The Market Report

Western Beef just announced some major changes to come over the next two years! Five brand-new Western Beef or Western Beef Market locations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan... Two new Western Beef Market locations to replace existing Junior's Food Outlet locations in Brooklyn... Three store renovations, in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Boca Raton (FL), coming just after the grand reopening of their location in Elmont, NY. See the upcoming changes for yourself at westernbeef.com !

For today's Snapshot, we're moving literally two doors down from Friday's Surplus Sid's , from 309 to 305 E Main St. This location is the center star. Image from Google Maps. This building struck me as a 1940s supermarket, similar in style to the former Acme in Union we saw a while ago. Today it is an Advance Auto Parts store, and it previously operated as a CarQuest Auto Parts. For some reason this reminds me of an early Kroger. Based on absolutely nothing, of course, except a minimal knowledge of Kroger's current operations. Even the windows along the side of the store look like a supermarket's. From here especially, doesn't that look like it could be a grocery store? Can anyone confirm this, or is there anyone else out there who also thinks this is a former grocery store?

About a month ago, we were down in Carrboro, NC looking at the Weaver Street cooperative food store. I took photos of a few other buildings in town that seemed like former grocery stores to me, but other than my impressions, I have no reason to believe they ever were. This location is the top right star. Image from Google Maps. This particular building looked to me like a 1920s-era food store, maybe a general store. It's almost definitely a 1920s-era building. The building with the white facade is reminiscent of grocery/ general stores of the 1920s, don't you think? Especially with the higher center section on the facade. The awning is also the right style, although obviously replaced. The building, which is located at 309 E Main St, is now Surplus Sid's, a junk military surplus, antique, and general merchandise store. Inside, it's hard to tell what it may have been in the past.

A few weeks ago, we saw the label of a Pathmark white vinegar bottle. Now we're going to see another Pathmark product from probably a little earlier, between 2000 and 2005. This is the front panel of a box of cotton balls. I'm not so sure about that picture of the cotton balls in the bottom right corner -- last time I checked, that's not exactly what cotton balls look like!

Last summer, we saw the Eagle Supermarket of Elizabeth, NJ. The owners of that store opened a new Eagle Supermarket in Roselle in 2008 and sold the original location in Elizabeth, but the new owners decided to keep the name. Here in Roselle, it's hard to tell exactly what the building was previously. I doubt it was a new-build store, but it was at least extensively renovated. It's a tiny building! This store is on St. Georges Ave (St. George Ave, according to some), in a stretch that historically has not been the greatest neighborhood. The area has picked up, though, and this 10-year-old supermarket is indicative of the general trend of revitalization along this corridor. Except, come on, can't they get a new M? You enter on the right to dairy in the first aisle and frozen foods along the back wall. Meat, produce, and deli are actually in a separate room to the left. I came here after visiting the SuperFresh in Roselle, and it felt like this store had more shopp

We're back again in Elizabeth, NJ for a look at another brand-new supermarket. This one, B-Town Market Fresh (not sure what the B stands for), is affiliated with Allegiance Retail Services and therefore uses the Foodtown circular and storebrand. This store, which is located in the North Elizabeth section, is the first new supermarket to open in Elizabeth since the embarrassment known as Supermarkets Plus (which was, however, beautiful to begin with). Unlike Supermarkets Plus, however, this store's owner has not had three of their stores "mysteriously" burn down. The B-Town Market Fresh joins three existing Market Fresh locations in the Hudson Valley of New York, which you can see on their website . I don't think they share an owner, though, as the owner was actually in-store on my visit. This 22,000-square-foot store is in a promising location -- a vibrant neighborhood consisting primarily of Latino and Haitian immigrants -- and has a beautiful facility.