The Market Report

Bruno Corona's first store in Flatbush is this Pioneer, opened in 2007 and joined two years later by an Associated a few blocks to the north, which has been sold. This store, which is in the range of 8500 square feet, is slightly smaller than the Associated. It does feel slightly larger though, as the ceiling is higher and exposed. I believe the produce department is also larger here, with a heavier emphasis on organics. Meats continue along the first aisle, which is diagonal because of the wall that needs to be diagonal due to the grade-level subway line running immediately alongside this store. So that the store can offer additional stock on top of the cases, there isn't much decor on the walls. However, an effort is definitely made with some hanging signs along the first aisle. Dairy runs along the back wall of the store. Like the Associated, this isn't the newest and sparkliest supermarket, but it's in nice shape and clearly well-maintained. ...

At the time of my visit, this store was celebrating its grand reopening as an Associated Fresh Market. My visit was right after the store had changed ownership, with previous owner Bruno Corona, who had owned the store since 2009, selling the store to Khalid Innab who also owns the Lincoln Market around the corner. Corona still owns a Pioneer Supermarket a few blocks south, which we'll see up next! Going back to the mid-1980s, this location was a Consumers Food , a chain I know nothing about. Heading in, we see a bright and clean, if somewhat outdated, supermarket. The 11,000 square foot store begins with a deli immediately inside the entrance and produce next to that, continuing down the first grocery aisle. Meats line the back wall, with dairy and frozen in the last aisle. Very hard to place how old this decor is, or even whether it was all installed at once. It's been maintained very well though. At the back of the first aisle, we encounter a random sign for O...

Alright, we've finished up Bushwick and are now heading to the southwestern portion of Brooklyn to see the area broadly referred to as Flatbush! Flatbush is a fascinating combination of landscapes, architectural styles, cultures, and of course, supermarkets. It is, of course, a massive oversimplification to separate this group of stores into just two neighborhoods, but in the broadest sense, Prospect Lefferts Gardens is the northern section of our tour and Flatbush is the southern section. Our route will take approximately the shape of Texas (I can't think of any other way to describe it), starting in the northern arm with Prospect Lefferts Gardens and stores along Flatbush Avenue, the main thoroughfare through much of southern Brooklyn. We turn west in the northern part of Flatbush to follow Church Avenue to the border of Kensington before returning east along Cortelyou Road in Prospect Park South. At Clarendon Road, we join back up with Flatbush Avenue to continue south in ...

First off, let me apologize. I don't remember the layout of this store at all. So in contrast to our usual tours, this one is going to be kind of a stumble-through. Anyway, this store has been a Bravo for many years and is located at the north end of the Bushwick Houses, a public housing complex which is bordered at the south by Flushing Avenue (see yesterday's former CTown on Flushing here ). Generally, I do remember that the store is divided into two rooms. The large room in the front contains a spacious produce department, a deli, grocery aisles, and checkouts. The back room has a few more grocery aisles, meat, dairy, and frozen. A renovation around 2015 brought a new facade and I think a lot of interior changes to this 9900 square foot store. Many of the finishes inside are quite new, such as the floor and the produce cases. General grocery aisles in the front room. Below we can see where the front room (aisles to the left) connects with the back room (beh...

Original Tenant:  unknown Address:  832 Flushing Ave, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  CTown Supermarkets (??-2015) Photographed:  December 2019 Although Bushwick is a very desirable neighborhood and is quickly gentrifying, not all parts of the neighborhood are developing equally. The northern section, closer to (extremely desirable) Williamsburg, tends to remain lower income and has many vacancies, abandoned industrial properties, and so on. This particular store is also located immediately across from a public housing complex. There is, however, a Bravo at the north end of the housing complex, which we'll see up next. Just a few blocks west, we find the upscale Food Bazaar on Manhattan Ave. But other than those two and the Food Bazaar several blocks south on Myrtle Ave, this neighborhood has very few large, full-service grocery stores. To go back to happier times in 2014, check out this street vi...