The Market Report

Rounding out our Former Supermarket Week with a store in New York City! We're heading up to Harlem (yes, I did actually take the A train here, but we're about 25 blocks south of Sugar Hill). We previously saw a CTown up here on 125th St, but we're going about across the street from that store to check out this store I'm pretty sure is a former A&P. I was only on 125th St to see the CTown, but I couldn't take my eyes off this building. It took me a little while, but I'm now thoroughly convinced this was previously an A&P. Unfortunately, I can't confirm this anywhere. Does anyone know for sure? It's located at 515 W 125th St. Photographed August 2016

Coming closer to home for today's Snapshot. I can't tell you how many times I've driven by the old ShopRite of Union (in fact, I grew up in Union -- although I didn't grow up shopping at this store). I did go in occasionally, though, and found it quite comforting, not appalling as the Acme Style blogger seemed to. You can tour the store when it was still open over on Acme Style here . I can offer a little bit of insight to some of his questions, such as the lack of decor. The store would have had the same decor as Watchung , which was removed at some point for a remodel to the decor now seen in Garwood . However, the remodel never happened, possibly due to the impending closure of the Pathmark at Union Plaza on route 22, approximately a mile and a half south. Village Super Market, the owners of the ShopRite, instead decided to move the store south to the former Pathmark, which is larger than the old 40,000-square-foot store but still fairly small. After sitting vac...

Rochester is one of those cities that's large enough and close enough to where I'm from in New Jersey that I really ought to have been to it. But I never had, until I finally went while on vacation in the Finger Lakes in August of 2018. I know I've been dropping little hints about the Finger Lakes and posting a few stores here and there, but we're going to get serious and spend about three weeks on that area come September. Anyway, this is the last store we'll see in the area until September. It's pretty obvious that this building used to house a supermarket. Even my parents, who were with me at the time I photographed this store and aren't insane I mean obsessed with supermarkets  er perhaps quite as knowledgeable about supermarkets as I am, agreed that it was clearly a grocery store. I just don't know what it was. Classic layout, with a narrow row of parking in front of the building, then a larger lot off to the side. Here's a look at...

Second Finger Lakes former supermarket for today's post. Corning, NY is a pleasant small city most famous for its glass factories and accompanying  glass museum . You're probably thinking that a glass  museum is boring as anything, but you'd be wrong. The Corning Museum of Glass is absolutely worth a visit if you're in the area. However, we're interested today in a building just shy of a mile west of the museum. I'm pretty sure that this building -- which also is used in my graphic for the week, accompanied by an Adobe Stock image of a sign (I wish this building actually had a sign like that) -- was a supermarket. Most recently, it was a Salvation Army Thrift Store. If I had to guess, I'd say it was previously a Tops, which now has a large and fairly modern store roughly half a mile west in Riverside. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Byrne Dairy, a convenience store, now takes up a small part of the building to the far right, with the rest vacant. ...

Heading back up to the Finger Lakes of New York for a quick look at a store I'm pretty sure was previously an A&P. We saw the former ACME in Bath, NY a few weeks ago. Like that store, this supermarket has been repurposed as a non-grocery store. The peaked facade and side-facing entrance makes me pretty sure that this building was an A&P! We have a few more stores in the Finger Lakes to check out over the next three days. This store is located at 121 Liberty St, Bath, NY. Photographed August 2018

The tiny town of Roseland, NJ does not have any supermarkets. Residents typically shop at the ShopRite of West Caldwell (coming soon to the blog) or the Stop & Shop practically across the street (not yet photographed). However, there were once two grocery stores almost next door to each other. This building, at 171 Eagle Rock Ave, was previously a grocery store; I believe it was the National Grocery Co. (I saw a picture once but can't seem to locate it again.) Fairchilds Market, which now occupies the space, is a great gourmet deli/liquor store. And two doors down (the storefront now painted dark green), at 175 Eagle Rock Ave, was the Mutual Grocery Co. That name I'm sure of. The stores coexisted, but probably not for long as the Mutual building looks to be older (1920s?) than the current Fairchilds building (1930s?). These storefronts are part of the very small downtown of Roseland. Photographed April 2018

Starting off our Former Supermarket Week with this location in Elizabeth, NJ. While I don't actually know what chain it was, it was undoubtedly a supermarket. Gotta love a store with a tower! Many supermarkets used similar towers in the 1950s, although this store's slanted design suggests Food Fair or A&P most likely. Since the location doesn't appear on any established lists of those chains' stores, it's also possible it was an independent (of which there were several in Elizabeth, although I didn't think there were any this large), or another store like Foodtown. I don't believe that Elizabeth had a ShopRite before the existing store opened in 1994. A few longtime Elizabeth residents I know were unsure of what this building's original tenant would have been. It's pretty obvious it was a supermarket, though. Today the store, which is located at 639 Bayway Ave, is the Bayway World of Liquors. Photographed June 2018

Heading back into all-new material for next week... Next week is a solid week of no grocery stores! That's right folks, we're looking only at stores that used to be supermarkets, but aren't anymore. Come back on Sunday to check it out with seven brand-new posts for all of next week!