Reading Terminal Market is One of America’s Best Food Halls

Food halls represent a growing and important sector of the American restaurant industry. According to a list recently published by real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, Philadelphia’s own Reading Terminal Market is among the best food halls in the country. This Philly landmark has been around since 1680, when it was born as a cluster of informal markets on Front and Market (formerly High) Streets. The Market attracts over six million visitors each year, and is considered one of the iconic attractions of the City of Brotherly Love.

Reading Terminal Market has been ranked as one of the country’s best food halls. (CREDIT: J. SMITH FOR VISIT PHILADELPHIA)

Cushman & Wakefield indicated that both the age and size of the Reading Terminal Market gave it an edge in the food hall rankings. The firm’s vice president of retail research for the Americas, Garrick Brown, was quoted in the Philadelphia Business Journal as saying that Reading Terminal Market’s historic significance also made it stand out. “It is the second-oldest major food hall on our list in terms of having been continually operated as a food hall,” Brown told the Journal. “More importantly it is a prime example of the old classic paradigm of what these projects are about: transit-oriented development and tourism-related retail.”

Brown said that food-related retail is experiencing an economic boom that few other sectors can match. Food halls are a dynamic and growing category in that genre. Cushman & Wakefield’s date shows that the growth of food halls increased 37 percent more in the first nine months of 2016 than it did during the same time period last year. Reading Terminal General Manager Anuj Gupta credits millennials’ busy lifestyles with the rise in food halls: “The growth in the fast-casual dining world is reflected in the market, and we hope that this sector continues to grow as we have long excelled in fast-casual concepts on top of being a public market,” Gupta said.