Pittsburgh Owned - McGinnis Sisters

Pittsburgh Owned

We're thrilled to announce a new feature of our Guest Blog.  Local resident Linda Voegler Granite has generously offered to review locally-owned businesses that are also family friendly.  A native of Butler, PA, Linda is currently an elementary band teacher in the North Allegheny School District and a mother of two girls, Ana (7) and Marissa (5).  Linda has a passion for supporting locally-owned businesses and hopes you'll share in her passion. She and her husband Evan live in Wexford.  Linda starts her Pittsburgh Owned blog with a review of Mary Lee's Meals

McGinnis Sisters

Last week, I was eating lunch with some coworkers, and one of them had a bowl of the most yummy-looking strawberries.  We were all commenting on them, and she told us that she bought them at the newest location of McGinnis Sisters.  “Really, Linda.  $5 for a gigantic box of them!”  She went on to tell me that she was very impressed by the produce and the prices, especially for asparagus.

My youngest loves fruits and vegetables, so I decided to take her with me for my first McGinnis Sisters’ shopping experience.  The store is really beautiful inside and I can see why it earned the 2008 “Best Upscale Magazine” award from Pittsburgh magazine.  It is cozy, well-organized and items are displayed elegantly.  I bought one of those gigantic boxes of $5 strawberries, and my family has enjoyed a bowl of strawberries each day.  My daughter picked her tomatoes for the week (see picture), green leaf lettuce and cute little yukon gold potatoes.  I happily bought a beautiful bunch of fresh basil.  We had a lot of fun spooning out bulk items, including dried fruits and yogurt-covered raisins.  I was thrilled to fill big bags of orzo, couscous and pine nuts (I have a thing with buying in bulk; I would much rather have a big jar of something, and avoid a bunch of boxes).  I picked up some other items, including a few cheeses and lunchmeat.  I was tempted by their prepared foods and salads, but restrained myself, because I had already chosen so many lovely produce and grain items that my children and I would make together.  I did think that the lunchmeats were a little pricey for our budget, but they were very good quality, so I would say we did get what we paid for.

We will definitely go back, especially because we are out of strawberries already.

This is the third location for the small chain, the other two stores are in Brentwood and in Monroeville and they are owned by sisters.  They offer high quality meats, including chicken and pork from Pennsylvania.  Seafood is from the M. F. Foley Fish Company.  They are a retail supporter of  the *Buy Fresh Buy Local initiative of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture.  Local farmstead cheeses are offered and Breadworks baked goods are offered.  On their website, I read about their commitment to family and to giving back to the Pittsburgh community, which I thought was really impressive.

*While I was reading more about the this initiative, I found a handy website for buying local.  At http://www.buylocalpa.org/ you can enter your zip code and find businesses that offer local goods.

700 Adams Shoppes
Mars, PA 16046
NOW OPEN

MON- SAT 8 AM - 9 PM
SUN 8 AM - 6 PM
(724) 779-1212