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Update: Food Bazaar Supermarket - Brooklyn, NY (Bushwick)

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By Zachary
Food Bazaar Supermarket
Opened: 2001
Owner: Spencer An
Previous Tenants: Waldbaum's (1988-?) > Big R (closed 2001)
Cooperative: none
Location: 454 Wyckoff Ave, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY
Photographed: September 12, 2025
We are back at the Wyckoff Avenue Food Bazaar! This store is huge by the standards of urban Bushwick, but measures only about 45,000 square feet. And since my original post, I've done some more extensive research, so I have more history here. The first supermarket on this property was a Waldbaum's, which built the current building in 1988. They closed probably not too long thereafter, and the space became a Big R Food Warehouse owned by local chain Royal Farms. In 2001, Food Bazaar took over several Big R locations when that chain went under, including this one. They remodeled it shortly after moving in, but then hadn't done much to it since. Now, the space is undergoing a much-needed renovation.
A careful look at the facade here on the left side of the store reveals the remnants of a "30 minute photo" sign, probably from Big R or Waldbaum's. Now, let's take a look inside and see what's going on with the remodel!
It was in full swing when I visited a few weeks ago, with some parts done but most still very much in progress. The layout doesn't appear to be changing all that much, and produce and seafood are still in a room in the front-right corner of the store. Meat is in the next room behind that along with some of the dairy department, and the rest lines the back wall of the store. Frozen foods are roughly in the middle of the store. There isn't currently a deli or bakery here, but it looks like they're in the process of installing one in the back-left corner.
This had become a very rundown Food Bazaar, and it very much needed this overhaul.
New refrigeration has been installed around the perimeter of the produce department, although it appears that the produce islands in the middle haven't been replaced.
It also looks like some new wood paneling has gone up on the walls. I don't know how much more work will be done in the produce department.
The seafood department, meanwhile, hasn't gotten any updates at all yet. That actually makes me wonder if it's going to be moved or something, because nothing here has been changed. Walking through the doorway into the meat department...
...we see a lot more changes. The meat department was previously a walk-in refrigerator room with meat sitting on standard shelving in the middle, but it's all now in more straightforward refrigerator and freezer cases.
There are now several aisles of meat and dairy/cold cuts products in the middle of this room.
All of the fixtures here are new, and the layout is slightly different from the previous setup.
Below, we're looking across the back of the meat department room to the right side of the store, roughly the same as this picture. The service butcher counter is still in the back-right corner, but it looks like it's been set back a little bit to accommodate one more aisle.
Below, it's pretty clear where the meat department sales floor previously ended and where it's been pushed back, and so now this area takes up some of the backroom space. I do wonder, since this section clearly isn't done yet, whether seafood will eventually end up here or something.
The service butcher counter is in the back-right corner of the store.
And the rest of the dairy department lines the back wall of the store.
The grocery aisles mostly look the same.
Outside of the produce department, the department signage is installed but not yet lit up.
The grocery shelving hasn't been replaced, and neither have the aisle markers. The aisle markers are newer than the rest of the previous decor, and were installed probably around 2016.
But new dairy and frozen cases on the left side of the store.
The last few aisles are shorter to accommodate what appears to have previously been extra backroom space and, I believe, is now being prepared to become a deli and bakery. This is exactly where the deli-bakery is in the nearby Gates Avenue store, so it would make sense.
Here's a look at this section previously, with almost exactly the same view as above.
Baked goods are currently in this area, although there isn't currently an in-store bakery.
And it's a little odd to just have grocery shelving in the last aisle. Replacing the shelving here would definitely help the store look less old.
But the front-end has gotten some updates, with a new hanging wooden structure over the checkouts and a new thank you for shopping sign.
I'm glad to see some updates coming into this store, as they're badly needed. I hope it's as extensive a remodel as the Gates one, because even though there's still some nice new touches here, it feels like an old store.
I'll be back to check in on it later, but for now, see the rest of this weekend's posts here!

Saturday
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