Fine Fare Supermarkets
Opened: June 13, 2026
Welcome to Far Rockaway, a neighborhood of far southeastern Queens we haven't been to yet. It's on a peninsula (basically a barrier island, but it's still connected to the Long Island/Brooklyn/Queens landmass) out south of the JFK airport. So we're really out here in the far reaches of New York City, but we're still technically within the city limits. And across the city (plus Long Island), Shop Fair owner Anibal Rodriguez has been expanding with some really nice new stores. It's time to add another to the list, a newly-built Fine Fare in the main business area of Far Rockaway. In addition to this Fine Fare, Rodriguez owns no fewer than four other supermarkets in Far Rockaway, plus another in nearby Edgemere that's been in progress for years but hasn't opened yet.
This gigantic mixed-use development sits on the site of a strip mall that was rather dilapidated (you can use the back-in-time feature on Google Maps to see it here). I'm not sure what the supermarket anchor there was originally, but it later became an Associated that closed and later reopened under new ownership as a Food Dynasty. Well, that closed too, along with all the other tenants, and the large strip mall was demolished to make way for this huge new development. It's now anchored by a Fine Fare of around 26,000 square feet, I believe.
Far Rockaway is out in the far reaches of Queens, but it's still a pretty dense urban neighborhood, so this is a rather large supermarket for the area. It's one of the most full-service, too. You enter to a hallway with bakery (yes, there's an in-store bakery here), deli, hot food, and sushi on the right side and floral on the left. In the main supermarket, which is just behind that area, produce is on the right side along with three short aisles behind it. One has packaged meat, one has beer and other cold beverages, and one has cold cuts. Sizeable service butcher and seafood counters line the back wall, with dairy and frozen on the left side in the last aisle.
You can see the decor and general setup is very similar to the other stores I linked above, especially Hempstead which is much larger than this one.
Just two blocks west of here are two other supermarkets Rodriguez owns, Polo Supermarket and a Shop Fair. Fine Fare and Shop Fair are part of the same group, called Retail Grocers Group, and they're supplied by General Trading in New Jersey. And according to a Facebook post I came across, apparently Polo is Rodriguez's nickname. Rodriguez has become something of an operator to watch, with around 15 stores in three of the boroughs and Long Island. Many of them are pretty new.
Speaking of new stores, Fine Fare also seems to be on a bit of an opening streak. A really terrible former Key Food in the Bronx has been put out of its misery and is now undergoing extensive renovations to become a Fine Fare under new ownership. One neighborhood over, Ben's Market is preparing to move into the former Rite Aid next door and change the name to Fine Fare.
This store still has the feeling of the small-format NYC stores, but in terms of selection, setup, and general offerings, it definitely rivals any big-chain store.
This store had been open for about a month when I visited, but as you can see, they're still in the grand opening phase with all these endcaps stocked perfectly.
Opened: June 13, 2026
Owner: Anibal Rodriguez
Previous Tenants: none; Associated > Food Dynasty previously on property
Cooperative: Retail Grocers Group/General Trading
Location: 17-25 Village Ln, Far Rockaway, NY
Photographed: July 15, 2026
Stay tuned for those other two new Fine Fare locations when they open, and in the meantime, it's been busy...
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