TOUR: Western Beef - East Orange, NJ

Probably the most controversial, mysterious, and just plain old weird supermarket chain in the New York City area is Western Beef. Run by the son of an alleged Gambino crime family member, Western Beef was officially cleared of any possible Mafia ties in 1995, and the company shut down its wholesale operations at the same time (where some claimed the Mafia links were most prominent). You can read more about the interesting history of the company here.

The East Orange, NJ Western Beef location was opened in 1985. It was Western Beef's third location, following stores in Flushing, Queens, NY and Spring Valley, NY (presumably where the Food Fair is today). Store #004 was in Union, NJ, although I have no idea where.

The large, cartoony signage is reminiscent of South of the Border or other such attractions. In fact, looking at it from the outside, Western Beef looks like one of those tourist destinations -- past its prime but still hanging on. Actually, Western Beef does a very good business and is in fact in the process of expanding.

Its parent company, Cactus Holdings, is announcing the introduction of several new banners, including the smaller Western Beef Market, the Delicioso Carniceria, the Farm Fresh Market, and the 1906 Artisanal Butcher Shop.

I'd driven past this orange building for over 10 years on I-280, which runs on the other side of the store from New Main St (here), but didn't go in until October 15, 2017. The building itself is probably a converted warehouse or factory of some kind.

This part may have been open at one point. The door seen open here actually leads down a hallway to a laundromat that shares the building. The supermarket's entrance is to my right above. Here you can see Charlie Catcus, Western Beef's mascot.

Like many urban stores, the "front" of the store is actually the side. You enter the store through the door just visible to the far right, and the exit is to the right of that. This brings you into a medium-sized produce department in the front corner, roughly under the Western Beef sign. Customers then walk through a doorway into the grocery section of the store, which also contains the checkouts. Dairy, meat, and seafood are in the back in a separate room. More on that later...

Western Beef, being a value warehouse store, does not so much focus on its appearance. What it lacks in ambiance, it makes up for in prices. The produce department was small but well-stocked with very fresh produce and all the essentials.

The windows we see to the right here look towards New Main St, but notice that there are actually two sets. The first set look from produce to the laundromat hallway, then the second set is on the outside of the building.

Looking towards the parking lot. Now those are some old -- and orange -- produce cases!

Refrigerated produce is on the wall farthest from the parking lot. These cases may be newer.

Moving towards the pass-through to grocery. It's behind me to my right in the photo above. This area has such low ceilings because there are managers' offices on the second floor.

Looking towards grocery, the doorway to which is right behind the .59 sign. A doorway to the backroom and possibly basement is to the left above.

Check out some of these "West Indian Herbs" they had along the side wall! Now that's a specialized product, and really knowing your target market!

You enter grocery through the doorway under the Western Beef logo. The aisles run to my right, with checkouts to my left. And you can't fool anyone, Charlie, we all know you're not Abe Lincoln. Even with the beard.

The aisles are wide and fully stocked, and most importantly, clean. The flooring throughout the store was a little patchy, but spotless. I love clean grocery stores, so big credit to Western Beef here. If the shelving looks familiar, it is. Universal in Rahway used to be a Western Beef and retains many of its Western Beef fixtures and some of the decor. However, this store was much cleaner and better-maintained than Universal.

As a value-based store, Western Beef places a major emphasis on its own storebrands. Through their subsidiary Millennium Food Group, they produce the Western Beef, Farm Fresh, 1906 (meat/deli), Delicioso (ethnic), Blu (water), Kotton (paper products), and Uncle Joe's (Italian) brands, among others. They also buy wholesale from Supervalu for Essential Everyday and Wild Harvest products.

Along the back wall is Western Beef's version of the Wall of Values, with a doorway on either end to enter the meat/seafood/dairy room.

And yes, the meat/seafood/dairy room is refrigerated.

Let's head in...

These cases here are actually freezer cases for meat within the refrigerator room.

 Dairy is along the wall that borders the regular store.

All the meat and dairy is out on shelves, which is just strange. Until you realize you're wearing shorts and a t-shirt in a 35-degree room.

 Service butcher along the back wall.

The seafood counter, which is actually an independently-run business, is in the back corner of the refrigerator room, where the fish is out on ice.

Seems to me the ice is a little unnecessary.

Heading back outside, the store actually felt hot. The last aisle is frozen foods.

This small case for rolls and bread on the left makes up the store's entire bakery department. And the freezer cases are quite old, but they all seem to work just fine. Look how clean that floor is!

The small front-end. Only two registers were open (which you couldn't tell because there are no register lights on anyway). The line stretched from register 3 to where I'm standing, to the right of the photo. The experience was great until it came to checkout. Luckily, the lines were moving very quickly. Earlier, when I was in the produce department, a manager who was walking by smiled and greeted me (I was the only customer in produce at the time). And I love that sign high up on the wall -- "Please ask for help". Not with anything in particular, just in general!

Customer service empty, but fully stocked with HABA.

I'm putting this photo here again, to show the location of the exit. You leave the store under where the word "Thank" would be on the orange sign, and make a 90-degree turn to the left to exit towards the parking lot.

Western Beef is just a little weird. I really liked the prices, and the fact that it wasn't quite a discount store -- the produce was pretty good, there is service meat and seafood -- but with the prices of a discount store. This store, which is only 11,000 square feet according to Cactus Holdings (I find that hard to believe, I would estimate more like 30,000 SF), is small, so selection is limited. But say hi to Charlie if you visit!

Western Beef

1A New Main Street, East Orange, NJ

Open Daily 7AM-9PM

westernbeef.com

973-674-8042

My Rating: ★★★★☆