BREAKING: Food Bazaar buys 14 Western Beef stores

Happy Saturday and welcome to some major breaking news out of New York City. One Queens-based supermarket chain is taking over another as Food Bazaar has acquired 14 of Western Beef's 19 locations in New York City and on Long Island. The transition is ongoing through the end of the month, so stay tuned for more extensive coverage. I first caught wind of a potential transaction between these two chains last month, when as I posted on my news feed, Food Bazaar incorporated 14 new corporate entities on a single day -- and each appeared to correspond to a Western Beef location. Now, the official transitions started on Thursday and are continuing approximately through the end of October. This comes almost exactly two years after Food Bazaar took over four Stop & Shop stores, though I imagine that's just a coincidence. Let's take a look at the Western Beef stores for a primer on the chain, and a look at what's happening now.

1041 Prospect Ave, The Bronx

Food Bazaar Opened: October 15

This purchase adds a lot of density for Food Bazaar in the South Bronx, where they currently have five stores (depending on how you define "south", I suppose) and will add six more. In addition, the chain is building another Mott Haven location.

1564 Southern Blvd, The Bronx

Food Bazaar Opened: October 16

This store, which Western Beef opened in the 90s, is one of the few that the chain hasn't renovated in recent years. At around 20,000 square feet, it's also the smallest that Food Bazaar is buying.

831 Rosedale Ave, The Bronx

Food Bazaar Opened: October 17

This store is about a quarter mile from the existing Food Bazaar in Soundview, and about half a mile from the 1851 Bruckner store, which will become a Food Bazaar 10 days later.

44 Empire Blvd, Brooklyn

Food Bazaar Opens: October 18

This is the only store Food Bazaar is buying in Brooklyn. Western Beef has an additional two locations there, but they're much smaller.

130-35 Merrick Blvd, Queens

Food Bazaar Opens: October 19

And this one is the only one they're buying in Queens. Western Beef also has two other Queens locations, one of which doubles as the chain's headquarters and distribution center.

1717 Dutch Broadway, Elmont

Food Bazaar Opens: October 20

Moving out to Long Island for this store, but it's not far from the Queens border and Food Bazaar's Farmbria location there.

322 Nassau Rd, Roosevelt

Food Bazaar Opens: October 21

This store was fairly recently renovated by Western Beef. In fact, the majority of their store fleet either was renovated in the last five years or so, or were newly opened in that time. That likely means that Food Bazaar is coming in without crises to address in terms of fixtures or facilities.

605 Woodfield Rd, West Hempstead

Food Bazaar Opens: October 22

This store is just a mile and a half from Food Bazaar's newly renovated location in downtown Hempstead.

192 Voice Rd, Carle Place

Food Bazaar Opens: October 23

This store opened in the spring of 2023, replacing a smaller and older location in nearby Mineola.

301 Morris Ave, The Bronx

Food Bazaar Opens: October 26

Back to the Bronx for this location in Mott Haven.

1851 Bruckner Blvd, The Bronx

Food Bazaar Opens: October 27

You can tour this store here. Food Bazaar currently has one store in the Soundview neighborhood, and is buying both Western Beef locations in the neighborhood. These stores are just blocks apart. But an ALDI, a ShopRite, and a number of independents are also in the immediate area.

2050 Webster Ave, The Bronx

Food Bazaar Opens: October 28

This store is the most recently renovated of the bunch, having just celebrated its grand reopening in January.

2040 Forest Ave, Staten Island

Food Bazaar Opens: no date announced yet

With this purchase, Food Bazaar also enters Staten Island for the first time.

425 Bay St, Staten Island

Food Bazaar Opens: no date announced yet

This is an unusual situation. Western Beef actually sold this store to New Jersey-based Extra back in 2020 or so, but allowed them to continue to use the Western Beef name. But it ran a different circular and sold different storebrand products. Western Beef then bought it back around 2023, and gave it a full renovation.

The Remaining Western Beef Stores

3629 White Plains Rd, The Bronx

This store opened in 2021, making it a fairly new location. But at under 15,000 square feet and without a parking lot, this is hardly Food Bazaar's comfort zone. For now, it remains a Western Beef.

145-35 Rockaway Blvd, Queens

Another new and small one, having opened in the summer of 2025. Though this one has a parking lot, it's only 12,000 square feet. This one was previously a Junior's Food Outlet, Western Beef;s discount chain.

47-05 Metropolitan Ave, Queens

This location is the largest one that Food Bazaar isn't buying, measuring around 50,000 square feet but located within a complex that tops 100,000 square feet. It also includes Western Beef's corporate offices along with a distribution center that supplies Western Beef and other independent stores. Since the chain didn't sell this one to Food Bazaar, which already has its own headquarters and warehouses, I would assume the Western Beef chain intends to continue on its own -- but I don't know that for sure. Additional plans may be in the works to sell the remaining stores.

814 Jamaica Ave, Brooklyn

Another former Junior's Food Outlet that reopened as a Western Beef in 2021.It's on the smaller side at 18,000 square feet.

994 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn

One more former Junior's, though this one is the smallest at just 11,000 square feet. Food Bazaar already has a store of more than four times that size just two blocks over.

As this is still a developing story, check back to see more updates as they happen. This is Food Bazaar's largest acquisition yet, bringing their total store count to 52, and we all know that bigger acquisitions can either propel a chain to a higher level of success or completely sink the whole thing -- so it'll be very interesting to keep an eye on this one. Stay tuned for lots more news in the meantime!