Special Report: Shop Fair Supermarkets - Hudson Heights, Manhattan, NY

Shop Fair Supermarkets
Opened: June 2024

Owner: Anibal Rodriguez

Previous Tenants: Rite Aid

Cooperative: Retail Grocers Group/General Trading

Location: 1510 St Nicholas Ave, Hudson Heights, Manhattan, NY

Photographed: July 12, 2024

A fun fact about me: I have visited and photographed every grocery store in Manhattan. That's been a multi-year pursuit, and someday, I'm hoping to get to (or near) every supermarket in New York City, including the outer boroughs. At this point, I'm nearly 80% of the way through the whole city -- and 99% done with the Bronx, which is pretty good. But this was the one supermarket in New York City I hadn't been to and photographed until this month -- because it didn't open until last month.

This store is absolutely packed with stuff, and there's probably too much inside but it's an impressively complete supermarket. The roughly 7500 square foot space was previously a Rite Aid but might have originally been a grocery store. This is the latest Shop Fair in the city owned by Anibal Rodriguez, who also has similar stores elsewhere in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens.

Here's what Rite Aid's storefront looked like. Likely to compensate for the smaller space, the front wall of the store is used to maximum advantage, with produce and sale items neatly stacked across the whole storefront.

It amazes me the way these operators can create a full supermarket in such a small place. And as we'll see, this store has a ridiculous amount of selection and services in a very, very small building.

And, it's beautiful! Here's a wide-angle shot of the store from the entrance. Produce is in the front as you enter, with deli/bakery in an island at the back of the grand aisle and a large butcher counter wrapping around behind that. Packaged meat and dairy line the back wall, with dairy continuing down the last aisle and then a little bit onto the front wall to the right of the registers. Frozen foods are also on the right side. Seven aisles, not including the grand aisle. Pretty good for a store of this size.

And as I said, it's a great-looking store. Nice flooring, great lighting and hanging ceiling fixtures. This store looks very similar to the two Rodriguez owns in the South Bronx, and one up in Wakefield, although each has slight decor variations.

Also a hallmark of these smaller NYC stores -- a very well-appointed wet rack with some very nice greens.

There's of course no in-store bakery here, but lots of bread from area bakeries. Deli is on the back of this island.

And the very large butcher faces the deli.

A meat department -- with, you know, some of the sign visible -- up next on the back wall.

And I'm betting the ceiling is original to this building. I don't fully know whether it's original or a reproduction, but it's very cool regardless. I can't find any pictures inside the Rite Aid, so I don't know whether the ceiling was the same then.

I love the flooring throughout the store, though.

And the fixtures are all new -- all the refrigeration and shelving are new, not secondhand.

Here's the back wall again, looking back from dairy towards the meat department. The packaged meat selection seems a bit small here, and I'm guessing that that's because the service butcher is so large.

Dairy and frozen in the last aisle.

And back over to the front wall, where dairy continues at the front of a few of the aisles.

And five full-service registers (as is typical for New York City, no self-checkouts -- only a few of these small stores have self-checkouts).

That's all for this store! As always, I am pleased to see drugstores becoming grocery stores. For the health of neighborhoods, a supermarket with lots of fresh products is far better than a drugstore -- although that's not to say pharmacy access isn't also important. But this is a really spectacular conversion, and a great reuse of the very small Rite Aid space. Don't miss today's other stores!