The Market Report

Heading about 20 miles west of Litchfield to Kent, which is right near the New York state border. It's a small town with a very nice downtown. And one supermarket. Well okay, it also has a gourmet market we're going to see tomorrow. But for now, we'll just take a look at the friendly neighborhood IGA... The Davis IGA is a very small but very nice market that really looks to be full-service. Having been both here and the Stop & Shop in Litchfield , I would really rather shop here. I got a very strong NYC-area feeling from this store, likely because this is a popular vacation area for many NYC folks. But this store very much feels compact like a Key Food in Brooklyn might. It even has the same look on the inside, if a little more rustic. Regardless, if you focus on the decor, it's really not far from the Key Food Marketplace in Bay Ridge . Anyhow, this store isn't located in Bay Ridge, it's at 27 Kent Green Blvd in Kent, CT. Photographed June 20...

To kick off our Connecticut week, we are checking out a brand-new store -- that is, one that has never before appeared here on The Market Report or on Flickr, as well as one that's actually very newly built. Opened in June 2017, this location in the Litchfield Village Green replaced an older store just west on US-202 which itself may have been an older Grand Union. I photographed the store at night, then returned a few days later for an additional exterior photo. All of the interior photos were taken at night, so we'll be seeing very few customers and low stock in most departments. This exterior store model is quite attractive. However, it's strangely one-sided, and it gives the appearance that the store was expanded (when, in fact, it was built this way). Marking a departure from many earlier models, there is only one entrance and exit, both on this side of the storefront. You enter to the right and encounter bakery in the front corner with prepared foods and del...

Heading back up to Bloomfield, NJ for today's post of a former supermarket. This store started as a Food Fair, then became a Mayfair Foodtown-turned-Edwards, and is currently a 99c & Discount Depot. (This chain had another location in Elizabeth in a former A&P, which is coming soon to the blog.)  Yes, the original arches are still intact! I love it! For a more detailed description of the store's history and better pictures, check out Styertowne on Flickr over here . It's located at 12 Arlington Ave, Bloomfield, NJ. Come back tomorrow for Connecticut week! Photographed June 2016

Well. Today's post was supposed to be a Snapshot at the Bristol Selecto Supermarket in Bristol, PA, but I don't believe I saved the photos when I removed them from Flickr. It doesn't matter, they weren't very good pictures. In fact, you should still check the store out on Google Maps here , here , and here , to see a relatively intact (if horribly mutilated) A&P-turned-SuperFresh centennial model with SuperFresh decor still mostly original. Anyway, here's some old bags from Compare Foods instead! Oh yes, by the way, I've never been to either Compare Foods store in Bridgeport. This bag came from the Worcester  location. All three are now Gala Foods. Ah, here we go. Slightly better, although I still really can't tell what most of that in the cart is. For instance, what's that big lump sticking out on the top left? "I think maybe it's supposed to be a giant, mutilated loaf of bread," said fellow supermarket blogger Retail Re...

Next week is... It's going to be a short week, though -- only Monday through Friday. We have regular programming on Sunday the 28th and Saturday the 4th. But watch out for store tours on Monday and Friday, then assorted Snapshots and a Look Inside rounding out the week's content. So come back on Monday for a brand-new store tour!

Superfood Marketplace Opened: 2012 Owner: Maikel Martinez and Ana Lemes Previous Tenants:  non-grocery tenants Cooperative: Retail Grocers Group/General Trading Location: 50 1st St, Elizabeth, NJ Photographed: March 29, 2024 Before we begin, just a heads up: this was originally posted in April 2019, but was rewritten with new photos in August 2026. Now for the post! Elizabethport is separated from most of the city of Elizabeth by the New Jersey Turnpike, a little over a square mile of land cut off from most of the rest of the region. So although there are plenty of supermarkets across the city, Elizabethport's supply hasn't been particularly abundant. A Fine Fare here closed and was demolished decades ago, leaving the neighborhood with only a 7500 square foot independent called Super El Rey as the only full-service supermarket. (It's now a Universal .) In 2012, a second, similarly-sized independent opened up called Superfood Marketplace. Owned by the previous owners of...

I told you there would be some random posts. Now we're jumping back to good ol' Bayonne, NJ, to check out this store that started as the Fei Da Asian Market back in 2012 but later became the Bayonne Fresh Market by 2016. Interestingly, Bayonne's population is only about 8% Asian, which makes me wonder about the wisdom of opening an Asian Market there -- especially since it's a hard-to-access peninsula and therefore has limited capacity to draw customers from surrounding towns. The Bayonne Fresh Market today appears to specialize in seafood and doesn't appear to be a full supermarket. Notice that "Bayonne Fresh" is in a different font from "Market." This is because the "market" is left over from Fei Da. I get a very similar feeling from this store as I do the Despensa del Ahorro in Elizabeth, although I haven't actually been inside either one. This store is located at 1033 Broadway in Bayonne, just south of the Aqui Market a...