The Market Report

We're coming back to the Key Food Marketplace of Beacon, NY for a real store tour. Let's begin with some history here. The supermarket was built at some point prior to 1965 (Historic Aerials doesn't go back farther than that here), and my guess would be in the 50s, as a Grand Union. GU had a significant presence in the Hudson Valley and while quite a few of the stores have closed for good, many of them were purchased by Tops (such as Tannersville ), Hannaford ( Kingston ,  Pawling ), or Key Food operators. Others became Grand Union Family Markets run by C&S ( Saugerties ). I can't seem to find the previous owner's name right now, but he owned several other stores as well. If I'm not mistaken, he currently owns only one store. Junior Dabashi, whose family also owns supermarkets in New York City, bought this store, the Mahopac location (now demolished for a new Stop & Shop), and the Milford, PA location from the same previous owner, although he purc

Towards the end of 2017, Cactus Holdings, the owner of the Western Beef and Junior's Food Outlet chains, announced the introduction of the Western Beef Market, a new store concept designed to rework existing Junior's stores to a more modern format. While Junior's Food Outlet are hard discount stores, the Western Beef Market stores are perishables-focused, with complete produce, meat, and seafood departments, although they are smaller in footprint than standard Western Beef supermarkets. This facility, located in northwestern Brooklyn, had closed by the time of my visit in anticipation of a conversion from Junior's to Western Beef Market. Unfortunately, the banners on both the front and the side of the store saying WESTERN BEEF MARKET COMING SOON! had blown either off or up to the roof so it is not visible. (As you can tell, the day I visited this area was somewhat stormy. Luckily, I did not get rained on!) The fact that there is a large closed-up supermarket in

Look, ma! A Lehigh Valley tour that was photographed on a different day! (Side note: I don't think my mother actually reads The Market Report. I think she gets enough from my incessant and overly detailed descriptions of every last grocery store I visit that she doesn't need to relive that over again. Contrary to what Market Report readers might think, not everyone is obsessed with supermarkets. How strange!) Lots of exterior photos here because I was on foot. This store is located just east of the central downtown area of the small town of Hamburg. Originally a Kings (not Kings ; I'm referring to a small PA chain acquired by Weis), this store even was still using King's carts at the time of my visit. Despite this, the store has been extensively remodeled inside with Weis's second-to-newest decor package. It's also been expanded into a few neighboring storefronts, giving it a slightly awkward L-shaped layout. You walk in to deli/prepared foods, with produc