Key Food Supermarkets
Here's my original 2019 picture of the 786 Flatbush store, and the dollar store is visible to the right above. This building was originally various independent grocers dating back to the 1930s at least, and became a Key Food no later than the 1970s. And now, Key Food is gone, though not far away...
Opened: summer 2025
What store is this? Well, from the above picture, you'd have almost no idea. This is the brand-new Key Food on Flatbush Avenue in Flatbush, which moved within the last few months from a neighboring storefront at 786 Flatbush to a former dollar store at 780-784 Flatbush. The previous store, which was rather old by the time it closed, was just 5100 square feet while the new one is slightly larger at 7000 square feet.
Produce is up at the front of the store on the right side, with cold cuts in the rest of the first aisle. Meats line the back wall with dairy and frozen in the last aisle. Like the old store, no service departments here.
Another Key Food owner did exactly this up in the Bronx -- moved from an old location into a new space immediately next door. Like that one, this feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. The new store is fresh and clean-looking, but isn't all that different from the old one other than what seemed like a slightly larger selection. There's not really any decor inside the new store, and even the aisle markers don't have the Key Food logo but just the words "Key Food" in a generic font. Still, there was construction work going on inside the old store when I walked by, so it's possible this store isn't done and is eventually expecting to expand into both storefronts. There's a number of supermarkets in the area, including some that are much larger.
And what's up with the lack of a sign on the front? Well, if you notice in that Jerome Avenue post, that store also opened without a sign, so it's likely just part of the transition. You can see in the first picture in this post that the storefront has the faint outline of the Key Food sign, possibly to be used as a guide to install the new sign or possibly because a sign had been installed but had to be taken down temporarily for one reason or another.
It's a nice reuse of the former dollar store, though, and I don't believe this space was ever a supermarket before the dollar store.
And it looked to me like all the fixtures were new, and that nothing was brought over from the old store.
A look at the front-end, which is very bland but has some nice natural light coming in from the big windows.
And now for the old store...
Owner: Maher Othman
Previous Tenants: assorted non-grocery tenants
Cooperative: Key Food Stores
Location: 780-784 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY
Photographed: September 19, 2025
Original Grocery Tenants: assorted independent grocers
Address: 786 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY
Address: 786 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY
Opened: 1930s
Closed: 1950s
Later Tenants: Key Food (opened by 1970s, closed 2025)
Photographed: September 19, 2025
The rolling doors were down, but there was a lot of work going on inside (at least, I could definitely hear power tools) but I couldn't get a look inside and so it's not clear yet what's going to happen with this building. As you can see, though, it wouldn't be too difficult to eventually expand into both spaces, which is what a SuperFresh operator did just down Flatbush Avenue. For now, check out the rest of this weekend's posts here!
Saturday
- Trader Joe's opens a new Staten Island store
- Gala Foods builds a store on Long Island
- The Market Report checks in with upcoming America's Food Basket, Food Universe, and SuperFresh stores in Brooklyn
Sunday
And doing that would make lots of sense, when you consider the two spots combined are only around the size of many of the freestanding drugstores found in the majority of the rest of the country :)
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