The Market Report

Welcome to the North Bergen ShopRite! A while back we saw the brand-new Food Bazaar in North Bergen. It is located just up Kennedy Blvd, but with the traffic it's a good 10 minute drive! The ShopRite here in North Bergen is a pretty bland store. There's nothing really wrong with it, but it sure was a letdown after visiting the Food Bazaar for the first time. According to Styertowne, this location has been in business since the 1960s, but was renovated around 1998. It's currently owned and operated by the Inserra family, whose stores I am not a huge fan of (although that might be changing, as I visit some of their newer stores). This particular store does not look to have been renovated since that 1998 remodel, and it's beginning to show its age. As with many Inserras, there is an entrance/exit combo on either side of the store. The left side will bring you first to bakery/hot food, the right side will bring you to dairy/frozen. Above: The bakery department im...

Another great old film from Archive.org (click for link)! We saw Behind the Scenes at the Supermarket last weekend. Can anyone figure out what store this is? Full Video: Screenshots:

Check out this 1960s film from Archive.org ! It gives you a tour around a Mayfair supermarket (no relation to Mayfair around here as far as I know) told from the perspective of a manager showing around his son (whose name, of course, is Johnny). Full Video: Screenshots:

In case you couldn't tell, I'm a big fan of Food Bazaar. And so when I was driving through Bridgeport, CT, I had to stop at this store. At 61,000 square feet, it's one of their biggest. It was built as a Shaw's in 1997 but was a failure and closed soon after. In 2007, Bogopa (the parent company of Food Bazaar) announced they were taking over the location. The new store opened in 2010. Above: Shaw's, date unknown. From YP.com . From what I could see on my visit, this Food Bazaar is a huge success! The parking lot was jammed and the store was very busy. Almost every register was open. I don't know what Shaw's layout would have been, but in Food Bazaar, you enter on the far right (under the glass section). The bakery is to your right, and produce is straight ahead. Along the right-side wall is the deli/prepared foods section, including a few tables to sit and eat in-store, with seafood in the back right corner. The entrance is to the left in the ...