Grocery Archaeology

The last picture from the collection of historical photos I bought is this one, showing an incredible street scene of a grocer in Harlem, although again, I don't have any more specific information. I don't know the date, location, or name of the store, as it was labeled only with "Harlem market" on the back. Really an incredible picture, and the amount of detail captured here is unbelievable! On the subject of these pictures in general, from my understanding, I have a reprint of each from a private collection -- to my knowledge, these were not commercial pictures, nor are they currently under copyright by anyone. But if I'm wrong about that, please let me know! On the same token, if you'd like to use these pictures, please let me know also! One more old picture tomorrow, although admittedly it's not as striking as our last three days were. Still good!

Another historical photo from the same collection as yesterday's A&P ! Today we're looking at a fruit and vegetable market somewhere in New York City, although unfortunately I don't have any more information as to location or date beyond that. Notice the promotional Sunkist signage hanging from the awning! This is a wonderful picture too, and tomorrow, we have another historical New York City picture!

At an antique store in Brooklyn, I found a few prints of very old pictures of New York City. The prints themselves weren't that old, but they were reproductions of some wonderful old pictures. I chose three of grocery stores that I had to have, and we're going to see them over the next few days! Unfortunately, I don't have locations for these pictures, beyond this one having been labeled as Brooklyn. I wouldn't be surprised if this were in a neighborhood like Bensonhurst or Bay Ridge, but I'm not really sure. While I'm far from an expert, the car looks like a late 1930s or early 1940s type, meaning this is likely to be from the 1940s or so. Come back tomorrow to check out the next picture!

Original Tenant:  unknown Address:  21b Knolls Crescent, Spuyten Duyvil, Bronx, NY Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  Genovese Drug Stores > Eckerd (?) > Rite Aid Photographed:  March 2020 Our first stop is the neighborhood of Spuyten Duyvil , which is across Spuyten Duyvil Creek from Inwood, Manhattan . This is a building that really looks like a former supermarket, especially from the back . It's about 6,000 square feet, and anchors a very small strip mall which makes up really the only commercial section in this small residential neighborhood. And although this is no longer a grocery store, there is a tiny grocery store just to the left (in fact, you can see its awning to the far left in the above picture). We'll be touring that tomorrow on The Independent Edition !

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.

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...

Original Tenant:  A&P Address:  375 Tompkins Ave, Rosebank, Staten Island, NY Opened:  1960s Closed:  1990s Later Tenants:  Waldbaums (1990s-2015), Food Universe Marketplace (2016-2018), Freshway Supermarket (2018-2019) Photographed:  March 2020 This location was a longtime A&P that was converted to Waldbaum's by the 1990s before closing early in the 2015-16 bankrupcty. New Jersey-based operator Kevin Kim (oh boy, do we know him -- from Fairview , Plainsboro , and Belleville ). This store as a Food Universe actually seemed to do okay. It even got some nice renovations . But of course, after just about two years, it was converted to the Freshway banner and switched from Key Food to General Trading/Retail Grocers Group. The "win a car" sweepstakes from Plainsboro's grand opening never finished because the store closed before the contest ended, so that was transferred to this location. In fact, in this picture you can see the ban...

Our next stop after leaving Brooklyn is Staten Island! Now we have been to Staten Island before, seeing a  Key Food Marketplace , a  Superfresh  that has since closed, and a  Met Foodmarket . But, we all know... NOPE, NO CHEESY SONG GIMMICK HERE. You'll have to go to The Market Report to see it.   Ahem, we know that we can do better. Anyway, we're going to tour EIGHT new supermarkets, see a NEW Superfresh, and RETURN to that Met Foodmarket for a full interior tour! Uh... maybe no one else is as excited about that as I am. But anyway, stay tuned for two weeks of Staten Island.

Original Tenant:  unknown Address:  4102 Church Ave, East Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  Rite Aid Photographed:  May 2019 Okay, so the last time I did this I was just plain ol' wrong. But I saw this building directly across the street from yesterday's Shop Fair  and, well... I had a feeling about it. Doesn't it just look like an old Scaturro Supermarket? Or something like that? You know those various pop songs that talk about love at first sight? With lyrics saying things like "I knew as soon as he/she walked into the room" and other such nonsense. Well, I'd love to write that song about seeing a building and just having a feeling it's a former supermarket. Unlike the Avenue D location, I'm pretty sure I'm right about this one. Anyway, any Brooklynites out there who can confirm my suspicions?

Original Tenant:  unknown Address:  4602 Ave D, East Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  unknown Photographed:  May 2019 A whole lotta unknowns up in that intro section! And that's because I glanced at this building thinking it was a supermarket. It probably wasn't. This building looks like a former supermarket, but prior to the Dollar General renovation, it really didn't look anything like a grocery store. Oh well. Wishful thinking, I suppose.

Original Tenant:  Possibly Food Fair, Waldbaum's, or something else with a tower Address:  2200 Clarendon Rd, Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:   Key Food Supermarkets (??-2013), King Food Market (2013-2014) Photographed:  May 2019 As you can see if you click on the name King Food Market, Harmony Funeral Home did very little to this building when they moved in in 2015. It still has a distinctive supermarket look to it. This building is located on Clarendon Road in the first block east of Flatbush Avenue, i.e., just about 140 yards from JK Flatbush Farm . As tempting as it is to say that a 10,000 square foot is simply too large to survive in this area where space is at a premium, there's also a 10,000 square foot Food Universe Marketplace just about another 140 yards south of this store. We'll be seeing that in a couple days, but (and we're skipping this store, which I think is fine with everyone)...

Original Tenant:  unknown Address:  781 Flatbush Ave, Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  2S Mart (?? - 2019) Photographed:  May 2019 Unfortunately this one didn't make it. Although there are many produce markets that do very well in this neighborhood, this one closed soon before I visited, which is a shame. It's directly across the street from the Key Food we saw yesterday. So far, no one new has moved into the spot, although it is a great location.

Original Tenant:  unknown Address:  832 Flushing Ave, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  CTown Supermarkets (??-2015) Photographed:  December 2019 Although Bushwick is a very desirable neighborhood and is quickly gentrifying, not all parts of the neighborhood are developing equally. The northern section, closer to (extremely desirable) Williamsburg, tends to remain lower income and has many vacancies, abandoned industrial properties, and so on. This particular store is also located immediately across from a public housing complex. There is, however, a Bravo at the north end of the housing complex, which we'll see up next. Just a few blocks west, we find the upscale Food Bazaar on Manhattan Ave. But other than those two and the Food Bazaar several blocks south on Myrtle Ave, this neighborhood has very few large, full-service grocery stores. To go back to happier times in 2014, check out this street vi...

The next neighborhoods we're taking a look at are Bushwick and Ridgewood! Now, we have been to Bushwick before, to visit stores  here  and  here . But we are returning for an additional dozen or so that were photographed later than that group. We're also adding in one Ridgewood store, which is just over the border into Queens, because I have nowhere else to put it. So let's begin with Billy's Marketplace in Ridgewood, Queens, up next over on  The Independent Edition !

Original Tenant:  Foodtown Address:  133-40 79th St, Howard Beach, Queens, NY Opened:  2016 Closed:  2017 Later Tenants:  Shop Fair Supermarkets (same owners) - closed 2018 > Knickerbocker Furniture Photographed:  December 2018 The Shehadeh brothers owned several supermarkets across the boroughs of New York City, most of which ended up under the Shop Fair banner. We've toured their Bay Ridge location. Most of their stores have been closed or sold, though I believe there are two Shop Fair stores they still own in Flatbush. This store lasted only two years in the most generous of approximations, approximately one year as a Foodtown and approximately one year as a Shop Fair. This commercial (oddly in Spanish for an area with a relatively low Hispanic population, and with a very sketchy version of "Uptown Funk") provides a look inside the store when it was still briefly in business. Today, it's occupied by Knickerbocker Furniture, which...

Our next group of neighborhoods is just to the west of what we saw in southern Jamaica. We're heading into what might be considered central Ozone Park, then into Howard Beach, a relatively isolated mostly residential neighborhood of southwestern Queens, and finally right over the border into Brooklyn for East New York!