The Market Report

Turning a Snapshot post into a Look Inside post isn't hard for many of the small greengrocers in New York City, most of which are a single room with one or two aisles of produce -- and no front wall (because most are open 24 hours). From what I can tell, Jenny's Farm does not necessarily target any specific ethnic group, but is just generally a greengrocer shop. Jenny correctly uses plurals for her vegetables and debit cards, but once again accepts only one food stamp. Jenny's Farm is located at 8322 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY.

I went back to Extra Supermarket in Maplewood on Friday, which we originally saw in a tour back in November 2017. Since then, there have been a few changes -- nothing earth-shattering, but some nice updates. Exterior photo from my original visit. Nothing has changed outside. Plus, when I went back on Friday, it was pouring rain and I was almost run over by a Krasdale truck. Just another day in the life of The Market Report blogger. In the grand aisle, we see that the single-tier produce cases running along the side of the department have been replaced with upright multi-tier cases, thus vastly increasing selection and adding one aisle. (Previously, produce and meat were aisle 1.) Closeup of the deli and hot food counter in the front of the store that wasn't included in the original post. Also, I'm not sure whether I missed it or if it wasn't yet there, but I caught this time a small café seating area just inside the alcove visible to the left above. The furn...

Quick Bay Ridge interruption... We've been to this store a few times now, first seeing it as a Key Food Marketplace in photos from May 2016, then revisiting it as a SuperFresh with photos taken in April 2018. The Food Basics-turned-Key Food Marketplace-turned-SuperFresh has now been turned Freshway, along with another one of owner Kevin Kim's locations in Staten Island, NY at 375 Tompkins Ave. On the outside, not much has changed in the past two and a half years. The store is still sporting its Food Basics entrance sign and awning, but it now has a real, lit logo (if a slightly off-center one). If you zoom in, you can see that the store is now featuring Fine Fare sale posters in the windows, as Freshway is run with General Trading of Carlstadt, NJ, which also runs Fine Fare. Heading in, we find that surprisingly, most of the signs have actually been updated to the Freshway logo... Okay, I didn't say updated well, I said updated. Either way, the store is stil...

Do you like my oval around the Met Foodmarkets logo for the map here? If you think either I've really gone crazy, or that I need way too much encouragement, just hear me out on this one. So the problem stems from the fact that the Met logo on Met's website is high resolution, but the inside of the "e" is white while the rest of the background is transparent. That was way too obvious when I put the logo into Adobe Illustrator, and rather than open up Photoshop to remove the white spot, I somehow thought it would be easier to just make an oval. When that looked strange, I added the gradient border. Which doesn't look great, but at least it's been done before, on the circular for the Met up in Sunset Park (in the past). There you go. Now, for our store tour! Although I don't know what the building was previously, it was almost certainly not a supermarket. It didn't have any windows along the front and is clearly a Frankenstein monster of severa...

Just in the next block south from A&D and A&S is another small grocery store, this one targeting yet a different ethnic group. This Mini Supermarket is really a greengrocer with a large grocery selection, although it's true that it sells more dry goods than most greengrocers. Displaying all your (really specific) offerings on the awning or storefront sign makes them sound so much better. Mexican food! Beer! Smoothies! Juice! Flowers! The store's inconsistent use of plurals is interesting--only one cigarette and one vegetable but lots of flowers and smoothies, or what if you come after they take their daily food stamp?--and probably stems from the fact that in Korean, there is no plural version of nouns (most greengrocers in NYC are Korean). I cannot explain the TORtIllas, however. Bay Ridge Mini Supermarket is located at 8006 5th Ave.

Almost directly across the street from A&S Deli & Meat Market is the A&D Turkish Market. It's another similar small ethnic market, although it targets a different area of the world. There are many stores that offer Halal meat in this area, although several are farther north. Because the colors tend to be cool, these photos make the day look like it was quite cold. Let me assure you that, although this day was in February, it actually passed 80 degrees (Fahrenheit) . That's why you won't see any snow on the ground! I find it funny that the automatic doors take up almost the entire width of the store! A&D is located at 7921 5th Ave.

Enough festivities. Now scroll down to see today's post!