Well, Well (Market): Downtown Pittsburgh to get new grocery store

A new grocery store is coming to Downtown Pittsburgh, the Downtown Neighbors Alliance announced Tuesday.

The new store, Well Well Market, is expected to open at 817 Liberty Ave.

In a statement, the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, a community-based nonprofit, said it has been looking to attract a grocery store as part of ongoing efforts to bolster retail in the Golden Triangle.

“There were times we didn’t think it would happen, but I knew the persistence and hard work of the stakeholders would make it happen,” John Valentine, the group’s president, said in a statement.

The store is expected to open in nine months to a year, Valentine told TribLive Tuesday.

It will include roughly 4,000 square feet of retail space, he said.

“Downtown has been working to achieve a grocery store for many years now,” City Council President R. Daniel Lavelle, who represents part of Downtown, said. “Downtown needs to be treated like a neighborhood, like any other part of the city.”

It’s particularly important for Downtown to have amenities like a grocery store as several empty office buildings are being converted to housing, Lavelle said.

The city has incentivized residential conversions after the covid-19 pandemic spurred a widespread shift to remote work that left office spaces empty.

“The upcoming opening of Well Well Market marks a vibrant step forward in our shared vision of Downtown Pittsburgh as a thriving neighborhood where people can work, live and play,” Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement.

The grocery store will be launched by two Carnegie Mellon University graduates — Eric Iacone, who is affiliated with Riverwards Grocery store in Philadelphia, and Ivy Hu, who worked with a family-owned grocery store in China, according to the Downtown Neighbors Alliance.

Well Well Market plans to offer fresh produce, dairy, prepared foods, hygienic products and a floral department, the nonprofit said. It also expects to have a cafe and juice bar.

The alliance said the store will be part of the Independent Natural Food Retailers Association, and 40% of products will be organic.

“I think it’s what not only the residents want, but what everybody’s been clamoring for for a couple decades now,” Valentine said. “I’ve been in Pittsburgh 21 years, and we haven’t had a real grocery store (Downtown) in that time. It’s been the No. 1 request.”

Valentine said he’s hopeful the shop will attract more businesses to the Golden Triangle.

A Target that opened Downtown in July 2022 also sells groceries.