The Market Report

DECEMBER Sun Sweet Fresh Market is a large convenience store or small grocery store located at 838 6 Ave, Manhattan, NY. It has a large selection of prepared foods with service counters -- enough selection that just about anyone would find something they like! The photo is deceptive since it's actually much larger than it appears from the outside. Similar stores are popping up all around New York City. I chose this one because it has more of a grocery selection than many others do. Google street view, 2014.

The Hudson Valley was one of the places where Grand Union was strongest. This store in Saugerties, NY made it to the end, and closed in the bankruptcy of 2001. It was taken over by C&S Wholesale Grocers and operated for a brief time as a Grand Union Family Market before closing. The Grand Union was all the way on the right of this mall, where the Big Lots is now. Big Lots moved in after Family Markets left. Just up the street from this store is the Price Chopper in Saugerties.

...but obviously the folks at Food Bazaar didn't quite get the message. The ingredients, according to this package, are: ENRICHED FLOUR WHEAT FLOUR BARLEY FLOUR NACH IRNON HAMIN MONITRATE RIBORAMM WATER SUGAR YEAST BUTTER (PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAM AND COTTONSEED OIL WATER PART WHYDROGENATED SOUBEAN AND COTTONSEED OIL CONTAINS LESS 2% HERO OWING NONA MILK DEXTROSE CORN ...and it may contain fish. Yum! This list of orthographical oddities has been replaced with simply "butter croissant" on some newer packages.

Merry Christmas! All the time we see supermarkets opening up in former drug stores, department stores, warehouses, and of course former supermarkets. But I think this is a new one for me. The Twin City Arena in Elizabeth, New Jersey was so named due to its location right on the border of Newark. Read more and see more pictures here and here . The above picture was taken from the first link. Got an idea of the history? Great! Let's check out the supermarket now.  Cuban immigrants Alfonso and Myrna Perez came to the US in 1972 and began working in produce distribution, according to Twin City's website . The husband-and-wife team opened their first supermarket, this location in Elizabeth, in 1985. This building also houses their corporate offices, and a building across the parking lot serves as the warehouse for the Twin City group, which now includes two other stores owned by Perez (Twin City Supermarket in Plainfield and Pueblo Supermarket in Newark), an independently...

DECEMBER Pathmark has savings all over! 1982 Pathmark commercial from Video Archaeology on Youtube.

Ever heard of Elizabethtown, NY? Probably not. A town of just over 1300 people, it's situated in the far-upstate Adirondack region of New York State. It's just off of the New York Thruway. I stopped for lunch at a pizzeria in town. I was not aware at the time that there was a Tops in a former Grand Union just down the street from where I ate. However, upon entering Bub's Pizza & Deli , I quickly noticed the old pictures of Elizabethtown on the walls. Among the pictures were shots of a street-front Grand Union and A&P. When I left the restaurant, it didn't take long to determine where the stores were. Turns out Bub's was actually the A&P and the GU was two doors down! Different kind of before-and-after! Clearly the facade has changed, and it looks like the building has been expanded to the left. Definitely click on the old pictures to zoom in. You have to see all the details! So GU and A&P (both defunct now, of course) were separated on...

We're back in Gramercy Park , Manhattan for a quick look at a D'Agostino Supermarket that is clearly past its prime... ... way  past its prime. It's obvious that this store was the coolest, most modern thing around when it opened, but that was probably at least 20 years ago. (Notice that the green and red stripes are actually 3-D strips set a few inches in front of the black panel.) A quick look at the frozen foods aisle, the last aisle in the store. It's pretty closely representative of the entire store. Somewhat cool, somewhat dingy, not bad but not great either. At least my cashier was very friendly.

Village Super Market is one of the largest Wakefern members, with 29 stores in three states. It's also the only Wakefern member that publicly trades its stock. Accordingly, the stores often feel very corporate. In the time that I've been interested in supermarkets (the last 10 years or so), Village has almost always been among the worst ShopRite operators around in my opinion. However, very recently, Village has really been stepping up its operations: cleaning up stores, improving management, and diversifying its selections. That's not to say Village is perfect -- far from it -- but it's nice to see improvement. This store, in Garwood, NJ, is a perfect example. Opened in 2001 but planned as early as 1995, the Garwood ShopRite was a virtual twin to the Elizabeth, NJ location. However, Garwood is a far more upscale town than nearby Elizabeth and the competition is a Pathmark-turned-failed Food Emporium and a Kings . Thus, the Garwood ShopRite is much more upscale...