The Market Report

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...

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!