The Market Report

Compare Foods Supermarket Owner: unknown Opened:  2016 Previous Tenants:  Bravo Supermarkets (2006-2016) Cooperative:  Associated Supermarket Group Location:  1954 Baldwin St, Waterbury, CT Photographed:  July 9, 2021 Welcome to Waterbury's Compare Foods! There was previously a much larger Compare Foods in town, located around two and a half miles northwest in a former Pathmark. That store became Cherry Valley Marketplace in 2014, and this one was a Bravo from 2006 to 2016. In 2016, Bravo switched to Compare Foods. I don't know what the space was previously -- although back in 1968, a building at this address was a machine shop. Today, the 10,000 square foot space is a small but full supermarket. The deli is in the front right corner, with produce and packaged meat lining the rest of the first aisle. There's a small service butcher at the back of the first aisle, with dairy on the back wall and frozen foods in the last aisle on the left side. I visited on a ho...

Key Food Marketplace Owner: Saleh Hassen Open: 2019-2022 Previous Tenants:  Town Plot IGA (1960s-2019) Later Tenants:  Banana Fresh Market (2022-2023) > Key Food (2024- ) Cooperative:  Key Food Stores Location:  286 Fairfield Ave, Waterbury, CT Photographed:  July 9, 2021 Oh boy. This is one of those  stores. For a long time, it was the Town Plot IGA, opening in the 1960s and finally closing after a good long run in 2019. Later the same year, Key Food opened up in the spot, owned by Saleh Hassen. The Hassens were also working on a store across town at the corner of Grove and Cooke, next door to a former CTown  that burned down. That store was supposed to be called Waterbury Farms and was projected to open in 2017, but as of 2023, the store is up for sale or lease . The family's other Waterbury store, this Key Food, was short-lived, perhaps deterring them from pursuing the Waterbury Farms store. The Town Plot Key Food opened in 2019 but closed...

Cherry Valley Marketplace Owner:  Martin Espinal Opened:  between 2012 and 2016 Previous Tenants:  Pathmark > Compare Foods Supermarket Cooperative:  Retail Grocers/General Trading Location:  155 Thomaston Ave, Waterbury, CT Photographed:  July 9, 2021 Welcome to Waterbury! I've mentioned that it's the larger city in the area, with a population of just over 110,000. Waterbury is about 25 miles southwest of Hartford, 20 miles northwest of New Haven, and 25 miles northeast of Danbury. It feels like a long distance between those cities, but Connecticut is small -- 25 miles due west of Waterbury is the New York border, and 65 miles due east is Rhode Island. The 60,000 square foot store was originally built as a Pathmark, which by the early 2000s had become a Super Compare Foods. I believe Pathmark opened here in the 1980s, as in 1972 they were located at 451 Bank St in a building I believe no longer exists. (The Pathmark of Manchester opened in 1972, and lat...