Today's store tour is a Super Foodtown out in the largely residential, relatively laid-back neighborhood of Throggs Neck (or Throgs Neck, or Throgg's Neck, or Throg's Neck, or Throggsneck) in the very southeastern corner of the borough. While much of the Bronx is predominantly Caribbean and Latino, Throggs Neck remains largely Italian. As is the owner of this store, Joseph Bivona.
Although the store's address is on Bruckner Blvd (the cross street here), the parking and main entrance is in the back perpendicular to Crosby Ave. There is an entrance and exit facing Bruckner, however, along with a register there. This location was previously an A&P, and has been a Foodtown (at least under the current ownership) since 2005.
Heading in, we turn 90 degrees to the left to find produce running along the front wall (to the left in the above picture). More produce and then bakery runs along the side wall, with deli, seafood, and meat in that order clockwise on the back wall. Frozen is on the far side of the store, with dairy on the side wall.
The banana corner! I love the wood texture on the walls here. You'll notice that the store appears to be very recently renovated, and it's looking great, although a few of the fixtures are showing their age.
Looking across towards the front-end from produce.
A randomly-placed but very attractive organic sign leads us towards the bakery department. (Is there plenty of organic produce in this store? Absolutely! Is it anywhere near this sign? Of course not.) And here we see the bakery...
...almost completely sold out. They make two types of bread, a regular Italian loaf, and a semolina loaf, fresh every morning. It goes quickly, and when it's gone, it's gone.
They advertise it as the best Italian bread in New York, and after sampling it, I'm more than willing to believe that claim. The bakery at this store in general was fantastic, and I'm not ashamed to admit to, uh, purchasing a few, you know, samples. Strictly for research purposes, mind you.
Part of the bakery has been converted into an independent pizzeria, Pizza Gusta, since the time of my visit. It's owned and operated by the baker here at the Foodtown -- clearly they take baked goods seriously. Check out an interesting article on this change
here.
Anyhow, as we continue around the perimeter of the store, we encounter the deli/prepared foods department on the back wall. The decor is really beautiful, but the low ceilings limit how much they can do.
As you could guess, this is an Italian-owned store in the Bronx -- they take their deli seriously. Look at the size of that deli for a store that's only 20,000 square feet!
Entrance/exit with two registers in the back. I love the black tile around this wall area.
Seafood is next along the back wall. I love the way the wood decor on the walls ties in with the wood look flooring, and I'm a big fan of the black trim. I wouldn't be sad to see that blue checkerboard tile go, though.
I don't exactly recall which part of the store I took this picture in, but it still gives you an idea. The aisle layout is a little bit confusing, but I'm sure you get used to it when you shop on a regular basis. The wood look flooring continues throughout the store, which I love. And look how nicely those shelves are stocked!
Very nice frozen foods aisle; I love the combination of the dark floor and dark ceiling. The significantly older freezer cases kind of stand out, but I'm sure it's a very big expense to replace them all.
The ceiling gets a little higher on the far side of the store, allowing for some more awesome decor. I love how subtle (but still readable) the black signage on dark wood is.
More great signage as we move towards the last aisle of the store, although I do wish they found somewhere else to put those safety lights.
Dairy in the last aisle, again with some cases that are showing their age, but the other upgrades are quite nice.
Heading along the front end, we're wrapping up our tour! Looking back at these pictures, they make the store look a lot bigger than it is. It's small, but there's a lot of great stuff packed into the small footprint.
And I LOVE the old pictures along the front wall! Especially...
K&K Dairy Co. - Cut Rate Groceries! The sign puts this at Bathgate Ave and 172nd St, which
now looks nothing like this. Anyway, hope you enjoyed today's tour and come back tomorrow for a new tour in Brooklyn over at
The Independent Edition!
Super Foodtown of Throggs Neck
2945 Bruckner Blvd, Bronx, NY
Open Mon-Sat 7am-10pm, Sun 8am-9pm
foodtown.com
(718) 379-7100
Photographed July 2018
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