The Market Report

Kicking off our Elizabeth, NJ week with one of the stores I'm most familiar with, the Elizabeth Food Bazaar! This store took the place of a Pathmark that closed in December 2015 during the A&P bankruptcy. Brooklyn, NY-based Food Bazaar opened on this site in July of 2016 after gutting the space. The official grand opening ribbon cutting was held at the end of August 2016. We're going to be touring the store in three parts. Today, we'll take a look at some pictures obtained by a Market Report contributor on opening day, literally hours after the store opened for business. We get to see the store in pristine condition! Tomorrow we'll do a full tour that I photographed the following weekend, then on Tuesday we'll see some content from the grand opening ribbon cutting. Starting off with a few of my own pictures while the store was under construction. Yes, the Pathmark entrance sign was removed eventually. Looking in through the front door, we can see ...

Today's Snapshot is a longtime Pathmark-turned-Stop & Shop. It definitely still has that distinctive Pathmark look! Stop & Shop put very little effort into these conversions, and it really shows in locations like this. Although the decor was replaced (barely), much of the rest of the store stayed the same -- same flooring and ceiling, same lighting, same fixtures, same layout. It's likely that larger renovations are in the works, especially for some of the more profitable locations. This particular location did not have the famous Pathmark stripe, so Stop & Shop didn't have to redo the facade at all. Just install a new sign. Even less work went into the cart corrals... That's right, on a sunny day you can still see Pathmark through the Stop & Shop decal! The interesting thing about this store is that it immediately bordered a very small 1950s A&P, just over the municipal line into Maplewood, which you can tour over on Acme Style here. The ...

Well our Bronx group is pretty much over, but we can stretch it out a little bit. When I got in the car to head home, I was stuck in traffic getting out of the Bronx and I happened to be stuck right behind a Krasdale truck. Good end to the day! Krasdale is the market leader by number of stores in the Bronx; Key Food leads in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. This isn't the newest Krasdale truck, which you can see here . Tomorrow we finish out our Bronx group with a music video recapping all the stores! Photographed June 2018

Food Dynasty is a small group of stores with an interesting history of which I know almost none. I do know that the banner started with Krasdale Foods in the 70s or 80s, and by about 2009 had switched over to Key Food, although I also know there were multiple owners of Food Dynasty stores, so maybe it was some kind of sub-cooperative. Either way, this particular location was a CTown until 2010 when it switched to Food Dynasty. It's also our last store tour in the Bronx! (I previously toured a Food Dynasty over on Fordham Rd, but I didn't give much of the history of the chain, so I figured it should go in here.) The funny thing is, there are very limited pictures of the interior of this store online. So I was excited to get in it myself and get a full tour. When I was done, I realized I somehow got a pretty sparse tour. Maybe it's something about the store's aura, discouraging photography. Maybe it's just that it was the end of the day and I was tired. Choose...

Moving towards our last store tour tomorrow, which is exciting! The neighborhood changes abruptly as you head west on Gun Hill Rd from Norwood into Van Cortlandt Village, where we will see our last store at the southern tip of Van Cortlandt Park. Norwood, a densely packed and busy neighborhood, gives way to Van Cortlandt Village's winding tree-lined streets with more houses. This picture is looking east on Gun Hill Rd between Jerome Ave and Mosholu Pkwy.

Today's Snapshot is a quick look at a store that seems to be a produce/greengrocer shop with some groceries and, apparently, dairy products. Unfortunately, it seems that this store has gone out of business since my pass through the neighborhood. I always hate to see any store go out of business, unless it's really absolutely horrible. That "Fruits & Vegetables" panel looks like it could just as easily be from 2005 as 1965. I love it! Tropical Dairy Corp is (was) at 3494 Jerome Ave, Bronx, NY. Photographed June 2018