing” helps accomplish this goal. “In our segment of the industry, competition is fierce. Our plan is to continue to add the tools and people we need to stay ahead of the other folks,” he says.
New Kid on the Block
For Paterson Produce, which originally began as a pickle supplier in New Jersey, the company’s actual introduction to the Philly market this past winter was the biggest hurdle. “People come in with loyalty, ready to buy with specific people, and we didn’t have that,” admits Hoffman.
It took some time for the six employee company to get its footing; nevertheless Paterson Produce managed to bring in over $2 million in sales in its first six months.
Although the PWPM is working diligently to keep pace with new technology, Hoffman does see room for improvement. “We’re lagging behind the rest of commercial ventures in the use of technology,” he says, because businesses on the market still print tickets. Hoffman hopes this will eventually move to a paperless ordering or scanning system.
Hoffman has also noticed the shift of some businesses moving away from large wholesale markets to more customized space. After the wholesale market in South Philly burned down 10 years ago, a number of tenants chose to “get their own warehouses or purchasing departments as opposed to renting space” on the new market, he says.
Rain, Hail, Sleet & Snow
Every year, Pennsylvania residents experience a broad range of temperature fluctuations and inclement weather. Though last winter’s snowstorms weren’t among the record-breakers (like January 1996’s 31 inches over a two-day period) and there were a few spring freezes that worried growers, 2017 has been mostly catastrophe-free for Philadelphians.
Dawsons Orchards, however, did experience plenty of fluctuations in Enon Valley, part of Lawrence County, near the state line of Ohio. “There was an early warm up this season, affected by a hard frost in mid-May, and hail in early June,” says McQuiston. But despite Mother Nature’s unpredictability, she says this season’s berries, apples, pears, and peaches all looked good.
At the PWPM, the elements can certainly impact the outside world, including the highways and rails and trucks trying to get in and out of the market, but not inside—the cold chain is cold and the merchants are cool as cucumbers.
Kovacevich confirms merchants enjoy the many benefits of the six-year-old “new” facility, but says customers sing the market’s praises too. Loading and unloading are a snap, protected from the weather, and then there’s “the ever-expanding variety of quality offerings [that] make the whole experience a dream compared to the older open-air terminal market of Galloway Street.”
