The Market Report

Snapped these pictures of an independent supermarket-bordering-on-bodega recently when I was driving through the Bronx (when I was attempting to get on the Cross-Bronx Expressway, which was standing absolutely still). Funny that it's called Shop Mart Supermarket, as it was previously a Shop S mart Food Market affiliated with Krasdale Foods! This is listed on Google Maps as James Grocery, 1792 Westchester Ave, Bronx, NY. Thanks to mysussex on Flickr for the correction! And no, I was not driving at the time of this photo.

Welcome back to Passaic, NJ, the Birthplace of Television ... and the location of the latest CTown Supermarket to be renovated. Opened ca. 2005 as Popular Supermarket, the store became CTown ca. 2014. Hmm...I'm kind of thinking any place that has to advertise "brand names clothing" on its awning probably isn't selling too much real brand name clothing. Google Maps street views from 2008 above. The conversion to CTown, probably under the same owners, roughly coincided with the closure of Go Bananas next door, and the owners of CTown decided to advertise their own business on the front: Both of the above images are also Google Maps street views, these from 2015. If you look carefully you can see the door to Go Bananas is open. The switch to CTown also began a pretty major renovation of the store. The facade got a much-needed upgrade... The store is very narrow but goes way back. There's a parking lot in the back. The store is located on Main Ave, rig...

This Allegiance ad was posted on the Pathmark Alumni Facebook group. So get ready to start seeing Pathmark stores again! Interesting that they waited for a while rather than immediately starting calling stores Pathmark, as Key Food did with Superfresh and Food Emporium.

... wink wink What else is there to say? Courtesy of the Bridgeport, CT Food Bazaar.

In 2005, a group of independent Met Foods operators decided to split off from Met, then under the supervision of White Rose Foods, and form their own cooperative. This was probably the largest single blow to the Met Foods group, and the already-struggling cooperative started its quickly-increasing decline. The bankruptcy of White Rose put the vulnerable Met and Pioneer Supermarkets banners up for sale, and they were taken over by then-called Associated Food Holdings, today's Associated Supermarket Group. The group of operators that split off in 2005 reorganized itself into the Neighborhood Supermarket Association, or NSA . This new group got the attention of Massachusetts-based Americas' Food Basket, a small chain of Hispanic-leaning supermarkets. Americas' Food Basket joined around 2007 and switched their stores to NSA Americas' Food Baskets. In 2012, however, NSA faced internal problems and reorganized its corporate division into today's America's Food Bas...

Aqui Market Opened:  ca. 2015 Owner:  Araceli Perez Previous Tenants:  ACME Markets (1970s-2010) > Fine Fare (2010-ca. 2012) > Twin City Supermarkets (ca. 2012-ca. 2015) Cooperative:  Retail Grocers Group/General Trading Location:  216 Garfield Ave, Jersey City, NJ Photographed:  January 7, 2026 Before we begin, just a heads up: this was originally posted in October 2017, but was rewritten with new photos in March 2026. Now for the post! Jersey City, one of the largest cities in the state, has multiple different neighborhoods that all have very distinct personalities. A while back, we toured the Aquí Market on Sip Ave in Jersey City (since closed), which is in the Journal Square neighborhood, a cosmopolitan and very diverse section of the city. We're here for Aquí Market's other location, in the far-south part of Jersey City on the Bayonne border, a quieter, more suburban neighborhood. This store opened in the 1970s as an Acme. Photo from Acme St...