The Market Report

Food Universe Marketplace Opened: 2023 Owner: Teofilo de Jesus Previous Tenants: Grand Union > Rite Aid Cooperative: Key Food Stores Location:  435 Lexington Ave, Clifton, NJ Photographed: September 12, 2026 Welcome back to the Clifton Food Universe! (Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see my previous update.) On that post back in June, I was wondering about the renovations here that left the layout kind of odd and the flooring all broken up. I am very pleased to report that remodeling has continued and the store is looking much better these days. In other words, this remodel ended up being much more extensive than I thought it would be. That's clear here in produce, with new display tables and refrigeration, but also a nice new floor that continues throughout the store. A juice bar, bakery, hot food bar, newly-expanded deli, and seafood line the left side wall with meat on the back wall, and dairy/frozen on the right side. Packaged baked goods are in the front-right...

Leon Marketplace Opened: September 4, 2026 Owner:  unconfirmed; possibly Zariyeh and Siad families Previous Tenants: none Cooperative: Key Food Stores Location: 4901 Bergenline Ave, West New York, NJ Photographed:  September 4, 2026 We return to Leon Marketplace in West New York to see that the roughly 10,000 square foot store has opened, in fact just yesterday morning. This is the first Leon Marketplace, but it's not the first store owned by this group nor the only Leon Marketplace in the works. While I haven't been able to confirm this beyond a doubt, it looks like Leon Marketplace is connected to the Siad and Zariyeh families, who own a variety of supermarkets in New York City -- a handful of Fresh n Save Marketplaces, two Windsor Farms Markets, and a Key Food . This store is somewhat similar to that Key Food in its selection and general offerings, but has some notable differences. The selection of grab-and-go prepared foods in both stores is fairly vast for their rela...

Save A Lot Opened: 2018 Owner: unknown Previous Tenants: none Cooperative: none/Key Food Stores(?) Location: 200 Central Ave, Orange, NJ Photographed: June 22, 2026 Welcome back to Save A Lot here in Orange! This store opened back in 2018 as part of a push into North Jersey, along with stores in Newark, Linden, and Hillside. Hard to say whether that initial push waas a success, but these days, only this store and Newark remain Save A Lots. Linden closed, and Hillside became a SuperFresh . Let's go back and take a closer look at these stores. So, over the past few years, Save A Lot has switched from corporate-owned stores to a fully franchise model, and it looks like that was when Linden closed. Orange and Hillside were both sold to the same owner around 2021, who ran the stores poorly and sold them again in 2023. Newark, Orange, and Hillside at that point were all redone and reset to become full supermarkets rather than limited-assortment discount stores, so when Hillside sw...