Gourmet market coming to South Street

Garden of Eden, a New York-based gourmet market and cafe, has signed on for the Abbotts Square condos, where it will occupy the former bank on the northwest corner of Second and South Streets.

In an interview today, Abbott Square owner Eric Blumenfeld said he was shopping at a Garden of Eden store in Hoboken, N.J., about four years ago, and became intrigued with the idea of importing one to Philadelphia. The eastern end of South Street has lacked a market since February 2009, when Chef's Market closed nearby.

Garden of Eden owner Mustafa Coskun, who opened his first store in 1994 (and has since sold that Hoboken store), today said the street was "missing a good-quality food market."

Garden of Eden stocks groceries but its bread and butter is the prepared-foods selection.

The South Street store - similar in scope to Coskun's stores in Union Square and Brooklyn Heights - will occupy about 22,000 square feet. That's about two-thirds the size of the Whole Foods at 10th and South Streets, its closest potential competitor.

Coskun and Blumenfeld have applied for gap financing through the PIDC. A PIDC rep said the department was awaiting financial information before proceeding with the application.

The store will employ about 75 people, Coskun said.

Coskun said after financing is in place, build-out should take about six months.