Fine Fare Supermarkets
Opened: October 7, 2026
Spuyten Duyvil, way up in the northwestern Bronx, has basically one retail strip, and you're looking at it. It looks like the anchor store was originally a Gristedes, later becoming a variety of drugstores before Rite Aid closed recently. In 1975, a small independent called Ben's Market opened up next door, and the original owner James Napolitano sold to a new owner, Junior Frias, in 2024. While Frias remodeled the tiny space of just 2200 square feet, that's really, really small to be a full supermarket. So now, Ben's has taken over the neighboring Rite Aid, which is a whopping 6000 square feet -- still pretty tiny. Early next year, Frias plans to turn the former Ben's space into a pharmacy, even hiring the former Rite Aid pharmacist for it.
The new Fine Fare by Ben's Market opened with a soft opening on Wednesday, and it was definitely a soft opening -- you'll see the store definitely is still very much in progress, but they're off to a great start as shelves are still being stocked around the larger but still quite small space. Produce is on the left side in the first aisle, with beer soon to come into the back-left corner. Meat lines the back wall, with dairy and frozen in the last aisle on the right side. Deli and hot food are in the front-right corner.
The space wasn't completely reinvented when they took over from Rite Aid, but it's looking really good. There's a clear effort to use the space well and provide a little of everything. There are around 500 apartments in this particular complex and 10,000 people in Spuyten Duyvil in general, so there's a clear need for a supermarket here. About two miles north, in the northern end of Riverdale, another Fine Fare (under different ownership) is preparing to open in a former Key Food, also.
While Ben's was supplied by Krasdale, they've switched over to General Trading. Their affiliate, Retail Grocers Group, supports independent Fine Fare and Shop Fair stores in this area.
Hanging rounded signage is definitely left over from Rite Aid here, but now updated with new graphics. It looks good and blends in plenty well.
In fact, I think the owners of this store have done a really nice job making this old building feel fresh and new without completely gutting it. In fact, some of the flooring is even left over from Rite Aid, which we can tell from this remaining decal showing customers where to pick up prescriptions.
Dairy, frozen, and cold drinks are in the last aisle. Six aisles total, including the produce aisle.
Hot food and deli, again clearly still being set up, in the front-right corner. I'll be back to this store to update once it's fully up and running, but I do think they're off to a strong start here. The former Ben's space next door is closed up but will eventually be the new pharmacy.
Now let's spend a little more time on Ben's!
Owner: Junior Frias
Previous Tenants: Gristedes > Eckerd > Rite Aid
Cooperative: Retail Grocers Group / General Trading
Location: 21b Knolls Crescent, Bronx, NY
Photographed: October 7, 2026
In case you hadn't noticed, there's a lot of new supermarkets in the New York metro area lately. By my completely unofficial count, more than 50 new supermarkets have opened in New York City alone in the past year or so, and the vast majority of those are independent grocers. Here's an example of a successful independent grocer opening a new store -- by simply moving next door into a former Rite Aid.
Ben's Market
Open: 1975 - October 6, 2026
Owner: Junior Frias
Previous Tenants: non-grocery tenants
Cooperative: Krasdale
Location: 19 Knolls Crescent, Bronx, NY
Photographed: September 26, 2025 and October 7, 2026
You can see my original tour of this store, with pictures from 2020, here. I returned in September of last year to update my pictures -- that was about a year after Junior Frias took over as owner, and some renovations had taken place. You can see the updated interior here...
Produce and meat were in the first aisle on the left side, with dairy and grab-and-go deli items on the back wall. Service deli was in the back-right corner, with a few short grocery aisles and dairy/frozen on the right side. You can see there were quite a few updates done not that long ago here, but the size was a real limitation. Even though the new store is still very small, it's almost three times the size of this original one.
It's really nice to see this independent store sticking around all these years after it started, and even more so to see them moving into a new, larger space! Don't miss the rest of this weekend's posts here...
Saturday
- LIDL and ALDI each open New York City stores
- A Bronx independent moves next door and rebrands
- A former Harlem Rite Aid becomes a shiny new supermarket
Sunday
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