The Market Report

Belfast Community Co-op Opened: 1993 in current location; 1976 previously Owner:  cooperatively owned Previous Tenants:  Finast (opened ca. 1960) Cooperative:  National Co-op Grocers Location:  123 High St, Belfast, ME Photographed:  August 12, 2019 New England has at least dozens of co-op grocers , most of which are members of the National Co-op Grocers cooperative -- that is, basically a cooperative made up of cooperatives. In a co-op supermarket, the owners (usually just regular people who've bought a small share of the co-op) co-own the business, and then in this case, the business itself co-owns the retailers' cooperative. Belfast, Maine has had a community co-op for a couple decades, which opened here in a former Finast in 1993. I photographed the approximately 10,000 square foot supermarket back in 2019, but since then, it's gotten a major renovation. It was also rebranded from the Belfast Co-op Store to the Belfast Community Co-op. When I visited, the p...

ASR Food Market Opened: February 2026 Owner:  Aziz Khan Previous Tenants:  SuperFresh (1997-2002) > Big Lots (ca. 2005-2024) Cooperative:  none Location:  15501 Bustleton Ave, Philadelphia, PA Photographed:  April 1, 2026 Welcome to Philadelphia! It's been a while since The Market Report has stopped in Philly, hasn't it? Well, I've gone back to the city (and its environs) a few times lately and there's some really interesting supermarkets in and around -- it's just that it's quite a distance from where I live. So let's check out one of the most interesting stores that opened back in February! I write about a lot of international supermarkets here on The Market Report, but we don't hear much about Uzbek supermarkets (other than Tashkent , of course). Philly's largest halal supermarket is this Uzbek market, which takes the place of a former Big Lots. But ASR isn't a new store -- in fact, they moved from a nearby location in a former Wawa. ASR...

Food Bazaar Supermarket Opened:  1999 Owner:  Spencer An Previous Tenants:  Waldbaum's (1991-mid 1990s) Cooperative:  none Location:  238 E 161st St, Bronx, NY Photographed:  September 19, 2023 and March 20, 2026 My love of Food Bazaar is well-documented , so there aren't that many of the NYC-based chain's stores that I haven't posted yet. This location is one, though -- located at Concourse Plaza in the Bronx just blocks from Yankee Stadium, an approximately 60,000 square foot store. It was built as a Waldbaum's in 1991, but Waldbaum's didn't last long and closed within a few years. Food Bazaar opened in the late 1990s, according to public records it looks like it was specifically 1999. I really don't know what the Waldbaum's was like, but it was still so new when Food Bazaar moved in there probably wasn't a whole lot to do. I don't know what the renovation history here was, but it's just gotten another renovation and held its grand reop...