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Special Report: Ideal Fresh Market - Staten Island, NY

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By Zachary
Ideal Fresh of Rossville
Opened: Summer 2022
Owner: Mike Virga
Previous Tenants: Mignosi's Supermarket
Cooperative: America's Food Basket
Location: 1006 Rossville Ave, Staten Island, NY
Photographed: August 1, 2022; November 7, 2024; and April 14, 2025
In Rosebank, the Top Tomato supermarket was acquired by new owners and rebranded with a big renovation. Here in Rossville -- across the island, nine miles southwest -- the same deal has happened with an old-school Mignosi's Supermarket. (And hey, the Foodtown we're also seeing today was previously a Mignosi's!) I don't know when Mignosi's originally opened the roughly 7000 square foot supermarket, but it was sold in 2006 but remained Mignosi's -- or Miggy's, as it was affectionately called. It was the last Mignosi's to stay in business on Staten Island, and the chain previously also had locations in Sunnyside (now the Foodtown), Westerleigh (now Beyar's), and Bulls Head (now Lander Market). This Mignosi's was sold in 2022 to current owner Mike Virga, who rebranded the store to Ideal Fresh and embarked on a major, several-years-long renovation project. Today, the store is 15,000 square feet.
2022
Let's start way back in 2022, right after the store had been sold and was switching to Ideal. The Mignosi's signage had been removed but Ideal signage hadn't yet gone in. We're going to start by seeing the store in 2022 and 2024, as it was in progress, and then the (almost) finished product with some pictures from last month. The store had its official grand opening on Friday.
2024
By 2024, the Ideal had taken over the neighboring storefront, but hadn't yet expanded into it. You previously entered behind where the black SUV is, and produce and bakery were in the first aisle. Deli was at the back, with meat on the back wall and dairy/frozen on the left side. Beer was in the front-left corner. The layout has been greatly changed with the expansion, which we'll see shortly.
2022
In its final days as Mignosi's and its early days as Ideal, the supermarket was in no way in need of extensive work. In fact, it was very attractive. There were some slightly awkward things, such as the right-side wall of the store being rather bare, and I'm not sure what was originally here. This wall has now been removed, as the new grand aisle is to the right.
Here, you can get a sense of what the work looked like in the store, with some new produce fixtures but obvious evidence of work ongoing.
2024
It looks like all of the various owners here took care of the store very well, as it was in excellent shape even as it prepared to get a major remodel.
You can see that Mignosi's signage remained inside until the recent renovation.
2022
Packaged and fresh bakery items were between produce and the grand aisle.
2024
The deli was a centerpiece of the smaller store, and it still is in the expanded version.
2022
2024
A cheese island was in the back of the store next to the meat case at the back, with dairy and frozen on the left side.
2022
This decor looks quite a bit like Safeway's early-00s decor package, as well as what showed up in some independents around that time. It was likely all the same design firm.
2024
The grocery aisles focused on the basics, but the deli and perimeter in general had more specialty selections.
2022
Mignosi's was supplied by Krasdale, and Ideal is now supplied by UNFI and sells Essential Everyday and Wild Harvest items.
Some evidence of ongoing work in the last few aisles, when I visited years ago...
Dairy was in the second-to-last aisle.
2024
This uncomfortably narrow aisle was a temporary setup, I believe because there was no other place to store the new dairy refrigerator when it arrived.
Frozen foods and beer on the left side of the store.
2022
2024
2022
2024
And the small front-end had just three registers, the first one doubling as customer service.
2022
It was a really nice little store, and had a pleasant neighborhood feeling. But it was definitely beginning to be dated, and as we'll see the updates were quite extensive.
2024
Now, let's check out the Ideal Fresh as it is today, now that the remodel is done. A note: I visited about three weeks before the official grand opening, so there will be some things still in progress in these photos. You can read all about the grand opening and see lots more pictures from SILive.
2025
It's much more spacious and open these days! And that's thanks to the large expansion on the right side of the store, most of which is now the grand aisle. It also helps that the drop ceiling was removed, which makes the store feel much more open. The large windows on the front wall help, too.
Ideal has made the store much more of a complete supermarket, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's lost some of its neighborhood charm -- though, to be sure, not all of it -- but it's much more complete.
Produce is on the right side of the grand aisle with baked goods and specialty cheeses on the left side. Deli and prepared foods are on the back wall, along with fresh breads. Service seafood and butcher are now to the left of that, with the meat, dairy, and frozen departments where they always were. Beer has been moved into the grocery aisles. It seems the renovation added three aisles, not counting the grand aisle.
There's no service bakery counter, but they do bake in-store -- which most NYC supermarkets don't. Per the SILive article, the bakery and the kitchens are in the basement.
The now much-expanded deli and prepared foods department is at the back of the grand aisle.
You can see that they've also focused on the presentation, with beautiful displays in the deli case and plenty of grab-and-go options.
The grocery aisles definitely feel more like a supermarket now and less like a small corner grocer.
And the selection is impressive for the space they are working with.
I'm not sure if department signage or other decor has gone in since I visited, or if there are plans to add that in the future. The space looks good, actually it looks really good, but it could look much better with some department signage.
Service butcher (not yet open when I visited) and seafood to the left of deli and bakery. This is roughly in what was previously the deli counter's area.
Packaged meat and cold cuts to the left of that. Here, too, the selection has been greatly expanded and is set up much more like a complete supermarket than a small store.
Dairy in the second-to-last grocery aisle, now plenty wide and spacious!
Beer and frozen foods are now both in aisle 10, the last aisle.
It looks like most, but probably not all, of the fixtures were replaced in the renovation. It looks like each department is a bit larger than it used to be, so there was probably the need for more linear feet of display space.
The front-end looks rather similar to how it did previously, though, with still only a few registers. The lack of signgae here makes it look incomplete, so I hope -- if signage hasn't already been installed -- it will be soon. Otherwise, this is an impressive transformation of a store that was already very nice to begin with.
Don't miss this weekend's other posts in New Jersey and here on Staten Island!
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