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Sneak peek of downtown Wilmington's only grocery store opening on Market Street
- kem
- Dec 12, 2025
- 5 min read
Delaware News Journal
Updated Dec. 3, 2025, 3:53 p.m. ET
Every time Wilmington developers Buccini Pollin Group poll the 4,000 residents living in their city apartment and condominium buildings, they hear the same thing: a neighborhood grocery store is needed downtown.
Over the past 1-1/2 years, a small team was tasked with fixing that problem by conceiving, building and opening a corner grocer in the heart of Delaware's biggest city at North Market and Eighth streets.
The result is the dainty pink-and-sky blue Pretty Eddie's (730 N. Market St.), which officially opens Dec. 11, offering everything from everyday groceries and grab-and-go sandwiches/salads to fresh fruits/produce and even hot rotisserie chickens.
Dom's Kitchen in Philadelphia will provide sides and soups. And Wilmignton's own The Bloom Wagon will even be selling fresh-cut flowers.
"We are going to have a tight-knit staff; some are going to come from our other entities like Wilma's and Makers Alley," said Sarah Lamb, senior vice president of design, marketing and community engagement for Buccini Pollin Group. "So customers will see a lot of familiar faces."
Pretty Eddie's is located at the former home of Ninth Street Book Shop, which closed in 2018, and has been vacant since. It sits within a block of The Grand to its north and Bardea Food & Drink to its south.
Sneak peek inside Pretty Eddie's
During a sneak peek tour at the end of November, the shelves were still bare.
But they will be filled by the time the doors swing open, offering a world of products that downtown residents used to have to travel to get, whether at Acme in Trolley Square, ShopRite at Christina Landing or The Fresh Grocer of Adams Plaza in West Center City.
Pretty Eddie's will carry everything from pantry staples, frozen goods and deli meats/cheeses to freshly baked bread and treats to local products and gifts. Also, specialty items and boutique brands from area vendors, including from partnerships with the Wilmington Kitchen Collective and West Chester-based Artisan Exchange and Golden Valley Farms Coffee Roasters.
The rotisserie chickens will be their signature item, complete with a Pretty Chicken Club and punch card that gets a free chicken after purchasing 10.
Melissa Kenny, executive vice president of the Kenny Family ShopRites, was an advisor on the project. Buccini Pollin Group has partnered with ShopRite to help stock fresh produce and other items while tapping into their merchandising expertise.
Hours, cashless payments and a bell pepper with a mustache
The store will open at 10:30 a.m., seven days a week. It will close at 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and at 5:30 p.m. on Sundays.
Store officials had originally planned for the store to be cashless, but will now accept cash after realizing Delaware law mandates cash be accepted.
The hours will eventually expand and include breakfast service after the staff successfully launches the grocery store, said Jaime Camiso, who will be overseeing Pretty Eddie's operations for Buccini Pollin Group. Instacart could come in a few months as well.
A 10-stool lunch counter will allow for in-store dining. Tables and chairs will also be on their front patio on North Market Street during warm weather months. No alcohol will be sold.
The grocery store has a mascot, Pretty Eddie, a mustachioed bell pepper, along with a crew of friends who adorn their marketing materials and tote bags. There's Rudy the radish, A.J. the chili pepper, Millie the milk carton, Pat the stick of butter and more.
It's all part of the branding strategy behind Pretty Eddie's, created by Philadelphia-based Kylie Creative, which is behind the shop's name, characters and overall aesthetic. They also did the branding and interiors for the nearby Girard Craft and Cork.
Katherine Anderson, design project manager for Buccini Pollin Group, even drew their mascot on a series of car paintings bought at auction, showing off Pretty Eddie's love of fast cars with the pepper behind the wheel.
Not created as a money-maker
While Buccini Pollin Group developed the ShopRite near the Riverfront in 2008, Pretty Eddie's will be the first grocery store that they own and operate.
"It was definitely outside of our comfort zone," Lamb said. "We learned a lot."
The market’s offerings were shaped by feedback from their residents to meet their wants and will change as new requests come in: "We want to make sure we fill whatever holes people see," Lamb added.
After all, Pretty Eddie's was not created as a money-maker. It was primarily built to service the growing number of residents at Buccini Pollin Group's city properties, including downtown's The Residences at Midtown Park, The Standard, The Press, Humble Park Place, 101 DuPont Place, Crosby Hill, The Cooper and more.
"Literally, we're happy if we break even," Lamb said.
It's part of the ecosystem the developer has been building in the city over the past two decades to make it more livable and attractive to potential residents as they continue to build out the city, including the in-progress 164-unit luxury apartment building at Justison Landing on the Riverfront.
There will be a community bulletin board to post events and services. Pretty Eddie’s will also host an in-store food drive benefiting West End Neighborhood House as part of Buccini Pollin Group's company-wide holiday donation initiative.
And what's with the name Pretty Eddie's?
"It's a play on those old school corner establishments that had some guy's name and their nickname," Lamb said. " We took some names from old businesses around here and played around with them."
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Dec. 10.
Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of Delaware Online/The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and X (@ryancormier).
Ryan Cormier
Staff writer Ryan Cormier tells human interest stories about the people and things that make The First State so special. He previously served as the entertainment/pop culture reporter for DelawareOnline/The News Journal for 20 years. He began his career at the newspaper as the night police reporter in 2000, following a summer internship. A graduate of the University of Delaware and William Penn High School, he moved to Delaware from Long Island, New York as a teen. When he’s not writing, you can find him at the gym, grabbing a drink while seeing a band at a local bar or searching for the area’s perfect slice of pizza.
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