The Market Report

Original Tenant:  Safeway Address:  1933 Victory Blvd, Castleton Corners, Staten Island, NY Opened:  1950s Closed:  early 1960s Later Tenants:  Finast > Super X > Revco > CVS Photographed:  March 2020 This building was built as a Safeway and later sold to Finast. JoshAustin610 has more details on the drugstore history of the building here . It's an early prototype of the Marina style , and a similar variation we can see in Atlantic Highlands, NJ . Today, the front wall, which would've been entirely glass, has been bricked over. Inside, the A-frame roof remains exposed, although there are is a drop ceiling at the angle. The approximately 14,000 square foot building makes for a very large CVS. We can see some of the windows still exposed on the front wall.

It's the return of Food Connection! We've seen this store before , which is owned by Bill Fani under his company Food Connection, but only as a quick snapshot. We're now returning for a full tour of the store! We have also seen Food Connection's Met Foods and Village Barn in Middle Village, NY. Built as a barrel roof A&P, this store later became a Duane Reade pharmacy before reopening as a supermarket around 2009. It's just north of the SuperFresh , at the corner of Manor Road and Victory Blvd. There is one entrance each at the front and rear of the store, with checkouts running along the wall we're looking at here. Produce lines the back wall, with deli/bakery and seafood lining the front wall. Meat runs along the wall opposite the one we're looking at, with aisles running parallel to the front and back walls. The store is a little less than 10,000 square feet, and although it feels very cramped, it also has a huge selection. Very ...

We're heading today to the basement of the former Waldbaum's we saw yesterday . This property was previously a CVS before becoming in 2011 a Fresh N Save Marketplace , a Key Food affiliate based in Queens owned by Joe Zariyeh. It was later converted to just plain Key Food, although I don't know who owned it. In fact, the shape of the CTown sign is just the Key Food logo with a new panel in it, much like we saw in Hempstead . The switch to CTown happened around 2015, and I don't know whether ownership changed between Fresh N Save and Key Food, or between Key Food and CTown. Despite the best efforts of the various tenants, it remains the fact that this is a 16,000 square foot, low-ceiling, kind of dingy space. And it can be quite hard to see from the road unless you know what you're looking for. Though the decor was mostly the same from Fresh N Save at the time of my visit to the CTown, it was obvious the store had declined a lot, though the owners were ...

Original Tenant: Waldbaum's Address:  778 Manor Rd, Staten Island, NY Opened:  ca. 1960 Closed:  2007 Later Tenants:  King Kullen (2007-2009) Photographed:  March 2020 This building, a bit west along the Staten Island Expressway from Olive Tree , is actually two floors, with both floors being taken up originally by Waldbaum's. The lower (basement) level, which ends up being ground level on the side of the building and was originally the backroom, later became a CVS. King Kullen bought this Waldbaum's in 2007 before closing in 2009. At that time, after extensive renovations, CVS moved into the top floor around 2010. Queens, NY-based Fresh n Save Marketplace, a Key Food affiliate, moved into the rather dingy basement and equipped it nicely for a brand-new supermarket. Although Fresh n Save didn't last, a Key Food operator moved in, eventually selling to a CTown operator that closed and was replaced by the third SuperFresh on Staten Island. I...