The Market Report

H Mart President:  Stacey Kwan Opened:  Late 1990s or early 2000s Previous Tenants:  ShopRite Location:  321 Broad Ave, Ridgefield, NJ Photographed:  June 2020 A sprawling 123,000 square foot shopping plaza here in Ridgefield, originally an Inserra ShopRite and Rickels, has been turned into an indoor mall primarily catering to the Korean-American community here in town. The anchor is a very large H Mart, which is slightly larger than the former ShopRite. The storefront faces the side of the property, instead of Broad Avenue. However, there's something worth seeing out on that side... That's right! There's still a ShopRite (round) sign frame on the street! However, inside, we see almost no signs of the former ShopRite. The store seems to be partially renovated, and perhaps in progress. My memory of the store, to be honest, is a bit foggy because of the very odd flow they had set up for social distancing and one-way aisles and so on...

Today's international foods store features a region of the world I really don't cover too much here on the blog -- Italy! Piccolo's Gastronomia Italiana is an Italian specialty market selling produce, imported foods, and meat and deli goods. The store, located at 484 Bergen Blvd in Ridgefield, is situated just north of the Key Food Marketplace-turned-SuperFresh-turned-Freshway in Fairview, which you can see here . Here's a look inside the store courtesy of Google Maps:

(kind of a look inside) Taking a quick detour from the Hudson County group of stores to look at this former grocery store in Ridgefield, NJ, in Bergen County. Awfully popular for a closed store. Actually, there's a restaurant right next door that probably uses this lot now that the store is closed. So before we look inside (through the windows, that is), let's look into some history here. This store was built ca. 1960 (between 1954 and 1966 according to Historic Aerials) and was, at some point in its existence, a Co-Op Food Store (about which I have no information). It's possible that it was built as another chain and taken over by Co-Op. By 2000, it had become an Associated Supermarket. Check out the interior in 2007 on Groceteria here . Associated Supermarket, 543 Shaler Blvd, Ridgefield, NJ.  Google Maps street view from 2007. Associated Supermarket, 543 Shaler Blvd, Ridgefield, NJ. Google Maps street view from 2009. I'm not sure what that c...