New Grocery Store to Open in the Poconos

Middle Smithfield Township, Monroe County - Construction workers are busy making way for a new Price Chopper along route 209 in Marshalls Creek. Resident Caroline Perry smiled, "It'll be really great to hit a grocery store really close. I'm hoping it's nice and big."

The store will go up at the former Pocono Bazaar Flea Market site. Resident Wayne Witkowski said, "I think the idea of having another supermarket in the area is good for the competitive nature. It will help keep prices down for everybody else."

But some wonder if the prices will be worth the traffic in the notoriously congested area. Perry said, "It's gonna be chaos."

It was even a concern for Price Chopper developers. They knew the spot's reputation for traffic jams. But then the Marshalls Creek Bypass opened. They believe it is working to fix the congestion. Price Chopper President/CEO Jerry Golub said, "We don't see a problem with creating additional traffic here."

Middle Smithfield Township Supervisor Mitchel Marcus agrees that traffic shouldn't be a problem. He said, "We don't think it's going to affect it adversely. We actually looked into studies on this as part of our decision making process when we were approving this here."

Time will tell. The store is scheduled to open next June.

The developers say the project will bring about 130 new jobs to the area. They will be a mix of full and part time positions.