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Western Beef Supermarket - Queens, NY (South Jamaica)

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By Zachary
Western Beef Supermarket
Opened: July 2025
Owner: Castellana family
Previous Tenants: Junior's Food Outlet (closed 2024)
Cooperative: Associated Supermarket Group
Location: 135-45 Rockaway Blvd, South Jamaica, Queens, NY
Photographed: September 9, 2025
One look at that trademark orange building and you already know what store we're looking at here: Western Beef, one of New York's quirkiest chains. The chain, which is owned by Italian Americans but specializes in Caribbean foods, originated as a meat wholesaler and later grew to a collection of no-frills low-cost supermarkets across the city and its immediate suburbs. After a leadership struggle between the father and son who owned the chain -- and yes, they're both named Peter Castellana -- Western Beef has recommitted itself to their old identity. Western Beef also owned a few discount stores under the name Junior's Food Outlet, and while none exist today, several have been remodeled and reopened as full-fledged Western Beef supermarkets. The latest one just held its grand opening out in South Jamaica this summer.
This store measures about 12,000 square feet, and after closing in 2024 as Junior's, reopened this July as a brand-new Western Beef. The chain joined the Associated Supermarket Group after years of being independent, but when White Rose was still around, they were Western Beef's supplier. White Rose/DiGiorgio's retail operations (Met and Pioneer stores) were merged into ASG in 2014, so in a way, joining ASG is a homecoming for Western Beef. In between, the chain was supplied in part by their own warehouses -- so you'll see Western Beef-branded products in certain departments -- and in part by Supervalu, so they had Essential Everyday items on the shelves. Now, it's Western Beef, Avenue A from ASG, and the occasional Best Yet from C&S.
Junior's interior was really no-frills, and the new Western Beef is a full-service supermarket. Still, this one feels a bit different from their other new stores. It's much smaller, something that really can't be helped because of the cramped quarters. But there's no decor anywhere in the store except for aisle markers, so it still feels a little bit like a discount store.
Produce is in the front-right corner, with deli and bakery in the rest of the first aisle. Meat is on the back wall -- there's no seafood department here -- and frozen and dairy are on the left side of the store, with dairy continuing onto the front wall.
The store still feels like a warehouse, which is really going back to the original intention of Western Beef. Their newer stores, like the Staten Island one I linked above, feel much more like traditional supermarkets.
As you can see, though, the look (and selection) in the grocery aisles is very different from the previous setup at Junior's. It really was a complete overhaul of the store.
Frozen foods in the second-to-last aisle, with dairy on the outside of the last aisle.
It looks like most but maybe not all of the fixtures were new. I don't have a good handle on the previous layout of Junior's, so I don't know how different the store is from how it was.
The front wall is angled because of the setup of the building against the street, so the first aisle is the longest and they get progressively shorter.
Western Beef is a chain in its own right separate from its relationship with ASG, but it's hard to see this opening in context and say that there isn't a bigger pattern across ASG to open new stores. Here's my coverage of ASG's latest stores. As I visit more, I'll post more! Out on Long Island, another ASG member just announced a new store -- Giunta's Meat Farms is moving into a former King Kullen. Another ASG member from Long Island, Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace, has three new stores in the pipeline and is looking for more growth opportunities. It doesn't look like they're slowing down anytime soon.
And that's all for this new Western Beef, but don't miss the rest of this weekend's posts here!
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