Adams Fairacre Farms
Owner: Patrick and Steven Adams
Opened: 1998
Cooperative: none
Location: 1240 NY-300, Newburgh, NY
Photographed: November 22, 2023
We're here in Newburgh, New York on the Hudson River, or about 18 miles east of
Middletown, for a look at the large gourmet supermarket/produce market/nursery spanning just under 80,000 square feet outside of town. The chain
grew from its original farmstand roots to its present chain of five large specialty grocers. See that article for an extensive look at the chain.
The store has two main entrances, one in the front to the main supermarket area, and one on the side that goes to the garden center area. The pictures above and below are the garden center entrance, and the first picture is the supermarket entrance.
We're going to tour the store via the garden center, which is on the left side of the store! There are two greenhouse areas, one in the front left corner and one in the back left corner. Between them is a large space for gardening equipment and seasonal accessories and the like, and of course because I was here in November it was all Christmas items. Also in that room is paper products, cleaning supplies, and pet items. Then there's a separate room for gifts, cards, toys, and homegoods, which has its own registers. Once we enter the main supermarket, the left-side wall has a normal supermarket floral department, a counter for fruit gift baskets, an ice cream shop, and a large candy department. Produce is opposite that in a large area of what constitutes the grand aisle, with bakery at the back. In an island between produce and the grocery aisles is cheese and a coffee shop selling both coffee beverages and bulk coffee. A pizza counter is at the front of that island, with a salad bar and the meat department on the back wall behind the grocery aisles. Seafood is in the far back-right corner with dairy and frozen in the last two aisles. Deli and the rest of the prepared foods counters are on the front wall in front of the grocery aisles, and in front of produce are the registers. Beyond that is a cafe on the front wall. It's quite an extensive place, but the grocery area is clearly not the focus at all. Instead, it's on the specialty perimeter and the extensive gourmet offerings.
In the back greenhouse were Christmas trees and wreaths, along with a few other things. Clearly, this is not the time of year the greenhouses are most active.
And since not too many people are looking for potting mix or wheelbarrows in November, much of the garden center was switched over to Christmas items when I was there!
A few aisles of paper, cleaning, and nonfoods in the front of the garden center.
And the front greenhouse, which also has its own entrance to the supermarket, had flowers and small plants, presumably that you might keep as houseplants.
As we move towards the supermarket, we need to stop by the gift shop first...
...and then into the main supermarket building! Here we can see the floral department and the entrance to the front greenhouse.
And turn around, and you have a massive supermarket ahead of you! The centerpiece is the produce department, which is the first department you encounter if you enter through the supermarket's main entrance.
And judging by my visit, they do a lot of volume in this department. I mean, look how many pineapples there are here. It doesn't look like there were a crazy number of people in these pictures, but let me assure you there were. I had to park near the back greenhouse because there were no spaces up front.
The fruit/gift basket counter, which does custom arrangements, and the ice cream shop on the left side wall! The garden center is behind these counters.
And the large candy store on the left side of the supermarket!
Following that, we move into the bakery. Now you can get a sense of the crowds.
Between that and the candy department is a large island for assorted gourmet chocolates and the like.
What's interesting is that each department definitely feels like its own little shop, and the space doesn't feel like a massive supermarket. I have to assume that's very intentional, along with some other choices like keeping the ceilings low.
But we can still tell that the space is massive.
I've seen entire supermarkets whose produce departments are smaller than this store's section dedicated solely to organic produce...
Here's a shot towards the back of the store from the front-end. You can see the coffee shop on the right side of this picture.
And behind it, the cheese department. There's a prep room, visible here, where they cut the cheeses fresh and make their own mozzarella.
Opposite this is a huge cheese island.
And around the corner towards the front of the store from this is the pizzeria...
The pizza looked pretty darn good, too. But then again, this is New York. You have to work hard to find bad pizza. Or just look for the Domino's sign to be sure of the bad pizza. My sincerest heartfelt apologies to other parts of the country where Domino's might be the best choice.
Hot food and other prepared foods on the front wall beyond the registers.
And you can definitely do your full food shopping here, as there's seven grocery aisles with the basics and lots of higher-end gourmet and natural choices.
Jumping back to the back wall, we have the salad bar on the back wall, with the butcher next to it...
Meats take up the rest of the back wall, and seafood is in the back right corner. Notice that the seafood department has a large selection of prepared seafood, like breaded fish and premade crab cakes and similar things.
Dairy is in the last aisle.
And in the front corner, we encounter the deli department. I think it's really interesting that the decor here is basically zero. There's not much exciting flooring, lighting, signage, or even colors used. All the fixtures are bland and white. But they don't seem to be worried about that, instead focusing on quantity and quality rather than presentation. I don't mind, because the store is still very attractive and impeccably maintained.
Rows of prepared foods extend beyond the deli department...
And another stop by the pizzeria opposite the front-end!
And speaking of the front-end, it's large and well-staffed. Despite the crowds in the store, there were plenty of registers open and the wait was close to zero for the massive breakfast danish crumb cake thing I bought. Which was, of course, delicious.
So what else is in the area? There's a Stop & Shop around a mile and a half north, which looks completely unremarkable. Newburgh's ShopRite, around two and a half miles northeast, closed a few years ago but one remains around three miles south in Vails Gate, along with a Price Chopper. Not far from the closed Newburgh ShopRite is a
Market 32 that's very nice, too. But the closest competitor -- which is very, very different from this one -- is a Market Fresh just down the street. We'll be touring that tomorrow, right here on The Independent Edition!
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