City Supermarket
Opened: ca. 2014
Owner: Mitchel Lopez
Previous Tenants: Stop & Shop (1970s-1980) > A&P (1980-late 1990s) > Foodtown (ca. 2000-ca. 2008) > Fine Fare (ca. 2008-ca. 2014)
Cooperative: Retail Grocers Group
Location: 525 Irvington Ave, Newark, NJ
Photographed: October 27, 2024
Before we begin, just a heads up: this was originally posted in November 2017, but was rewritten with new photos in January 2026. Now for the post! Ever been to a supermarket that was independent but felt like a big-chain store? That's the feeling I got here at City Supermarket. It makes sense because this store location was built as a Stop & Shop in the 70s, then acquired by A&P in 1980. A&P closed in the late 1990s, and it became a Foodtown owned by the LaRacca brothers, who also own the Foodtown of Lake Hiawatha. Foodtown closed some time around 2008, being replaced soon after by a Super Fine Fare supermarket, which in turn converted under the same ownership to City Supermarket along with a sister store in nearby Irvington. The location in Newark is bigger than Irvington, measuring around 32,000 square feet.
This store is in the Ivy Hill neighborhood of Newark, on the border of Vailsburg. It's just around the corner from the
Extra Supermarket in Maplewood.
You enter to the left side, where the grand aisle is. Floral and a cafe are in the front-left corner along with hot food, and the deli counter lines the left side wall with produce on the right side wall.
The store is spacious and bright, and you can see what I mean about the feeling of a chain store as opposed to an independent. This is roughly the same decor package that
other stores under the same ownership have used, although they've since
toned down the colors and, subsequently, changed to an
entirely new decor package.
It looks like this store originally had a full-service bakery counter, which it no longer does. Bread and pastries are still here in this area, but refrigerated baked goods like cakes are now in a cooler near the deli while cheeses have been moved into this bakery area.
Service seafood and butcher on the back wall, with packaged meats lining the rest of the back wall.
There's a lot of international foods here, including a selection of Eastern European and Caribbean items in the first aisle.
Latin American foods are in the other grocery aisles, along with the standard selection.
This store is supplied by General Trading and uses Parade and Life Goods/Life Every Day items from the Federated Group.
As far as I can tell, the space was completely renovated when Fine Fare opened. It looks like the Fine Fare was under the same ownership as City -- not sure why the name was changed -- and only a few brand-specific signs inside were changed during the switch.
Dairy and frozen line the last aisle, with frozen foods continuing onto the front wall to the right of the registers. Some of these fixtures may be older than this store and left over from a previous tenant.
As you can see, this store is on the older side by now but in excellent condition.
And looking across the front-end back towards the grand aisle...
Before we wrap up, here's something I had included in the original 2017 post...
Courtesy of an outdated blog run by the Super Fine Fare, we can get a look at their circular from 2011! Click on the pictures to enlarge.
Always wild to see ads that, now, are nearly 15 years old!
This post was rewritten on January 5, 2026 with new photos.
Was this store something before it was a City Supermarket? The flooring looks oddly similar to the Acme/Albertsons Marketplace or "Santa Fe" renovations. Also, What did you think of the decor? I find it kind of interesting with all the words on the wall at the deli department; which reminds me of Acme's reusable bags from a few years ago, when they were rolling out the "Something More For Less" motto to their stores.
ReplyDeleteIt was built as a Stop & Shop, then switched to A&P, then Foodtown, then Fine Fare, now City. However, the decor was installed by Fine Fare (with the same owners as City). But it is a stock decor package, so you'll see the same decor in other stores like the Ideal Food Basket in Baldwin, NY, for instance. Personally I really like the decor and I think it works especially well with the high ceilings -- it's slightly less successful, at least based on photos, than the smaller Irvington location --that this store has.
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