The Market Report

Why don't you stop by your friendly neighborhood Pathmark and... oh wait a minute. This name tag dates back to the 1970s, when my aunt worked at the Elmora location . My father (her brother), on the other hand, decided to get a job with his friends at... Foodtown across the street, which is now long gone . (You can, however, still see the faint marks left from Joey's name.) Love the midcentury modern design on this name tag though!

And you ain't kiddin', brother. The above patch, which measures about 4" in diameter, most likely came from the grand opening of the Elizabeth, NJ ShopRite  in 1994. This sticker, however, which has long lost its stickiness, is more recent, although I don't have a date. Most likely not from after 2002, when the logo was changed.

For your holiday enjoyment, here's a 1992 discount card from Kings Food Markets, based in West Caldwell at the time (now one town west in Parsippany). Kings later ended the Signature Club, only to bring back a similar loyalty program sometime around 2016. Now, the sale prices advertised in the circular are only available with the card.

From here on, The Market Report, The Independent Edition , and Grocery Archaeology will be posting stores entirely geographically. I'm switching to this instead of the random kind of chronological kind of not order I had done previously based on the themed weeks I've had. I hope it'll be easier to read! To begin with, for the new year, we're going to Queens, NY! And I don't think we've ever been there. So all of the stores we're about to see are brand-new. We'll be taking a look at them a few neighborhoods at a time, starting in the northwestern corner of the borough, with Long Island City, Jackson Heights, and Corona. This group will have posts on The Market Report and The Independent Edition . Come back on January 1st for our first store tour!

Here's a little something to tide everyone over until The Market Report returns on January 1st! A few more random grocery bags from my own collection, following up on my first post on The Market Report. A pre-2002 ShopRite bag. Go fresh, go local with these Pathmark bags. Not sure on a year, but probably close to the final bankruptcy. I feel like I've posted this White Rose bag before, but you're gonna see it again anyway... And this one will be memorabilia soon enough, with LIDL's takeover of Long Island-based Best Market: Not a supermarket bag, but an old retail bag nonetheless: From the Elizabeth location. This one goes out to my friends at A&P Preservation . The 1990s Bravo logo makes an appearance on this bag. Not sure where it's from. And we're finishing up with this bag from Kings. I believe I posted this one previously but now we get to see both sides... Over and out for now. Happy holidays! Come back to The Market Re