The Market Report

Just up the street from yesterday's King Kullen, we find a 30,000 square foot former Waldbaum's that was replaced in 2012 by a Pick Quick Foods-owned Key Food. While the outside still has a Waldbaum's feel to it, we'll see that the inside has been beautifully remodeled. The storefront faces Sunrise Highway (to the right), while the aisles run along the left side of the store (facing the parking lot, to the left). The produce department lines the left of the store, with meats along the back wall. Frozen is in the second-to-last aisle with dairy in the last aisle, and deli-bakery-prepared foods are in the front corner. Clearly quite a change from the Waldbaum's days! The 2012 decor is still looking beautiful today. The store is also immaculate, so that always helps. I'm assuming this produce department is larger than Waldbaum's would have been, and Pick Quick probably took out a grocery aisle to expand it. This wall faces the parking lot. The...

Our first (and probably last) King Kullen here on The Market Report. This 24-hour store is across the downtown section of Rockville Centre from the Associated . This Long Island chain, one I'm not familiar with at all, has recently been acquired by the Stop & Shop supermarket chain. It's located here at 127 Sunrise Hwy, Rockville Centre, NY. Photographed December 2018

This has to be the oldest operating Associated Supermarket out there. Its corporate entity, Rockville Associated Market, Inc., was formed in 1962 (Associated had been in business since 1954). It's quite possible the exterior tower sign and interior decor is from day 1. The A&P Preservation blogger and I have also theorized that the store is a very early A&P and that the decor was the last decor packaged used with roughly this store design before the sunrise logo. I doubt it was built as an Associated, though. Maybe some supermarket historians out there will be able to offer some input! That said, looking at the pictures again, it almost looks like a 1980s homemade decor package. Might be some combination of all that. Anyway, the first aisle, which runs along the front wall of the store, is frozen foods. Seafood and meat are on the right side wall of the store, with produce and dairy on the back wall. Checkouts line the left side wall. Regardless of how old the...

I know very little about Baldwin but it seems that it's been getting higher income recently. With an upscale Ideal Food Basket just around the corner from this store, it makes sense that when Big-N-Cheap (a discount grocery store that replaced a National Wholesale Liquidators) closed, another upscale market moved in, this one affiliated with Key Food Stores. Owned by Aurora Grocery Group , which also owns several Compare Foods Supermarkets and the Gala Foods chain, this store is clearly positioned rather differently from Big-N-Cheap. (Incidentally, I have gained the nickname of Big N' Spicy. Don't ask.) Produce, deli, and bakery are in the first aisle with meats on the back wall and seafood in the back corner. Funny that, although there are several signs for a bakery, there is no service bakery counter. It does look like they bake in-store though. The produce department is decidedly more impressive than Ideal's. And, for sure, the store is more beauti...