The Market Report

Well our Bronx group is pretty much over, but we can stretch it out a little bit. When I got in the car to head home, I was stuck in traffic getting out of the Bronx and I happened to be stuck right behind a Krasdale truck. Good end to the day! Krasdale is the market leader by number of stores in the Bronx; Key Food leads in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. This isn't the newest Krasdale truck, which you can see here . Tomorrow we finish out our Bronx group with a music video recapping all the stores! Photographed June 2018

Food Dynasty is a small group of stores with an interesting history of which I know almost none. I do know that the banner started with Krasdale Foods in the 70s or 80s, and by about 2009 had switched over to Key Food, although I also know there were multiple owners of Food Dynasty stores, so maybe it was some kind of sub-cooperative. Either way, this particular location was a CTown until 2010 when it switched to Food Dynasty. It's also our last store tour in the Bronx! (I previously toured a Food Dynasty over on Fordham Rd, but I didn't give much of the history of the chain, so I figured it should go in here.) The funny thing is, there are very limited pictures of the interior of this store online. So I was excited to get in it myself and get a full tour. When I was done, I realized I somehow got a pretty sparse tour. Maybe it's something about the store's aura, discouraging photography. Maybe it's just that it was the end of the day and I was tired. Choose...

Moving towards our last store tour tomorrow, which is exciting! The neighborhood changes abruptly as you head west on Gun Hill Rd from Norwood into Van Cortlandt Village, where we will see our last store at the southern tip of Van Cortlandt Park. Norwood, a densely packed and busy neighborhood, gives way to Van Cortlandt Village's winding tree-lined streets with more houses. This picture is looking east on Gun Hill Rd between Jerome Ave and Mosholu Pkwy.

Today's Snapshot is a quick look at a store that seems to be a produce/greengrocer shop with some groceries and, apparently, dairy products. Unfortunately, it seems that this store has gone out of business since my pass through the neighborhood. I always hate to see any store go out of business, unless it's really absolutely horrible. That "Fruits & Vegetables" panel looks like it could just as easily be from 2005 as 1965. I love it! Tropical Dairy Corp is (was) at 3494 Jerome Ave, Bronx, NY. Photographed June 2018

Time flies when you're having fun, so it's hard to believe we're already on the second-to-last store tour of the Bronx group! This Key Food was previously a Pioneer Supermarket, but has been a Key Food for at least about 20 years. This store is owned by the Luna brothers, who also own many other grocery stores in the area under many, many banners. One such store is the SuperFresh of Glen Rock . This store is not in as good condition as the SuperFresh in Glen Rock. It looks particularly bad on the outside, although as we'll see, it gets better inside. Definitely old-style lettering here on this sign, starting to show its age. You enter on the right side of the store. The deli is immediately inside on the right, with produce lining the first aisle and meats on the back wall. Frozen and dairy are in the last aisle. Hot food counter definitely closed for the day. But still a pretty nice-sized deli in a very small store. You see what I mean, it does...

Today's snapshot is a small store that looks to be part of a local chain with a few locations in the Bronx and Brooklyn. Sagal Food is primarily a butcher shop, but they also sell general groceries and produce. The store is located at 3430 Jerome Ave, Bronx, NY. Photographed June 2018

Although there are several small grocery stores along Jerome Ave here, there is only one real supermarket and that's the Key Food we're going to see on Monday. In the meantime, here's a look at a small grocery/butcher store. You'll have to excuse my photography here, it was getting towards the end of the day, I was soaking wet from the sudden downpour (despite my umbrella), and I was tired. Nevertheless, we get a look at the Jerome Meat Market... Small selection of beautiful produce outside the storefront. The Jerome Meat Market is located at 3425 Jerome Ave, Bronx, NY. Photographed June 2018

Our second-to-last neighborhood is Norwood, with a low-key business district stretching along a few blocks of Jerome Ave. As I've mentioned previously, there are a lot of very small neighborhoods very close together in the Bronx. This store has been a corner deli-grocery market for years, in fact it's been Big G for more than 30 years. I really can't tell what departments or selections the store has to offer, but it looks like mostly a deli-grocery. It's located at the southern end of the Norwood business district, 3386 Jerome Ave at the corner of E Mosholu Pkwy. Photographed June 2018