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Showing posts from October, 2020

TOUR: Key Food Supermarkets - Bridgeport, CT

Key Food Supermarkets Owner:  Anthony Peña Opened:  2016 Previous Tenants:  Walgreens (??-mid 2000s) > Fine Fare (mid 2000s-2011) > City Supermarkets (2011-2016) Cooperative:  Key Food Stores Location:  2251 Main St, Bridgeport, CT Photographed:  May 2019 This 12,000 square foot store is located in the less urban Brooklawn neighborhood of Bridgeport. Formerly a Walgreens, this store has been several different supermarket banners all under the same owner, as far as I can tell. A look at the Key Food from across the street in the parking lot of the International Farmers Market. That's an independent Krasdale market diagonally across the street, which we'll be taking a look inside tomorrow on The Independent Edition ! Inside, the store feels very small but contains no remnants of the Walgreens that previously occupied this space. Walgreens moved to a new-build store about three blocks south on Main St. Deli and hot food line the right side wa

TOUR: Gala Foods Supermarket - East Side, Bridgeport, CT

Gala Foods Supermarket Owner:  Omar Jorge Peña Opened:  2018 Previous Tenants:  Compare Foods Cooperative:  Key Food Stores Location:  1050 E Main St, Bridgeport, CT Photographed:  May 2019 We've previously toured the Gala Foods in Worcester , and we're now here in the East End of Bridgeport to tour one of two in Bridgeport. The other, which I have not been to, is in the West End and has recently gotten a nice exterior renovation . This one looks much more like Worcester, although it has not been painted beige. At 19,000 square feet, it's a substantial center-city store but not enormous. You enter on the right side of the store with produce in the first aisle, meats on the back wall, and service butcher and deli in the last aisle. My photos are a little limited based simply on how busy the store was. Interesting that frozen foods actually line the first aisle. I'm going to say the conversion to Gala Foods was a little more successful than Worces

TOUR: Farmers Market by Food Bazaar - Bridgeport, CT

Farmers Market by Food Bazaar Supermarket Owner:  Spencer An / Bogopa Service Corp. Opened:  2015 Previous Tenants:  Food World IGA Location:  345 Huntington Tpk, Bridgeport, CT Photographed:  December 2019 Returning to the 25,000 square foot Farmers Market by Food Bazaar that we first saw back in 2017. While I took an exterior photo and stopped inside the store, I didn't get any interior pictures for whatever reason. So, I went back to photograph the interior in May 2019. The main feature of the store, and what takes up the most space, is the produce department in the center of the store. Like any other Food Bazaar's produce department, it's beautiful. The left-side wall features a few very short grocery aisles and frozen, with seafood in the back corner and meat/deli on the back wall. Dairy lines the right side wall. While this has the same decor package as Manhattan Ave , a key difference is that the ceiling here is white. It has not been pa

TOUR: CTown Supermarkets - Stratford, CT

CTown Supermarkets Owner:  Yousef Fattah Opened:  1994 Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  Krasdale Location:  360 Boston Ave, Stratford, CT Photographed:  May 2019 Our next stop is Stratford, CT, a suburb immediately to the east of Bridgeport! We're stopping at one of Stratford's supermarkets, an 18,000 square foot CTown buried at the far back of a strip mall right on the Bridgeport border -- a location that renders it practically invisible from the street . Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about the history of this building, although we do see what appears to be some very old decor that's been repainted on the walls inside. UPDATE:   Groceteria has informed us that this was a Pantry Pride in 1972, meaning it may have been built as a Food Fair. Despite that, the store is looking great. The floor looks to be newly finished, and the decor on the walls looks freshly painted. The decor is very interesting, and unlike anything I've seen i