m. levin & company inc. type privately held company industry wholesale marketing founded 1906 headquarters 6700 essington ave unit h2 h5 philadelphia pennsylvania key people mark levin david levin michael levin joel segel products produce revenue usd net income usd website mlevinco.com m. levin & company inc. is a wholesale produce distribution company located in philadelphia pennsylvania . the company was established in 1906 and is the oldest family owned produce wholesaler at the philadelphia wholesale produce market . 1 levin is one of the largest ripeners and banana foodservice distributors in the mid atlantic region ripening over 35 000 boxes weekly . contents 1 operations 2 dock street wholesale produce market 1906 1959 3 food distribution center 1959 2011 4 philadelphia wholesale produce market 2011 present 5 references 6 external links operations edit m. levin & co. 326 pattison avenue philadelphia 2014 m. levin currently operates out of two locations its warehouse with sales ripening facilities and a railroad spur for boxcars located at 326 pattison avenue since 1959 and its now primary philadelphia wholesale produce market location that opened in 2011 with four units including custom built ripening rooms . 2 m. levin & co. processes full lines of fresh fruits and vegetables packages and distributes to retailers . bananas and tropicals remain the company s primary specialty . m. levin imports bananas from central and south america and receives them through ports in wilmington baltimore and camden . as of march 2014 m. levin ripened about 35 000 boxes of bananas a week . the company distributes west to ohio south to virginia and north to toronto . 3 the company is privately owned and operated by mark levin david levin michael levin and joel segel and their daughters . 4 michael levin started selling bananas in 1906 and grew the company until his passing in 1958 . albert levin was the second oldest of michael levin s children ; he served as president from 1950 to 1976 . albert led the business through its 1959 move to pattison avenue and grew it through the 1960s and 1970s . brothers leon and martin levin bought the company in 1976 when albert retired . dock street wholesale produce market 1906 1959 edit m. levin & co. may 1959 wooden banana crate at independence seaport museum june 2015 michael levin started with a pushcart in 1906 and had his first location in a one room cellar at 315 s. 2nd street . in a few years he was buying bananas in larger quantities and selling wholesale . he ripened bananas in cellars he rented around dock street . in the 1920s michael levin had grown his banana distribution so much that the atlantic fruit company a major banana supplier at the time turned over its philadelphia banana ripening business to levin . the ripening deal helped cement m. levin s place in the banana ripening world . 5 during world war ii banana shipments stopped to the port in philadelphia and all u.s. ports except those in florida . michael levin went to florida where he purchased bananas and shipped them by rail to philadelphia . the company controlled banana distribution on the east coast including new york pittsburgh and washington . after the war levin landed a contract to supply acme markets with all of its bananas and would come to supply food fair a & p and penn fruit stores . on june 28 1948 congress passed public law 795 h.r. 5053 to authorize the creation of independence national historical park 6 and it was formally established on july 4 1956 . from 1957 1959 the greater philadelphia movement the redevelopment authority and the old philadelphia development corporation bought 31 acres 130 000 m2 around dock street . they demolished and relocated the dock street market setting aside 5 acres 20 000 m2 of land that would become the society hill towers . 7 food distribution center 1959 2011 edit m. levin & co. 326 pattison avenue philadelphia 1959 in the 1950s city and business leaders planned and built the food distribution center on 388 acres between packer and pattison avenues . levin had the largest banana ripening packaging and distribution plan on the east coast and michael levin was the first merchant to commit to move his business from the dock street wholesale produce market . when the dock street market closed in june 1959 m. levin was storing and ripening bananas in more than a dozen buildings including a former pickle factory . son albert levin became president of the company in 1950 and led m. levin through the 1959 move to pattison avenue across the street from the center on south galloway street . 8 albert levin continued to grow the operations and business through the 1970s and retired in 1977 . the pattison avenue facility remains open in 2015 . it is a 200 000 square foot warehouse and was designed to allow railcars to come into the building . the warehouse contains 28 climate controlled rooms for banana storage and ripening . each holds up to 1 500 cases of bananas . 9 philadelphia wholesale produce market 2011 present edit the new philadelphia wholesale produce market opened on june 5 2011 on essington avenue in the city s southwest section of the city . it was built on 48 acres and is 700 000 square feet 10 m. levin & co. was active in the planning and construction and invested 1 million beyond normal expenses to build banana ripening rooms within its four unit market warehousing space . the company has continued to retain and operate in the 336 pattison avenue location . 11 references edit oberst christopher march 29 2014 . philadelphia wholesale produce market to celebrate its 3rd anniversary . andnowuknow . retrieved 2014 09 15 . m. levin & company inc. july 31 2013 . m. levin & company website goes live . perishablenews.com . retrieved 2015 05 17 . seward zack march 14 2014 . where east coast bananas go to ripen . newsworks.org . whyy . retrieved 2014 09 15 . dimartino christina may 11 2012 . philadelphia wholesale produce market is ideal for m. levin & co. . producenews.net . the produce news . retrieved 2015 05 17 . dudley jeanee . m. levin & company inc. more than a century of quality produce . us business executive . retrieved 2015 05 17 . independence national historical park long range interpretive plan national park service . le faivre rochester carole . society hill towers a bold and graceful venture . i.m. pei and society hill a 40th anniversary celebration . ed . herman baron . philadelphia diane publishing co. 2003 35 . google books . 1 . klein esther m. 1965 . a guidebook to jewish philadelphia . philadelphia philadelphia jewish times institute . p. 144 . avery ron july 23 1990 . bananas go for this bunch levin family moves 1m pounds a week . philadelphia daily news . philadelphia . retrieved 2015 05 17 . glover sarah april 23 2013 . produce market has major regional impact . nbcphiladelphia.com . nbc philadelphia . retrieved 2015 05 17 . sigler derrek october 24 2011 . philadelphia welcomes new produce market . vegetablegrowersnews.com . vegetable growers news . retrieved 2015 05 17 . external links edit mlevinco.com philadelphia wholesale produce market m. levin & company inc. facebook mlevinandcompany philadelphia portal retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title m. levin % 26 co inc & oldid 743597466 categories companies based in philadelphiacompanies established in 1906culture of philadelphia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 09 59 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view