28-Year-Old Donta Rose Opened A $5M Grocery Outlet In His Old North Philadelphia Neighborhood

Located in North Philadelphia, Donta Rose opened a new Grocery Outlet — making it the first business to open in the new Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) development — according to The Inquirer.

On July 28, he helped cut the ribbon of the $5 million store in the $52 million Sharswood Ridge Shopping Center.

Initially, Rose designed stores for the franchise, which spurred from majoring in engineering at Morgan State University. But, coming from a family of entrepreneurs, he was bound to be his own boss.

“Rose scraped together savings and obtained what he called ‘a nice, hefty loan’ to buy in,” the outlet reports. Now, it has turned into owning his own Grocery Outlet supermarket at 21st Street and Ridge Avenue in Sharswood — his former neighborhood. 

“That’s where we’re from,” he told the outlet. “I know the neighborhood. I know how unique this neighborhood is, because if you go four blocks over, you’re on Temple’s campus, and if you go five blocks down, you’re in Brewerytown. It became really important for me to be in a community that we’re familiar with.”

The PHA development aims to revive the Sharswood and Blumberg neighborhoods. For the new Grocery Outlet, the overall goal is to support the community.

According to reports, the store provides fresh produce for “residents who need to walk or rely on rides of more than a mile to shop for groceries, beyond corner stores and produce vendors.” In addition to accessibility, the store is set to hire staff from the neighborhood.

With hard work and wins comes a lot of sacrifices, but Rose has his family to lean on through it all in his endeavor. 

“My name is on the loan and my face might be on there [in store signage], but my mom is going to be with me,” he said. “My dad is actually out running right now to go pick up a safe for me and helping to grab stuff for the opening. My sisters are with me. So it’s definitely going to be a family business, for sure.”