The Market Report

CTown Supermarkets Opened:  September 2026 Owner: unconfirmed; possibly Manny & Robert Pena Previous Tenants:  Grand Union (open by 1966, closed between 1994 and 1996) > CVS (open by 1996, closed 2024) > Fresh Mart (2025-2026) Cooperative: Krasdale Location: 132-22 14th Ave, Queens, NY Photographed: September 11, 2026 We're back here in College Point, Queens , a peninsula kind of in the northeastern part of the borough. There's a handful of supermarkets here, including a large ShopRite, but two Asian grocers had opened up just across the street from each other: a small store called Ai Mart and then a larger, more full-service supermarket called Fresh Mart in a former CVS. Neither actually made it, and both closed earlier this year. Now, the roughly 10,000 square foot Fresh Mart space has reopened as a new supermarket -- a CTown, which is still in the soft opening phase so it's mostly set up but there are a few minor things to continue working on. Here's on...

Shaw's Opened: 2001 Owner: Albertsons Companies Previous Tenants: Grand Union (ca. 1970s-2001) Cooperative: none Location: 97 E Main St, Wilmington, VT Photographed: August 7, 2021 One look at the outside of this store will tell you it's definitely not the average Shaw's. In fact, this store is pretty small for Shaw's (around 20,000 square feet), and that's because it's a Grand Union that was built in the 1970s and appears to actually have lasted all the way to Grand Union's final bankruptcy in 2001. It's in the small town of Wilmington, Vermont, which is roughly halfway between Brattleboro and Bennington. The interior is freshly renovated by Shaw's and really looks good, but we can tell it's an old building. Produce is in the front-left corner and continues down the first aisle, with a tiny bakery behind it and deli on the back wall next to meat. Frozen and dairy are on the right side, with beer and wine in the front-right corner. This dec...

LIDL Opened: August 26, 2026 Owner: Schwarz Group Previous Tenants:  none; Key Food (1970s-2021) previously on site Cooperative: none Location: 573 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY Photographed: September 4, 2026 LIDL continues to expand in and around New York City, but as the company continues to figure out its position in the US market, they've continued to tweak the format. The latest updates are on display here in Brooklyn, where a new-build LIDL replaced a longtime Key Food on the same property. This store is smaller than some of LIDL's suburban locations but actually on the large side for urban Williamsburg, at around 27,000 square feet. We're across the neighborhood from a new Lincoln Market , but just a couple blocks over from a small-format Whole Foods . Also, a CTown, a Bravo, two Foodtowns, a Brooklyn Harvest Market, and a Sunac Natural Market are all within a few blocks, so there are lots of other supermarkets -- but no other discounters in the immediate area. Insid...