The Market Report

Just 3/4 mile north of yesterday's Food Farm is this store. Opened in the 1950s as a Food Fair, the store later became the Village Plaza Compare & Save Supermarket, affiliated with Krasdale Foods' AIM (Association of Independent Merchants) group. I visited immediately after the store had been purchased by the owners of the CTowns in Hempstead and Uniondale, and was under renovation during its conversion to CTown. So, you'll excuse the in-progress appearance of the store. As you can see, the store really needed a refresh. Here's what it looks like now. Produce runs along the first aisle, which is the front wall of the store. Checkouts line the left side of the store, with entrances and exits at the front and back. Meats run along the right side, with dairy and frozen at the back. Deli is in the back left corner. Inside, the store is looking good but definitely in need of some help. Notice the missing letter in the department sign. Here's a l...

Moving just half a mile from yesterday's rather depressing Food Farm to today's gorgeous and inviting Key Food. Owned by Alex Guzman, this store joins another Key Food in Queens and a Shop Fair in Yonkers that he also owns. A longtime Key Food, it was purchased by Guzman in 2011. You enter about halfway across the storefront and turn left to a beautiful new deli-bakery-coffee shop in the front corner, with produce on the right side of the first aisle and meats on the left. Dairy runs along the back wall with seafood in the back corner. Frozen lines the last aisle. This corner was all-new in the 2016ish renovation. It's absolutely gorgeous. Bakery on the front wall with a coffee shop on the side facing a small cafe. Now continuing into the main store, we see an impressive meat and produce aisle with very modern and sleek decor. It's a very upscale positioning, right down to the price signs which contain descriptions of the produce items. The store i...

Immediately next door to T&F Pork Store is this CTown Supermarket, which until about 2016 or 2017 was an Associated. Interestingly enough, this store (under the awning) has a porcelain front, like many 1940s-era ACMEs did. I don't know whether this store was ever an ACME (though they did have stores on Long Island), but I rather doubt it. There is a parking lot in the back, with an entrance to the store. I don't entirely remember the layout here, but generally it consists of checkouts and customer service on the front wall. Frozen lines the front half of the first aisle, dairy in the back half, with meats on the back wall. Produce lines the back half of the last aisle, with deli at the front of the last aisle. A pretty solid selection for just 4300 square feet. We're going to tour the store kind of in reverse, starting in the back of the last aisle (produce). Somewhat patchwork floor, but it's plenty clean. The front half of the last aisle (there are...

Just up the street from yesterday's King Kullen, we find a 30,000 square foot former Waldbaum's that was replaced in 2012 by a Pick Quick Foods-owned Key Food. While the outside still has a Waldbaum's feel to it, we'll see that the inside has been beautifully remodeled. The storefront faces Sunrise Highway (to the right), while the aisles run along the left side of the store (facing the parking lot, to the left). The produce department lines the left of the store, with meats along the back wall. Frozen is in the second-to-last aisle with dairy in the last aisle, and deli-bakery-prepared foods are in the front corner. Clearly quite a change from the Waldbaum's days! The 2012 decor is still looking beautiful today. The store is also immaculate, so that always helps. I'm assuming this produce department is larger than Waldbaum's would have been, and Pick Quick probably took out a grocery aisle to expand it. This wall faces the parking lot. The...