The sun had barely risen when the line of people formed outside the new Market District in East Liberty.

Thursday morning was the new grocery’s grand opening. Only the first 100 customers got a duffel bag filled with free groceries.

A project six years in the making, the Market District replaces the Giant Eagle that once anchored the former Shady Hill Center in Shadyside. The new Market District is part of a mixed-use development called “the Meridian” that has space for 10 street-level retail outlets and 231 apartments that rise six stories high. Where there was once parking lot, the Meridian now occupies the space at 6310 Penn Ave. Market District is a Giant Eagle brand.

In front of the store, the ever-growing line was full of college students, neighbors and one woman who sat in a fol

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