The Market Report

I know very little about Baldwin but it seems that it's been getting higher income recently. With an upscale Ideal Food Basket just around the corner from this store, it makes sense that when Big-N-Cheap (a discount grocery store that replaced a National Wholesale Liquidators) closed, another upscale market moved in, this one affiliated with Key Food Stores. Owned by Aurora Grocery Group , which also owns several Compare Foods Supermarkets and the Gala Foods chain, this store is clearly positioned rather differently from Big-N-Cheap. (Incidentally, I have gained the nickname of Big N' Spicy. Don't ask.) Produce, deli, and bakery are in the first aisle with meats on the back wall and seafood in the back corner. Funny that, although there are several signs for a bakery, there is no service bakery counter. It does look like they bake in-store though. The produce department is decidedly more impressive than Ideal's. And, for sure, the store is more beauti...

Today we're going to see a fantastic example of a conversion of a Blockbuster video to a beautiful supermarket. The 15,000 square foot supermarket also took a neighboring storefront, which has been converted to an eat-in area. The side wall of the store is covered in a very nice, countryside-feeling mural. Though the store was not rebuilt, it was extensively renovated. Produce lines the side wall, with seafood and meat on the back wall. Fairly standard layout, with service seafood at the back of the first aisle and service meat at the back of the last aisle. Frozen in second-to-last aisle, with dairy in the last aisle. Deli/bakery is at the front of the last aisle, with the back of the store's deli counter being a large hot food bar facing a seating area with a separate entrance. Heading in, we see that the decor is the same as the City Supermarkets in Newark and Irvington , as well as the Extra Supermarket on Avon Ave in Newark, which will be coming to the blog so...

Original Tenant:  Pathmark Address:  1764 Grand Ave, Baldwin, NY Opened:  unknown Closed:  2016 Later Tenants:  Key Food Supermarkets (planned, never opened) Photographed:  December 2018 Just down the street from Fruit Tree Farm is this former Pathmark . Though the store was purchased by Key Food operator Pick Quick Foods, and renovations did occur, the interior was never completed and the plans were abandoned. While Pathmark occupied the entire 50,000 square foot location, including a 14,000 square foot expansion, Key Food was planned to take just about 36,000 square feet (the original size of the Pathmark). The remaining 14,000 square foot Pathmark expansion has been taken by a beauty supply store.

Happy March! We moved through North Hempstead pretty quickly, now it's time to head south to the Town of Hempstead. We're hitting the key villages and hamlets: Garden City, downtown Hempstead, Baldwin, Valley Stream, and a few other locations here and there. As we'll see, there's a lot of variation here, in store size and style, income level of the communities, brands, and more. This group will feature stores on The Market Report, The Independent Edition , and for the first time in a while, Grocery Archaeology ! We're going to jump right into Garden City tomorrow!