The Market Report

Immediately across the street from yesterday's C&C Fruit & Vegetables , we encounter this CTown. Previously a Key Food and then a Pioneer, the store frequently seems to have trouble keeping stock on the shelves. I've heard that that problem recurred under both the Key Food and Pioneer iterations. However, Pioneer first opened under a corporate entity called Frank's Caballito Market Place in the former Key Food in 2015; the store closed in early 2017 and reopened still under the Pioneer banner later in 2017 but under the corporate name 4209 Meat & Produce. Shortly thereafter, the store was switched to CTown, and the 4209 entity operates the store today. Hard to tell, though, whether ownership remains the same. Although observant readers will notice the horse (or, in Spanish, "caballito") with the lettering "FC Group" next to the CTown logo, I'd also point out that it's been there since the first iteration of Pioneer. So I coul

That's right everyone, we're touring Pathmark! This location, of course, was a Pathmark from way back, which closed in the 2015-16 bankruptcy. Taken over by Key Food member Sam Abed, it was operated briefly as a Key Food Superstore before closing in late 2018. Pathmark had reopened under the ownership of Allegiance Retail Services member PSK Supermarkets , run by industry veteran Noah Katz. The store opened in spring 2019 after extensive renovation, which involved reinstalling the Pathmark decor package from 30 years ago. Somewhat of an odd choice, but the relaunch relied heavily on nostalgia from the "good ol' days" of Pathmark. This Pathmark, I have to say, is better than the original Pathmark ever was in my lifetime. Yes, all the decor you see, along with lighting, flooring, and fixtures, were installed brand-new in 2019. And maybe it's not the flashiest store around, but it's certainly Pathmark. Just better than Pathmark ever was before.

This store is a little bit of an oddball. It was originally a Met Foodmarket (probably since it opened in 1986), with a service butcher in a separate storefront under the name Meat Town (even though, to my knowledge, the grocery store sold meat). In 2016, owner Thomas Kaller seemed to have gotten an idea to rebrand the entire operation as a Met Fresh Supermarket , moving the Meat Town sign that used to be over the separate storefront to higher up and centered over the Met Fresh sign. Now, you may notice that, uh, that's not the Met Fresh logo . A while later, the store transitioned to Fine Fare Fresh, and, uh, that's not the Fine Fare logo either. But it's gotta match the Met Fresh logo that used to be there, right? Notice that the marquee sign, which used to say Met Food, now says "Fresh Supermarket Food." There are some things in life you just can't explain, such as why this store's butcher counter is in a separate room accessible only from