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Showing posts from June, 2017

More Spreadsheets!

For your reading and shopping pleasure... America's Food Basket Key Food Stores Co-Operative (by municipality) Key Food Stores Co-Operative (by store number) Retail Grocers Group And please check out my UPDATED Grand Union spreadsheet! Spreadsheet Read More

Food Fair La Gran Marqueta - Paterson, NJ

No, it's not the Food Fair you're thinking of! It's more closely related to this Food Fair but, I believe, with different owners. It joins two additional Food Fair locations in Newark  (a former Fine Fare listed unfortunately on Google Maps as Fine Foods) and the Bronx (also a former Fine Fare). This particular location, in an industrial district of Paterson, opened as a Super Food Fair , using the old Food Fair logo, in 2009 after completely gutting a building previously occupied by a furniture store and before that, an original Food Fair. It seems that the Super Food Fair owners gutted the furniture store and fitted it with equipment that looks secondhand. Around 2012, the store was sold and slowly gutted again and completely redone with all new fixtures and decor, as well as flooring. At this time, the store re-branded as Food Fair La Gran Marqueta ( "the big market"  in Spanglish). There is no wasted space inside or outside. Carts are under the white aw

Major Food Stores in NJ

For anyone who is crazy like I am, you know that it can be hard to find all the supermarkets in a given area. Some don't have websites, and others are too new to be listed on Google Maps. And what about those dozens of "farmers markets" that have been popping up across the Garden State? Is there a better way to find out where all the supermarkets in New Jersey are? Why yes, there is, thank you for asking! Here is my attempt at a complete list of every major food store in New Jersey. I'm sure I'm missing plenty, so feel free to fill me in. Leave a comment on this post or email me at njsupermarkets@gmail.com. But this is - as far as I know - the most complete and up-to-date listing of every grocery store in New Jersey. A few things: This spreadsheet includes the following categories: Discounter: Discount and price-impact stores. Supermarket: Large, full-service grocery stores with fresh products. Market: Smaller grocery stores with fewer services and less

TOUR: Foodtown, Valley Cottage, NY

Here we are in the small town of Valley Cottage, NY, just a few miles from New City and Spring Valley. This former A&P was reopened by Albert Tirado and industry veteran Robin Estevez, whose book Lessons from Behind the Counter you should definitely check out if you haven't heard of it! (Estevez also owns stores under his family's own company, Estevez Markets .) We can see what A&P used to look like in this picture from an electric company's website : The landlord did some substantial facade renovations, really making the whole mall much more modern looking. You will notice that only the newer, abbreviated A&P logo is on the storefront, but this store was never a Fresh Market. The above photo was taken from a hotel-locator website . Foodtown redid the logo, obviously, but also added some department signage across the front. It makes the facade a little more interesting, especially since there are no windows along the front wall. The Foodtown bann

TOUR: Farmboy Superfresh - Paterson, NJ

Good Store, (Formerly) Awful Logo, Part II! Welcome to Farmboy Superfresh of Paterson, NJ! This was technically the first Superfresh to open under Key Food, replacing a former Food Basics that operated very briefly as a Farmboy Country Market... I think we're all glad they got rid of that logo from the facade. And yes, that does actually say FABMBOY! The Food Basics replaced an A&P built in the 1970s. The white office building seen in the very background of the first photo was A&P's corporate offices at the time, and there was originally a store facing Delaware Ave (the street in the foreground to the left in the below image). This view from Google Maps shows the current Farmboy next to the old office building, now home to Paterson Public Schools' offices. I know I've seen a picture of the old A&P in the office building somewhere online, but I can't seem to find it right now. Please let me know if you know what I'm talking about! Fu