Levin expects to expand operations in new market stalls
M. Levin & Co Inc., plans to increase its banana ripening rooms after it expands into two neighboring market units on the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market.
The Philadelphia-based wholesaler plans to install eight ripening units once it secures approval from the market's board of directors, said Mark Levin, co-owner.
A meeting to discuss the request was scheduled for late August.
The expansion would provide Levin another 500 pallets of banana ripening capacity, he said.
It ripens the fruit in six market units and in 20 units in its off-market facilities.
Construction of the new units is expected to be finished by the end of the year, Levin said.
During the last two years, other wholesalers have leased the space as additional storage, he said.
"After we take over those units, the market should be filled-up," Levin said. "There will be no vacancies."
Klayman Produce Co. Inc., which closed in 2012, and Philly Produce LLC, a division of Wuhl Shafman Lieberman, originally operated from the units.
Levin said the banana business continues to increase.
This year, the company marks its 110th year.
Levin & Co. distributes a full line of fruit and vegetables, including specialties, organics and tropicals, to customers throughout the Northeast and into Canada, to Richmond, Va., and into eastern Ohio.
