TOUR: Ideal Food Basket - Haverstraw, NY

Ideal Food Basket

Owner: Andres Ferreira

Opened: 2012

Previous Tenants: A&P (closed 1980s) > Met Foodmarkets (opened 2005) > NSA Supermarkets

Cooperative: America's Food Basket

Location: 210 US-9W, Haverstraw, NY

Photographed: June 2, 2021

It's time for a revisit to the Ideal Food Basket in Haverstraw, NY! We saw this store quickly years ago, with a snapshot as I drove by. The building is around 15,000 square feet and opened as an A&P back in the 1950s or 60s. It closed by the 1980s, when Inserra opened a large ShopRite just half a mile north of here (now a Stop & Shop). Although I'm not sure what happened after that, the space became a Met Foodmarket in 2005, then an NSA Supermarket, then an Ideal Food Basket in 2014 or 2015, although the NSA signage remained for a few more years. A&P returned to the area from 1997 to 2005. The store was just completing an exterior remodel when I visited, as you can see the little bit of exposed stucco in the first image.

The arched-roof original A&P building peeks out from behind the newer facade, which as I mentioned was being refinished when I visited...

It has since been finished. You enter in this corner to produce and deli in what amounts to the very small grand aisle, then beer in the rest of the first aisle. The store is rotated 90 degrees, meaning the side wall seen below is the front wall. Dairy is on the back wall, which is actually the left side wall of the building, with frozen and meat at the back.

This decor likely dates back to Met Foods' opening in 2005, although a few of the fixtures look like they may be slightly newer. I had some trouble photographing this area because it's fairly cramped. The store is slightly smaller than A&P's original 15,000 square feet because the front left corner of the building is carved out for another business, which you can see in the street view.

When you enter, deli is to the right and produce is to the left. You exit behind the deli out the side wall of the store.

And although the store is on the smaller side, it's definitely still a full supermarket. The carved-out other storefront I mentioned is to the left of the beer cases seen below.

As we can see, the cases are on the older side but not that old, and likely were installed new when Met Foods opened.

The aisles are clean, well-stocked, and quite broad in their selection. Ideal is a mainstream supermarket that leans towards Latin foods, but it's definitely a place where you can find the big national brands of any supermarket.

Ideal Food Basket is a brand of Long Island-based America's Food Basket, which is supplied by UNFI and uses Essential Everyday and Wild Harvest branded items.

You can spot some Essential Everyday items on the shelves to the right below. You can also see how pristine the store is although it's small.

I believe it's eight aisles, which run parallel to the front wall of the store as I mentioned. The last aisle has frozen foods on the outside and meats on the inside...

...and one more look across the back wall, back towards the beer and produce/deli side.

And although the store hasn't gotten many updates with fixtures or decor, it still looks really good.

And then a look across the front-end, which I mentioned runs along the side wall of the store. You can see the exit out of the side of the store from the street view. It's definitely an unusual setup but one that works here. You can also see the U-Haul trucks in that picture, as this store is also a U-Haul rental agency.

That's all for our look at the Ideal Food Basket, but there's actually two other small grocers within a short distance of this store -- one in the same strip mall and one across the street. Check out a look at the one next door here, and tomorrow, we're headed across the street on The Independent Edition!