Stop & Shop
Opened: 2015
Owner: Ahold Delhaize
Previous Tenants: Pathmark (1970-2015)
Opened: 2015
Owner: Ahold Delhaize
Previous Tenants: Pathmark (1970-2015)
Future Tenants: Food Bazaar (opens 9/6/2024)
Cooperative: none
Location: 2965 Cropsey Ave, Gravesend/Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY
Photographed: April 5, 2024
We begin this post with a disclaimer: this supermarket is not technically on Coney Island. It's technically on the mainland of Brooklyn -- which is, of course, also an island -- but on a strange little peninsula at the bottom of Gravesend in south-central Brooklyn. But as you can see in the picture below, where Coney Island is to the right of the creek and Gravesend is to the left, it's very, very close. It's also separated from most of Brooklyn by the Belt Parkway, which around here circles the lower part of Brooklyn and Queens.
This 45,000 square foot store dates back to around 1970, when Pathmark built it (and it looks like it's always been the same size and shape, which is slightly triangular due to the creek. Or I suppose technically an irregular hexagon, but think of it as a rectangle with the back right corner shaved off by the water). It closed in 2015 and became a Stop & Shop at the end of that year after about a week of closure for renovation. That renovation was really minor, though, and it's looking worse for the wear these days.
For some reason, the logo on this little street sign was updated, but the storefront logo was never changed. The interior hasn't been touched since 2015.
This storefront once made more sense, with the signature Pathmark shape. Stop & Shop did this inexplicably terrible remodel, in which they squared off the top of the stripe and painted the storefront. Other alternatives include what SuperFresh did in Irvington, which is to build out a rectangle around the stripe.
The store is set to close by mid-September, with Food Bazaar moving in shortly thereafter. I have read conflicting reports on Facebook, with some saying that the store will close only overnight and others saying that the transition will take a week or two. The Brooklyn Reporter says that Stop & Shop closes September 19th and Food Bazaar opens the next morning, but Stop & Shop more recently announced that the store is set to close this Thursday (9/5). It's unusual that they haven't done any form of closing liquidation sale, but instead they've just let the shelves thin out and ship products to other locations -- which they seem to be doing at all the closing stores.
The quick-turnaround renovation Stop & Shop did back in 2015 was okay as a stopgap measure, but the stores that haven't been redone again since have not held up well (see South Orange, for instance). This one is similar, and several parts of the store are not in good shape. I'm not sure if this location bakes in-store, but there's a small bakery department on the front wall (which has lost its y). A pharmacy was also previously in the front right corner, but that closed at some point during Stop & Shop's time here. In a typical Pathmark layout, there are a few grocery aisles to the right of the entrance and produce department -- those were probably originally HABA and nonfoods -- with meat, seafood, deli, and beer on the back wall. Dairy and frozen are on the left side of the store. Stop & Shop didn't change Pathmark's layout at all, except for probably resetting the grocery aisles. In typical Pathmark fashion, the produce department goes right up the middle of the store from the entrance, with a few grocery aisles to the right and the rest to the left.
This corner originally had the pharmacy. Notice the Pathmark flooring, which is still going strong throughout the store.
I believe these aisles on the right side were all originally HABA and nonfoods, and Stop & Shop reset them to be groceries. I think, although I'm not sure, Stop & Shop condensed HABA down to an aisle or two in this area, then moved other nonfoods like paper and cleaning to the far left side of the store.
Beer and frozen meat are at the back of the right-side set of aisles. You can see in some of these pictures how the diagonal back wall cuts into the store.
Seafood (still using Pathmark fixtures, of course) at the back of the produce department.
Here you can see an example of what was likely the store winding down, even though its closure hadn't been officially announced yet. Why else would the shelves have been emptying out like that?
No service butcher, but Pathmark's butcher window remains.
The meat sign here was installed slightly wrong -- the letter M should be capitalized so that the bottom of the letter aligns with the bottom of the other letters.
And deli (also missing a letter or two) and a minimal prepared foods department are in the back left corner. You can see just how simple and no-frills this version of the decor is when you compare it to an example like this, where they went all-out.
I don't think the shelving was replaced when Stop & Shop moved in here. I do think they redid the lighting, though, and I think Pathmark had lights built into the shelves.
21 aisles in total includes the former HABA department on the right side of the store. Stop & Shop may have replaced the case to the left in the picture below, as it looks a little newer than the rest. But as we can see, this store still has the bones of a Pathmark.
And the renovations Stop & Shop did haven't exactly held up well over the years.
I don't think it'll be a problem for Food Bazaar, though, which operates several former Pathmark locations. They've extensively renovated most of them (see Flatlands, which is about seven and a half miles, across Brooklyn near Canarsie).
This location will be Food Bazaar's 9th Brooklyn store. With the four acquired Stop & Shop stores, Food Bazaar's total store count jumps to 37. (Ten years ago, in the summer of 2014, Food Bazaar had 18 stores. They have closed unsuccessful stores, but not since about 2005, which tells me that they know what they're doing as they expand.)
Cooperative: none
Location: 2965 Cropsey Ave, Gravesend/Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY
Photographed: April 5, 2024
That's all for this Stop & Shop, and I'll be back once Food Bazaar is open! In the meantime...
Yes, that was the traditional Pathmark setup. That outside aisle would have paper items, then cleaning/pet/HABA in some order as you moved towards the produce section, all behind the pharmacy in the corner.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense, and I think that's exactly what this store had!
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