Cherry Valley Marketplace
Opened: 2016
Owner: Anthony Espinal
Previous Tenants: Compare Foods Supermarket (converted 2016)
Cooperative: Retail Grocers Group
Location: 4800 Park Ave, Fordham Heights, Bronx, NY
Photographed: March 27, 2024
Cherry Valley is active in the Bronx! The banner, whose locations are mostly in New York City, is part of A&E Supermarket Group, which also owns City Fresh Market. There are three Cherry Valleys in the Bronx,
one of which is only a few years old. The other two are much, much older, but things are happening at both.
This store has a bit of a strange setup, with two entrances. The one we see below faces Webster Avenue, and leads customers to the deli and prepared foods/juice bar area. The one in the first picture looks out onto a pedestrian plaza along Park Avenue.
I don't know too many details about this store, but it appears to be around 17,000 square feet. It's definitely been a supermarket for at least several decades, and its
age was starting to show. It looks like a major renovation began in late 2023 or early 2024.
And I do mean major -- the entire store was ripped apart, it was a total mess. But I'm sure it'll look great once it's all done. Produce is in the front left corner, with meats on the left side. Dairy and frozen are on the right side, and deli/prepared foods are in the back with their own entrance. I don't know what the layout will be like once the renovation is done, since everything looks temporary.
The floor and ceiling were being torn out throughout the store, so I have no doubt there are plans to replace both. A new island has been built in the first aisle behind produce where some service counter is going in. Perhaps the plan is to move deli here. Meats are behind it on the far left side of the store, with service butcher in the back left corner. This store didn't have a service seafood counter, so maybe that's in the plans too.
I wouldn't be surprised if this area is going to become the deli and bakery. To the left, behind this island...
...is the meat department. The signature arched ceiling is being installed. You can see an example of what this might look like in the newly-renovated
East Harlem City Fresh.
Service butcher with brand-new fixtures is in the back left corner, so I assume this isn't moving.
Grocery shelving is mostly new, and in the process of being reset. A few aisles were closed entirely as shelving was replaced. Obviously, the floor will be redone.
Speaking of... evidence of past floor designs peeks through.
The back wall was just a mess when I visited, with random shelves of merchandise pushed back here.
And here's why...
Here's the hallway where deli and prepared foods are in the far back of the store. You can see its own entrance/exit at the back.
Work was ongoing when I visited, with people rolling these carts of merchandise around and drilling into something.
Frozen foods cases look brand-new. Very nice.
And the last aisle is also preparing to get some arches. Dairy lines the outside with nonfoods inside.
Cold cuts in the back right corner. These guys were filling the case, which appears to be new.
And the front-end, looking back over towards produce...
Don't worry, I'll be back once the remodel is finished so we can see how it turned out! Judging by other stores, though, I'm willing to bet it'll be gorgeous. Speaking of, let's check out their other location just a few blocks north (about 10 blocks on Webster Ave)...
Cherry Valley Marketplace
Opened: 2016
Owner: Anthony Espinal
Previous Tenants: Pioneer Supermarkets (converted 2016)
Cooperative: Retail Grocers Group
Location: 2870 Webster Ave, Bronx, NY
Photographed: March 27, 2024
This is an interesting situation. This roughly 19,000 square foot store is in pretty good shape, but it's
preparing to move into a new space that's set to be slightly smaller, at around 12,000 square feet (although that's set to
later expand to 20,000 square feet in a deal I don't quite understand). The New York Botanic Gardens, which is located directly behind this supermarket, owns this property and wants to build housing where Cherry Valley is now.
That aside, the store doesn't look too much like it needs to be replaced. There are some parts that need a little updating, but by and large, it looks great.
You walk into the grand aisle with produce taking up most of it. Deli is in the front right corner along with prepared foods, and an island to your left on the front-end has bakery and a coffee/juice bar. Seafood is in the back right corner, with packaged meats on the back wall and the service butcher counter on the far left side. Dairy and frozen are in the last aisle.
We can see that this store is not falling apart at all, and in fact is quite nice.
The store appears to have backroom space running along both sides, but none on the back (a train track runs directly behind this store). So seafood is located in this space protruding out the right side, and butcher is located in a similar setup on the left side.
This store was one of the best-stocked I'd ever seen...
And some sections were just ridiculous...
But we can tell the place is aging, as that's some pretty old Pioneer flooring left over we're seeing.
Back over to the front wall, where the bakery department is before we get to the front-end.
An immaculate cereal and coffee/tea aisle. But still, we can see the facility's age from the apparently leaky ceiling. I assume those repairs would've been done if the store weren't preparing to move.
Here's the butcher shop on the left side of the store. The wall to the right in the above picture is actually the back wall of the store. And maybe this is the precursor to the arches I described earlier...
Dairy and frozen in the last aisle.
And a look across the front-end...
Now on to the new store! It's being built directly next to the existing one. My interpretation is that, once Cherry Valley can open in the new building, the existing supermarket will be knocked down and a new building will be built there -- with part of the Cherry Valley extended onto the ground floor.
Unfortunately, I couldn't really see inside the new store to get a glimpse of what it looks like.
My guess is the doors here will be the entrance eventually...
That's all for Cherry Valley, but don't forget to see the
other posts we have today!
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