March has been an all-Hudson County month! In the past month, we've covered fifteen stores in one way or another, not including today's tour. Today's tour, La Placita Food Market, is very different from most of the others we've seen so far. And it's also our first in Union City, the last of the three cities I visited!
La Placita is a small Krasdale-affiliated chain with locations in
Peekskill (sorry about the formatting, I don't know what happened there) and now
Mount Vernon, among others. This location in Union City, NJ was previously Kikos 2 Supermarket (with the original Kikos within a few blocks of the
Fairview Food Bazaar, and still in business).
Kikos was scheduled to be replaced by Popular Supermarket, presumably the same one that owns/owned the
C-Town in Passaic. I have no idea if that ever happened, but it's possible given the
Supermarkets for Savings signs still around the buildings. Of course, that's a Krasdale slogan, so it could be from La Placita also.
While I don't know exactly when La Placita opened (ca 2015), it still had its Grand Opening signage up in August 2017.
Hard to tell whether it was ever a C-Town.
Definitely looks like there could have been something else where La Placita is now.
Regardless of what was there before, La Placita gutted the place and installed all-new fixtures and decor. It's a surprisingly nice store...
Especially with the high ceilings, which you wouldn't expect given the exterior. It's a small store, but well-stocked with the basics and some higher-end items. Being farther east (towards the Hudson River and, therefore, NYC) than most of the others, this store tends to get more traffic from the gentrified coastline sections than the others.
The store is small but bright and clean. Here we're looking from the entrance across the front-end.
Like others we've seen, this store is much deeper than it is wide. Produce and meat line the right-side wall, with service meat and deli along the back wall, and frozen/dairy in the last aisle.
Great flooring. Dark gray tiles, and they look like polished concrete. This is the second aisle looking towards the front of the store. Brand-new shelving, lighting, and floor. Look how well-stocked that pasta section is!
I think this is the third aisle, looking towards the back of the store where service meat/deli are.
As we've seen in all these stores, the meat counter is huge. The deli tends to be much smaller:
An overview of the whole back wall. In the back corner opposite the entrance is a bread/bakery case, even though the store probably doesn't bake on the premises.
Great display. Better than some chain stores, even! Dairy and frozen are in the last aisle, lining the side wall. Notice the large windows along the side wall, which makes the store feel very bright.
All-new cases, plus some fancier products like organic milk.
A quick look from the front-end back towards produce before we head out.
La Placita is (comparatively) big, bright, and spacious, and the slightest bit more upscale. It was a pleasant surprise and very different from what I had been seeing. It's definitely an interesting hybrid between the two communities that it serves.
La Placita AIM Supermarket
152 48th St, Union City, NJ
Open Mon-Thurs 7AM-9PM, Fri-Sun 7AM-10PM
(201) 758-7080
My Rating: ★★★★☆
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