The Market Report

Key Food Supermarkets Opening:  TBA Owner: Pablo Espinal Previous Tenants: none; A&P (late 1960s-ca. 1990) > Associated (1991-2021) previously on property Cooperative: Key Food Stores Location: 975 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn, NY Photographed: July 15, 2026 Keep an eye on this ground floor space at 975 Nostrand in Crown Heights, Brooklyn: It's soon to become a Key Food supermarket, according to a real estate listing . (Knowing Key Food, it's entirely possible it'll actually open under a different name but still be connected to Key Food.) The supermarket will be around 17,000 square feet, so substantial but not that big. The interior build-out doesn't seem to have started yet, but the building is complete so now it's up to the supermarket operator. Who will run this Key Food? Well, it seems that it'll be run by Pablo Espinal. He had previously owned an Associated at this spot for 20 years before the store closed to make way for the new development, with m...

Original Grocery Tenant: Ernest Shopwell Supermarket Address: 262 Main St, West Orange, NJ Opened: unknown Closed: ca. 1980 Later Tenants:  Tory Corner Market (ca. 1980-ca. 1990) > Rite Aid (early 1990s-2019) > Walgreens (2019-2024) Photographed: February 24, 2025 This somewhat unremarkable former Rite Aid/Walgreens in downtown West Orange, NJ is actually a former supermarket. I don't know the entire history here, but by around 1970, it was the Ernest Shopwell Supermarket (not apparently related to the Daitch/Shopwell chain of New York), and around 1980, it became the Tory Corner Market affiliated with Fine Fare. Rite Aid was open by the early 1990s. The store is just under 10,000 square feet, and has been vacant since Walgreens closed in 2024. So why bother looking at this store now? A proposal that's gone all but completely under the radar is to demolish the former Rite Aid building along with a vacant former diner next to it to build this new, two-floor supermarke...

Key Food Island Supermarket Opening: TBA Owner: unknown Previous Tenants: Asian Food Markets (2022-2024) Cooperative: unknown Location: 2343 Forest Ave, Staten Island, NY Photographed: March 26, 2026 This weekend's posts include two rather strange ones. Here on Staten Island, a short-lived Asian Food Markets has new signage up for "Key Food Island" Supermarket, which (as far as I can tell) isn't related in any way to, well, Key Food . It's also unclear what exactly is happening with this property. Key Food Island Corp. was formed in the spring of 2025 at this location, but doesn't seem to be operating here (yet?). While there's very little information on Key Food Island -- most searching just brings you to Key Food -- there is a Facebook page and website that could be related, if slightly suspect with no real contact info  and Walmart branded grocery items . I couldn't get a good look inside the space, but as of late March, nothing really appe...

NeoVista Fresh Market Opening:  TBA Owner:  NeoVista Equities Previous Tenants: non-grocery tenants Cooperative: unknown Location:  52 James St, Albany, NY Photographed: March 22, 2026 Contributor:  Lars D. We travel to Albany today, to see some pictures sent in by our longtime contributor Lars. NeoVista Fresh Market has announced its arrival at 52 James Street in the center of the city. It's the latest creation of the NeoVista Equities private equity group with expanding holdings across the city, including the venerable Jack's Oyster House and other restaurants . But this group is slightly strange, and it's not clear they actually are getting into the supermarket business despite promising that it's coming soon. Two of the three notices spotted by Lars on the storefront are outdated, and despite a valid permit to gut the building's interior, he reports there was no evidence of any such work going on inside. A promised Brooklyn location at 836 Broadway seems t...

Liberty Market Opening: TBA Owner:  unknown Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  unknown Location:  337 Johnston Ave, Jersey City, NJ Photographed:  February 28, 2026 A small grocer called Liberty Market (no relation to Liberty Market , which has since closed) is under construction near Liberty State Park in Jersey City's Communipaw neighborhood. There aren't any other supermarkets in Communipaw, and it looks like this will be possibly not quite a full supermarket. No opening date anonunced yet. About half a mile east, a new SuperFresh is in progress for the corner of Grand Street and Jersey Avenue, and a completely unconfirmed rumor says a Key Food may move into a closed Rite Aid on West Side Avenue. That's all the Jersey City news I have for now, but here's some news from other parts of the area! Saturday Key Food opens another NYC store New independent grocers prepare to open in  West New York  and  Jersey City  (this post) Two locations...

Leon Marketplace Opening:  TBA Owner:  unknown Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  unknown Location:  4901 Bergenline Ave, West New York, NJ Photographed:  March 6, 2026 A newly-built supermarket is coming to the busy Bergenline Avenue corridor in West New York. It'll be an independent store called Leon Marketplace (león being the Spanish word for lion, hence the logo). It looks like it'll be around 10,000 square feet, so on the smaller side but definitely a full supermarket. This was the best shot I could get of the inside through the windows. You can see the basic setup, and it looks like the store will be quite nice. From what I can find online, no word on who the owner might be nor what group it might be a part of (or what company would supply it). This store clearly looks close to opening, but I haven't heard any opening date announced yet. Click on the picture above to zoom in and see the detail of what the interior will look like! I'll be back once...

CTown Supermarkets Open: 1988-Feb 2023 Owner:  Juan Marte Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  Krasdale Foods Location:  1750 University Ave, Bronx, NY Photographed:  December 12, 2025 The University Avenue CTown burned down in early 2023 , and now they're rebuilding the supermarket. Work seems to be progressing nicely if slowly, and as of late 2025, the foundation, frame, and some of the walls were in. Hey, it looks like this could be a building someday! It's great to see this store rebuilding, although in the time that it's been closed, a new store called Antillana Market Place opened up in a former furniture store. It's on the same block as a longtime small grocer, University Fresh Market , and there's a butcher shop there as well. Can't you almost imagine the cans of soup? They're right there, just next to the blue tarp. Okay, I might be a little early with that, but it's exciting to see this store starting from scratch after being completely d...

Antillana SuperFood Marketplace Opening:  TBA Owner: Jose Grullon Previous Tenants:  A&P > Key Food (opened 1982) > AIM (closed 2008) > Pioneer (2008-2023) > Associated (2023-2025) Cooperative:  Associated Supermarket Group Location: 616 Melrose Ave, Bronx, NY Photographed: December 12, 2025 In the Melrose section of the Bronx, Antillana SuperFood is preparing to open its latest location in a space that's been a supermarket for many decades but has gone through a couple brands recently. The roughly 7,000 square foot space (more if there's a basement, which there probably is) appears to have been built as an A&P, which lasted at least into the 70s. Key Food opened up here in 1982, but it's not clear when they closed. By 2007, it was an independent AIM (Association of Independent Merchants) supermarket supplied by Krasdale, and the following year it became a Pioneer. Pioneer was sold in 2023 to a different Associated Supermarket Group owner, and it b...