Special Report: Food Bazaar Supermarket - Brooklyn, NY (East New York)

Food Bazaar Supermarket

Opened: May 22, 2025

Owner: Spencer An

Previous Tenants: Linden Multiplex Cinemas

Cooperative: none

Location: 2784 Linden Blvd, Brooklyn, NY

Photographed: May 28, 2025

Food Bazaar is opening a new store? You know I'm gonna be there. This much-anticipated store opened on May 22, and I visited this past Wednesday to check it out for myself. This is going to be a long tour, but I promise you, it's worth it. (See my last post on the store in progress here!)

Let's back up here for a second. This 70,000 square foot building was most recently home to the Linden Multiplex Cinemas, and according to some comments I've seen on social media that was constructed on the site of a former mall that included a Key Food supermarket. So I suppose we're coming full circle here now that the entire Multiplex building is a Food Bazaar. When the owners of the movie theater were struggling, they put multiple locations up for sale, including this one. Food Bazaar acquired the building and the nearly 9-acre property it sits on for $40 million in 2023, and after an extensive renovation, opened the store almost two years later.

The building backs up to Linden Boulevard, a major east-west thoroughfare in Brooklyn and Queens, and while the Multiplex had entrances facing Linden Boulevard in the front and the parking lot in the back, Food Bazaar has closed the front entrance. There's now only one entrance and one exit in the building, facing the parking lot in the back. Incidentally, I originally theorized this property might be used for warehouse space given that Food Bazaar's warehouse is less than half a mile away. Instead, Food Bazaar has acquired the former Volvo North America headquarters in Rockleigh, NJ, and is rebuilding that property into a 150,000 square foot distribution center. They also have the warehouse in Brooklyn near here, and a produce distribution center in Queens.

This store is located right at the border between East New York, Brooklyn and Howard Beach, Queens. It's half a mile from The Food Emporium in Howard Beach, and a mile from Brooklyn's Gateway Center, which includes the largest supermarket in New York City, which is a ShopRite, along with a Lidl and an ALDI. Although it's not the largest supermarket in Brooklyn, this is still the largest Food Bazaar in Brooklyn. It's also very obviously a flagship store for the chain. Food Bazaar's vice president said in a video before the store's opening that there are several new features in this store used here as prototypes, and that they may eventually come to other locations.

Speaking of, let's check out what this store has to offer. The former multi-screen movie theater still has lots of different rooms -- presumably the former theaters -- but now they're stocked with groceries. Food Bazaar was giving out this store directory, a big help because the layout is a bit complicated and you certainly wouldn't be able to glean it from the pictures. Two notes about the layout. First, the bathrooms on the right side are actually left over from the movie theater, and stepping into them from the modern supermarket feels like going back 25 years. Second, the frozen/dairy section right behind them is actually cold cuts, a phrase that for some reason Food Bazaar doesn't seem to like to use.

The food hall is not yet open, although it's close to done from what it looks like, and the pharmacy is also still in progress. It'll be owned by the same operators as the pharmacy in Hempstead, which is now open. Between pharmacy and deli/bakery is a kitchen for cooking classes, and the Theatre in the back left corner appears to be planned for use for special events. Let's head in!

As you can see on the map above, we enter on the right side past floral and the juice bar. Right away, you can tell this is no ordinary supermarket. And Food Bazaar is no stranger to impressive stores.

Also in this front corner is cut fruit and packaged juices. Produce prep appears to be done here in the juice bar and floral area, too. Just opposite that is the food hall, although it's still covered up because it's still in progress...

Food Bazaar is definitely referencing the building's history as a theater with these hanging lights and the theater marquee-inspired Now Open lettering. I could get a quick glimpse inside the future food hall from the back, though, where the workers were coming in and out...

Now back over to the supermarket. The entrance is just to the left of the sign with the hours, and the front-end is under the exit sign on the far right. The enclosed glass room in the middle will soon be an in-store hydroponic garden, something we've seen before but not often.

Cut fruit and juices are up next on the front wall.

And then we walk through this doorway into what I assume was previously a theater, and is now a produce department...

And what a produce department it is! Between the piles of nice produce and the vines on the ceiling and the attention to detail in the wall decor, it's quite an experience.

One thing I noticed for sure in this store is a greatly-expanded selection of organic and natural products throughout, including a massive organic produce department at the front of the store (although not everything in this case is organic, most is). The only Whole Foods in Brooklyn are far away from this neighborhood, which has no natural food stores anywhere near it. There are no Whole Foods in Queens. And it's also clear Food Bazaar is trying to draw from a wide range of customers here -- East New York is a lower-income, predominantly Black and Latino neighborhood; nearby Howard Beach has a large Italian community and is generally higher-income; and Food Bazaar is clearly hoping customers also come from farther away. The ShopRite at Gateway Center attracts customers from across the borough, and there's no reason this store couldn't also.

It's clear they're anticipating high volume here. You wouldn't stock this amount of produce on the shelves if you weren't planning for it. So far, that seems to be the case. I was here around noon on Wednesday, and it was crowded. I'm sure it's only more crowded on the weekends.

Check out the selection of herbs here!

Looking back up to the front of the produce department...

As we move into seafood, we find this incredible display of a school of fish, each hung individually from the grid above. There was no expense spared in the construction of this store.

This store has the most elaborate decor of any Food Bazaar, that's for sure -- and that's with a chain that loves their elaborate decor.

Whole fish and shellfish are in the front of seafood, with packaged fillets and other grab-and-go items on the side. Frozen seafood faces this department.

There's lots of other seafood-adjacent selections, too, such as sushi ginger and seaweed salad.

Along with a line of fresh seafood soups...

And you can see the row of freezers facing below.

I love this light fixture and the rope setup!

Meat and cold cuts in the room behind seafood. The service butcher counter is in the back-right corner.

As Food Bazaar has done with several stores now, there are signs around the store highlighting brands that appear on the shelves. Some are name brands (Harvestland, Swift Black Angus) and others are from Food Bazaar's expanding collection of private labels (Golden Hen, Chickwings).

Service butcher and dry aged beef in the back-right corner.

You can tell the building is older, as opposed to a newly-built store, and in fact it wouldn't surprise me if the vertical siding or paneling you can see to the left on the wall below is left over from the movie theater.

Cold cuts are opposite, with a Wild Oak Farms (storebrand) sign above the bacon.

Then we move into grocery! The first few grocery aisles, which contain international foods, are short and behind the food hall. When you pass through the doorway below, you enter the main supermarket that also appears to have been the lobby of the movie theater.

International foods and party supplies in the first aisle. Food Bazaar generally doesn't have much nonfoods, so it surprised me to see that here.

It goes without saying that all of the fixtures here are new.

Food Bazaar clearly has high ambitions, and they're (mostly) able to execute what they're trying to do -- except for whatever's going on at the acquired Stop & Shop stores, which is mostly nothing at all. They're around 40 stores now, and they're more of a regional operator than a local chain. My guess is that, with a move like building a new warehouse, they're looking to get larger.

Over at the back of the store, we have the coffee and cheese departments. Both of these are inspired by, but legally not part of, the Fairway program. They acquired three stores from Fairway with large coffee and cheese departments, and they've since added those to other locations. Village Super Market, which acquired five Fairway stores, might also be dropping the Fairway name from their programs. The coffee department was temporarily closed when I was here, but a clerk had just returned to open it back up.

The cheese counter is self-service, but there are also clerks behind the counter.

The selection here definitely angles higher-end, another tip from Fairway. In fact, this store is set up an awful lot like a Fairway. I think the metaphorical torch has been passed.

Dairy and more cheese up next on the back wall. The dairy department continues through the doorway to the left.

And frozen foods are opposite that in the grocery aisles. Check out those awesome painted pallets on the right!

Again, we see a very large selection of natural and specialty foods -- four doors of vegetarian meat substitutes, several more of organic prepared foods. All of these items are hard to find out here unless you go out to Long Island or up to a neighborhood like Williamsburg.

Ñam Yum, a storebrand of plantain products, advertised here in the frozen foods department.

Paper and cleaning are also on this side of the store.

In front is an area for beer and seasonal items, although the beer is not yet in because of permits.

Here's a look from the front-end back through the grocery aisles. You can see the big windows at the back, originally the main entrance to the movie theater, where coffee and cheese now are.

And I couldn't tell exactly what was going on with this mezzanine. Is it left over from the theater? Is it strictly for the display of these shrubs? Are there offices up here? There's a staircase going up, but it's closed to the public. It's also possible that, eventually, there will be more seating for the food hall on the second floor.

Looking towards the back in the seasonal department...

Now back over to the back-left corner, where we finish out the dairy department with eggs and butter, then milk and yogurt in the back-left.

You definitely get the sense this isn't your average Kroger or Safeway. And that's why I love these smaller chains! Now, juice and other beverages continue down the last aisle until we enter the deli/bakery room.

And it's a pretty beautiful deli/bakery room, that's for sure!

The bakery counter is at the back, and deli/hot food is at the front.

In deli/bakery, departments that Food Bazaar historically hasn't been very comfortable with (many of their older stores had only a basic Boar's Head deli program and no bakery), it seems they've hit their stride. Both departments have a combination of fresh-prepared and premade options, and generally the selection was thorough. Quality seemed to be good, too, both for store-made things and prepared items delivered to the store. I believe these salads, for instance, are made offsite and shipped to the stores, but they looked quite good.

Deli -- which includes a hot food bar and a ramen bar -- in the front-left corner of the store.

Looking back towards the rear of the store. The case to the left has baked goods and prepared foods, with the deli-bakery counter to the left of it.

Several new products, too, such as these assorted higher-end candies under the Delicery brand, which is Food Bazaar's deli storebrand. I bought a box of the milk chocolate cashew toffees and I'll let you all know how they were.

Bulk foods opposite deli-bakery at the front of the last aisle...

And in the front of these departments is the kitchen, where they've said they will eventually offer cooking classes. Because of the glare on the glass, it's a little hard to see inside the kitchen, but it's a standard commercial kitchen.

And just next to that on the front wall is the pharmacy, also still in progress. This will be one of three Food Bazaars with a pharmacy, all outside vendors.

And a look across the gorgeous front-end...

One limitation, as you can see here, is that the building didn't have any large windows on it (obviously, because who wants a window in a movie theater?). There's enough visual interest here that it's not too noticeable, and the large windows at the back over coffee and cheese help.

And there you have it, a tour of the new East New York Food Bazaar!

That wraps up this weekend's special posts, but check the others out here if you didn't see them. And I'll see you next week for Boston!

Thursday: A New Jersey ShopRite operator makes some really unusual changes to their in-store branding.

Yesterday: A Save A Lot switches to SuperFresh in northern New Jersey.

Tomorrow: Welcome to Boston!