Ideal Food Basket - Queens, NY (South Jamaica)

Ideal Food Basket

Opened: 2018

Owner: David Santana

Previous Tenants: CTown

Cooperative: America's Food Basket

Location: 142-36 Foch Blvd, South Jamaica, NY

Photographed: September 9, 2025

Before we begin, just a heads up: this was originally posted in March 2020, but was rewritten with new photos in June 2026. Now for the post! Here in South Ozone Park, an old-school (dilapidated) CTown was converted through an extensive renovation inside and outside to a fresh new Ideal Food Basket in 2018. The 9300 square foot building was flipped in the process, so the entrance is now in the back of the store facing the parking lot instead of out at the street in front.

I'm not sure what CTown's layout would've been, but these days you enter to what appears to be an expansion holding the meat and produce departments. This all looks very new. Then you go into the main supermarket building, with the grocery aisles, dairy/frozen at the back, and registers at the front. The deli is in the front corner next to the registers. These days, the Ideal owners fit a lot in the small space, and it's a tidy, well-appointed supermarket.

Here's the best look at the CTown interior I can find. Not a total reinvention of the store, but a much-needed overhaul.

It always makes me happy to see very old supermarkets getting a new life with a nice remodel. That, of course, is the story of New York City supermarkets -- which tend to be old buildings that have changed hands many times. But it doesn't look like this one will be going anywhere anytime soon.

This post was rewritten on June 10, 2026 with new photos.