It's been a little while, so I think it's time to check in on Food Bazaar and see what they've been up to! A lot, as usual. Here's a roundup of what they're doing:
- They're preparing to take over a Stop & Shop in Bridgeport, CT, which will be their third location in Bridgeport (see here)
- Renovations are being wrapped up at the Junius Street Food Bazaar in Brownsville, Brooklyn
- The store at 34-20 Junction Blvd in Jackson Heights has closed as it is demolished and rebuilt, following a renovation and expansion (and the addition of a parking lot!) at the 35-60 Junction Blvd location two blocks south
- The 57th Avenue store -- their original, opened in 1988 -- is also preparing to be demolished and rebuilt
And that's only what's happening at the stores I
haven't been to lately. I recently visited the Gates Avenue location in Ridgewood, Queens, for the first time, which is finishing a major renovation. There were plans back in 2019 to
demolish the building for a larger tower, but it's not clear what the status of that is -- and I also can't determine for sure who owns the property. (It is, as property owners frequently are, hidden behind an LLC called 1580 Gates Co LLC.) But there was a mortgage between Bogopa, Food Bazaar's owner, and General Trading for $3 million that went back to 2000, when this store was preparing to open as a Food Dimensions. Food Bazaar was supplied by General Trading, the distributor behind Fine Fare and Shop Fair, until 2012 when they signed with Wakefern, only to switch to Connecticut-based Bozzuto's around three years later. Lately, though, Food Bazaar has been increasing their self-distribution, and it wouldn't surprise me if the
massive East New York property they just bought (or see
here) for a new warehouse complex -- it's 8.6 acres, or large enough to hold the property of the Elizabeth Food Bazaar and its land almost three times over, and just under half a mile from one of Food Bazaar's existing warehouses.
Now back to the Gates Avenue store! It was a Food Dimensions until 2012, which was a secondary brand by Bogopa designed to be used for smaller-format stores near existing Food Bazaar locations. This one is on the smaller side, at around 26,000 square feet, and is just three blocks from the larger Wyckoff location.
The shots from above were from the subway, and above we're looking at the back of the store. Now down to ground level...
The outside has had a new overhang built out, unfortunately rendering the sign a bit hard to see from the street. The entrance was moved from this corner to the far right side of the storefront, where the grand aisle is.
The small booth you see in the corner here is a security office, which used to be between the entrance and the exit. You still enter under the Food Bazaar sign and then walk along the front, which has been built out with new lights and rolling doors, and even heaters along the front so it's a bit more enclosed.
The sale items line this walkway, and the entrance is at the far end.
We enter to produce on the far right side of the store. Butcher is in the back right corner, with packaged meats on the back wall and deli/bakery in the back left corner. Frozen is roughly in the middle of the store, with dairy in the last aisle and beer in the front left corner. It's a very standard layout, but the strangest part is that it's missing a seafood department -- I believe, in fact, that this is the only Food Bazaar without a seafood department. We'll see if, as the renovation wraps up, one is added, but I'm not sure where it would be.
The renovation is not quite done yet, but as we can tell, the store is looking great already. It appears that all of the fixtures throughout the store were replaced, as well as the decor. I can't find too many good interior pictures before the renovation, but you can
see a few on Yelp to see how far the store has come.
One of the few parts that hasn't changed (yet) -- this produce case has not yet been replaced, and the decor remains above it. I have to assume that'll be switched out soon. Everything else has been...
The layout hasn't changed too much, but there was a separate room for produce and then another for meat. The interior walls there have been removed, and now the meat department is open to the rest of the store...
The only thing remaining from pre-renovation is that white and red tile wall on the right! Everything else, including all of the fixtures and equipment, is brand-new.
The deli was also moved from the front wall to the back wall.
There's a second aisle of refrigerators between the grocery aisles and back wall. I do love to buy meat at Food Bazaar but I mean, come on. They look particularly great against the black refrigerators!
And looking back over to the grocery aisles. One of the reasons the warehouse look really works here is the wood accents all around the store. It warms up the look of the space.
Sale items line the first grocery aisle, but without the signature stacks.
The grocery aisles are pristine and well-stocked, and they look really good. This feels more like a new Food Bazaar than a renovated one.
Dairy begins in the back corner beyond the meat department, then continues down the last aisle.
Frozen foods with fewer than normal hanging snowflakes are roughly in the middle of the store, taking up an aisle and a half.
And towards the back is the deli and bakery counters. I don't believe this store previously had a bakery. The deli was moved here from the front corner of the store.
We can clearly tell that all the fixures here were new during the renovation.
Where I believe the deli used to be is now the beer corner, with part of the former deli to the left now covered with a few more freezer cases.
Here's roughly where the deli used to look out onto the store. I really like the big ceiling fans in these stores!
And a look across the front-end.
This looks like a new store, but it's actually a very old store that's been renovated extensively. So let's take a look at a new store!
Food Bazaar Supermarket
Owner: Spencer An
Opened: October 25, 2023
Previous Tenants: Food Dimensions > Food Bazaar previously on property
Location: 1102 Myrtle Ave, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY
Photographed: December 6, 2023
We're here at the Myrtle Avenue Food Bazaar in Bushwick, where another Food Dimensions that converted to Food Bazaar in 2012 was demolished in 2021 for a new building that more than doubled the size of the supermarket. See the old store
here and the work in progress
here.
The building includes a roughly 40,000 square foot supermarket with a parking garage underneath and a few floors of apartments above. The supermarket opened in late October, but the rest of the building is still in progress.
And it looks nothing like the old store! It looks very similar to
Harlem, another newly-built Food Bazaar.
We enter to the floral and produce departments along with nuts and dried fruit, all the typical beginning departments as we enter a Food Bazaar. The store has been beautifully outfitted with a sleek look...
The produce department opens up beyond the entrance area and funnels traffic into the seafood and meat service counters on the back wall. The produce area forms its own room, then up next is another room for packaged meat with the service butcher opposite it. After that, deli/bakery, some frozen, and some dairy are on the back wall. Dairy lines the last aisle with frozen in the front right corner. Beer is in front of the grocery aisles on the front wall. There's a single entrance to the area with registers, which are on the front wall. The back of the produce and meat rooms is lined with natural foods, which faces the registers. Does that make sense? I hope so!
By now I think we're all familiar with this decor package, which originated in the
Flatlands Avenue location across Brooklyn.
Notice that the separation for perishables is important because the sections are refrigerated (see the unit on the ceiling to the right above). And while we're looking at the ceiling, check out those awesome ceiling fixtures! I love all the wood around the new Food Bazaar stores.
Seafood is in the back of the produce department, with its beautiful and elaborate decor. Frozen seafood is to the left on the left side wall of the store.
And up next on the back wall is the service butcher counter. Across from the counter is the packaged meat department.
Because the meat is all in refrigerated cases, there's no refrigeration here. My guess is that the store is designed in part to funnel all customers through the checkouts, which cuts down on the shoplifting in this store. There has, of course, been a lot of question how accurate the various shoplifting claims have been, but it does seem to be a pervasive problem from the managers I've spoken with.
The registers and the natural food section is on the other side of this case.
Looking back towards the meat and seafood counters.
Deli, bakery, and hot food counters are here on the back wall. As we can see, there's not a lot of space in the store, but they pack a lot into the relatively small space.
As usual, sale items are here in the first grocery aisle.
On the back wall we have frozen meats and similar items, with dairy beginning in the back corner.
The green ceiling is interesting and makes me feel like it's a Genuardi's!
The store is large enough that there is a larger selection of nonfoods than many of the nearby competitors. Except, of course, the 52,000 square foot Manhattan Avenue Food Bazaar about 3/4 of a mile north, or about 12 blocks.
Something I haven't seen before in a Food Bazaar is a double-wide paper goods aisle with sale items in the middle. Is it possible that these are here because there's no sale display outside the store, which we typically see in Food Bazaars?
Dairy is here in the last aisle.
And then transitioning to frozen foods in the front corner...
The wall to the left below is the front wall of the store.
Up next on the front wall is the beer department...
...and looking back towards the frozen corner.
And here's a look at the registers in the front with the natural foods in the shelving facing. Meat/produce are on the other side of the natural foods shelving. Another new type of ceiling fan here...
That's all for this beautiful new store! I mentioned that the Gates Avenue store is very close to the Wyckoff Avenue store, so let's take a look at the Wyckoff store...
Food Bazaar Supermarket
Owner: Spencer An
Opened: 2001
Previous Tenants: Big R
Location: 454 Wyckoff Ave, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY
Photographed: December 6, 2023
This is a very minor update, but I suspect there is a renovation imminent at the Wyckoff store. Other than some painting inside, it looks pretty much the same as when I
visited years ago. So why do I think renovation is coming? Well, the layout is not unlike the Gates store, with produce, meat, and seafood in separate rooms on the right side. You enter into the main supermarket and then walk into the refrigerated produce room. You can see in the picture above that not only has an awning been added to the storefront that looks an awful lot like the one at the Gates store, and the sidewalk area on the right side of the entrance has been cleared and was being re-surfaced. That feels like a preparation to move the entrance to the far right side, just like what happened at Gates.
On the left side, in front of the windows, a new brick wall is being constructed under the new overhang. It's either some form of elaborate cart corral or something, or it's a preparation for pushing the front wall out to expand the front-end slightly. That's a lot of renovations going on, but there's more...
Food Bazaar Supermarket
Owner: Spencer An
Opening: TBA
Previous Tenants: none
Location: 375 W 207th St, Inwood, Manhattan, NY
Photographed: December 8, 2023
...Food Bazaar is preparing to open their second Manhattan location, this one way up in Inwood on 207th Street at the far northern tip of Manhattan. The store is being constructed diagonally across the street from a former Pathmark that
became an Associated and later a Shop Fair, that closed a few years ago and was demolished for a new development. If you zoom into the picture above, you can see a very small Food Bazaar coming soon banner at the base of the yellow structure. Well, there's a lot in progress with Food Bazaar, and you can be sure I'll be checking in with any other updates I have! That's all for now, and enjoy winter break!
Comments
Post a Comment