Cooper’s holiday retail seafood market is back, and it knows exactly why you need it…
On the stretch of North Washington Avenue where Scranton starts to feel industrial again, rail lines nearby, the river close enough to smell when the weather turns, Cooper’s Seafood House is doing what it has quietly done for decades: reminding people that seafood doesn’t have to be precious, performative, or miserable to cook.
Its Holiday Retail Seafood Market is back, set up outside on the dock, and it arrives not as a flashy pop-up or a chef-driven stunt, but as something far more practical, and far more Scranton. For a few critical days surrounding Christmas and New Year’s, Cooper’s turns itself inside out, becoming a dockside seafood counter built specifically for people who want to host well without losing their minds.
This is not about novelty. This is about survival, holiday survival.
The market runs during Christmas Week and New Year’s Week, opening early and closing when the work is done. Shrimp platters go out the door fast, lobster tails are stacked and ready, and trays of fried or baked Boston haddock are prepped for families who know exactly how many people are coming and how little time they have. You call ahead, you pick up outside, and you leave with something that looks like you tried harder than you did.
That’s the quiet genius of it.
The stars of the market are the items that eliminate friction. Shrimp platters, big, cold, unapologetically festive, are a primary driver, pushed hard for good reason. They hit the table and immediately signal competence. The ready-to-bake lobster tails take things a step further. At eight ounces each, split, buttered, seasoned, and fully thawed, they’re the culinary equivalent of a cheat code. You slide them into the oven, pour a drink, and accept compliments you didn’t entirely earn.
There’s no shame in that. Cooper’s knows this. They’ve built the market around it.
Then there’s the haddock, which may be the most Scranton thing of all. Fried Boston haddock trays, available in half pans or full pans, come with homemade tartar sauce and a clear sense of purpose. They’re for Christmas Eve tables where tradition matters more than trend, where the food isn’t meant to be discussed so much as devoured. Broiled and cheese dill versions are available for those who want restraint or nostalgia, or both.
Colossal king crab legs, jumbo lump crab cakes, and other heat-and-serve favorites round out the offering, reinforcing the same idea again and again: this is seafood meant to be shared, not staged.
Spend forty dollars at the market and Cooper’s throws in a free pint of its famous Maryland crab bisque, a move that feels less like a promotion and more like a nod from someone who understands exactly what you’re dealing with. It’s smart, sure. But it’s also hospitality. The kind that says, You’re hosting. We’ve got you.
What makes this market work isn’t just the food. It’s the timing, the location, and the understanding of place. Scranton has no shortage of holiday traditions, but seafood, especially on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, occupies a particular cultural lane. Cooper’s has long been part of that lane, and the dockside market is simply an extension of the role it already plays in the city’s food life.
This isn’t a restaurant trying to cosplay as a fish market. It’s a seafood institution leaning into what it does best at the exact moment demand is highest, and patience is lowest.
The market operates separately from dine-in service, which matters. There’s no confusion, no bottleneck. You call ahead, you pick up outside, and you move on with your day. Supplies are limited, pre-orders are strongly encouraged, and none of this is framed as optional. Cooper’s isn’t begging you to come, it’s telling you when and how it works.
That confidence is earned.
For those planning ahead, the dockside market runs on the following schedule:
Christmas Week
• December 23: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
• December 24 (Christmas Eve): 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM
New Year’s Week
• December 30: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
• December 31 (New Year’s Eve): 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Pickup takes place outside on the dock at Cooper’s Seafood House, 701 North Washington Avenue, Scranton.
In a food scene increasingly obsessed with reinvention, Cooper’s Holiday Retail Seafood Market is something rarer: a seasonal tradition that doesn’t pretend to be anything else. It exists because it should exist. Because it makes sense. Because Scranton needs it.
And because sometimes the best holiday meal isn’t the one you cooked from scratch, it’s the one that lets you actually enjoy the people you cooked it for.
If you want seafood without the stress, this is where you go. The dock is open. The clock is ticking.
