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Special Report: CTown Supermarkets - Staten Island, NY (Castleton Ave)

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By Zachary
CTown Supermarkets
Opened: December 2024
Owner: Adam Abuzahrieh
Previous Tenants: assorted non-grocery tenants
Cooperative: Krasdale Foods
Location: 1234 Castleton Ave, Staten Island, NY
Photographed: May 8, 2025
Two-thirds of a mile isn't that long of a distance, but if you're walking and lugging grocery bags, that's quite a haul. Here in New York City, obviously, a lot of people don't drive and rely on walking and public transit to get their groceries. And that's even true in the outer boroughs, such as here on Staten Island. In this area of Port Richmond on the north shore of the island, a business district along Castleton Avenue had many businesses, but the nearest supermarket was a Key Food on Port Richmond Avenue, two-thirds of a mile west. And that store was a big deal when it opened in 2013, as it was the only supermarket in the northern neighborhoods of the island. Now, there's another one: this CTown opened in December, right around the time the Fine Fare opened in Dongan Hills. When I visited that Fine Fare, it still had grand opening banners up but felt closer to a store going out of business. Here at the new Castleton Avenue CTown, the story is quite different. I was really happy to see an extremely clean, fully-stocked supermarket that was busy and well-staffed in just 6000 square feet.
This is one of two CTowns on Staten Island, although they are under different ownership. An even smaller CTown was very briefly in the northern end of Port Richmond, opening in 2012 and then burning down in early 2014.
This Castleton Avenue store is located in a former sign shop, so everything we see fixture-wise is new. You enter on the left side of the store to the produce department with a deli in the front-left corner. The meat department is in the back-left corner of the store, with dairy and frozen on the right side.
And although the diminutive store is a third of the size of the average CVS, it's got a lot to offer. As you can see, the shelves are packed with groceries. That's essential for a neighborhood that, primarily, doesn't drive.
Dairy starts on the back wall and then continues down the last aisle.
It strikes me how completely different this store felt from the Fine Fare I referenced above (though, to be clear, the stores are in no way related). Like I said, they opened around the same time, although that one was a new-build and this one was fitted into an existing building. Sure, that store was nicer as far as design and decor, but walking into that one you could just feel the dead-ness. Right away, you could spot empty spaces on the shelves and see the wilting produce, and it didn't get better as you made the circuit around the store. Here, there are barely enough shelves to fit all the groceries. There was steady foot traffic in and out of the store, and the meat and produce seemed to all be in good shape. And as of the time I'm writing, this CTown has an average rating on Google of 4.9 out of 5 stars, after 80 reviews.
It looks like all the fixtures here were new when CTown opened. I couldn't spot anything obviously secondhand.
And a look across the front-end, with only a few registers and a small customer service desk, but it's plenty for what the store needs.
I love to see these neighborhood stores opening where they're getting use. And today is all Staten Island, so check out the other three stores from this weekend before we leave the island!
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