Mobile Groceries in Doylestown Are a Mixed Bag

Grocery shopping in Doylestown is as easy as pulling out your phone.

That's the vision as the major Doylestown grocery stores have rolled out their mobile ordering and delivery services. However, each store takes a different support in scope and type of services.

Only 3 percent of U.S. grocery spending takes place online today, but the market is set to explode, according to a Bain & Co. report. And only 6% of all U.S. consumers order groceries online more than one a month.

Each of the Doylestown stores have partnered with a large national delivery company for online ordering and logistics:

• GIANT in Cross Keys Center (4357 Swamp Rd.) appears to have made the biggest investments into mobile grocery. They have partnered with Peapod on their GIANT DIRECT program, and they are actively building a large pickup room with refrigerators directly inside their south entrance. Their pickup services have been in outdoor lockers, and it appears those will transition to the new GIANT DIRECT pickup room upon completion.
• ACME in the Doylestown Shopping Center (480 N. Main St.), as part of their national agreement with parent Albertsons Companies, uses Instacart for their mobile delivery. ACME features a full Instacart pickup station at the front of their north entrance to keep foods hot and cold.
• Weis Markets in Mercer Square (73 Old Dublin Pike) partners with Shipt, a subsidiary of Target Stores since their Dec. 2017 acquisition. Weis had aggressively dedicated online pickup lanes in front of their stores, but removed the spaces earlier this year. Pickup can done be done at the front curb.
• Simply Fresh by McCaffrey's (200 W. State St.) offers online ordering of their prepared foods, trays, and platters only.
• Wegmans (1405 N. Main St., Warrington) also uses Instacart for delivery to Doylestown-area ZIP Codes.

Stores vary by their pricing models, some charging higher for delivery, while others offer the same pricing as in store, but charging a delivery fee.

"It would appear the grocery industry in the U.S. has been in an arms race ever since Amazon bought Whole Foods in 2017," according to the Bain report.