Giant Eagle Mobile Market Makes 1st Stops in Pennsylvania

Giant Eagle is bringing groceries to food-insecure communities, as the Giant Eagle Mobile Market rolls into neighborhoods in Pennsylvania.

Stocked with nearly 250 items, including fresh meat, dairy and produce, Giant Eagle’s trailer made its first rounds last week. The retailer announced the inaugural stops on its social media pages and will regularly share itineraries on Twitter at @GEmobilemarket.

“The important social justice movement of the summer of 2020 really called on us to say how we were going to step up our responsibility. While this is a food insecurity solution, it was literally born of the social justice movement,” Giant Eagle spokesperson Dan Donovan told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Joelisa McDonald, mayor of Rankin, Pa., said that the Giant Eagle Mobile Market meets an acute need. “We are considered a food desert area,” McDonald said in a Post-Gazette interview. "As far as groceries, we don’t really have that amenity in our community. It was kind of a no-brainer for me. It’s super-exciting times for us.” In her town, the Giant Eagle Mobile Market will stop at Emmanuel Pittsburgh church every Sunday from noon to 3 p.m.

Groceries sold through the Giant Eagle Mobile Market are priced the same as items sold in its stores, and shoppers can earn loyalty rewards when using the grocer’s Advantage Card. Visitors can purchase groceries from the trailer via debit, credit, check or SNAP. Cash is not accepted at this point.

With almost $10 billion in annual sales, Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle operates more than 470 stores throughout western Pennsylvania, Ohio, northern West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana. Strategic partnerships highlighting digital innovation like the Eagle Eye agreement were key to Giant Eagle’s recent inclusion in Progressive Grocer’s Top 10 Regional Operators to Watch. The company is also No. 37 on The PG 100, PG’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North  America.