Key Food Supermarkets
Owner: Junior Diaz
Opened: 2019
Previous Tenants: Waldbaum's > Bravo (1997-2019)
Cooperative: Key Food Stores
Location: 289 N Main St, Hillcrest, Spring Valley, NY
Photographed: March 2019
Okay, so before we head in, I must say that I was wrong about this store. We toured the store back in June 2017 when it was a Bravo. I stated with absolute certainty that this was a Grand Union, despite having no evidence of that other than the floor which resembled flooring in another Grand Union. In fact, this was a Waldbaum's. I have no idea whether it was a Grand Union before Waldbaum's, but I'd doubt it. (Styertowne and I had an ongoing argument about this store over on Flickr back when I was on Flickr -- which I now am again by the way; Styertowne was right in saying that this was a Waldbaum's.) A neighboring store was the Grand Union.
Little has changed inside the 19,000 square foot store since Bravo became Key Food, and I believe the owners stayed the same. I have no idea whose decor we're looking at here, Waldbaum's, Bravo's, or some combination thereof.
This store needs some serious renovation. Produce lines the first aisle, with meat on the back wall and deli and another long-closed service counter in the back corner. Frozen lines aisle 5, halfway across the store, with dairy in the last aisle.
I visited very soon after the store had switched from Bravo to Key Food, but I don't believe any of the signage has been updated yet. Perhaps a much larger renovation is on the way (hopefully). I'd bet that the aisle markers and "World of Foods" sign are left over from the previous tenant, probably Waldbaum's.
Frozen foods halfway across the store. Lots of leaking cases, as you can see, and the floor has certainly seen better days. You'll also notice that many of the numbers are peeling off of the aisle markers.
Deli drastically reduced in size along the back wall. Beer and dairy line the last aisle...
The panel above the dairy cases may be left from Waldbaum's. Baked goods line the front wall, with customer service to the right.
Those checkout lane markers resemble A&P lights, but they also match the Bravo logo. I am looking forward to seeing the renovation that will hopefully happen here someday, and also looking forward to getting confirmation that this is indeed a Waldbaum's and not a Grand Union! Either way, we're wrapping up our Rockland coverage with our last store over on Grocery Archaeology tomorrow.
I vaguely feel like I've seen that World of Foods sign elsewhere, but I have no idea if I'm simply remembering your earlier post from this location or not :P
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know! I'm having the same problem... it feels familiar, but it might just be this store from before...
DeleteWas the neighboring store that was the known Grand Union a larger store than this?
ReplyDeleteIf so, it certainly seems possible that it was once Grand Union that moved to a bigger store and then someone (be it Waldbaum's directly, someone else first or just empty for a time) took the space over.
Things I'd point out:
The aisle signs look like ones I've seen in some GU stores (including one locally that was from 1977 and had them through the bankruptcy in 2001 - that store also still had non scan registers until closing!).
The general use of red & white - particularly on the cases (which look old - like the mirrored produce ones especially), and even the red on the checkout bases that you can see peeking out.
They also did that tile behind the service areas, and again it's in red & white.
All great points, and thanks for your input! The neighboring store is about 5,000 square feet larger. That's a great theory. I also know that the Waldbaum's eventually moved just down Main Street to a much, much larger location, so it's quite possible this originated a little earlier than I had expected.
DeleteDoes this store give senior discounts? If so, every day or what day of the week?
ReplyDelete