Antillana SuperFood Marketplace
Opened: October 2024
Here at Westchester Square, to the northeast of the Parkchester neighborhood, a Bonavita Key Food has stood for years -- probably decades -- and for a long time now, has been the only supermarket in the immediate area. That changed when the Rite Aid at the other end of the block closed around 2022, and local chain Antillana SuperFood opened their latest spot in the 12,500 square foot building.
Antillana now has about a dozen stores under various banners, including the verbose Extra Jumbo Marketplace and Shop Fresh Food Marketplace by Antillana SuperFood Marketplace, a personal favorite. And the ASG-affiliated chain continues to expand with new locations across the Bronx and Manhattan. They hadn't yet jumped on the bandwagon of moving into former drugstores that so many other supermarket operators had done, but that's changed with their latest location here at Westchester Square.
We enter the store in the front-right corner to the produce department, which as usual is partially outdoors and partially indoors. (As you may be able to see in the first picture, produce was protected outside from the frigid temperatures and high winds of Friday by thick blankets.) The rest of produce and juice lines the first aisle, with a large service butcher counter taking up the entire back wall of the store. The grocery aisles are split, with the back part having several short rows of refrigerators with items like baked goods, cheeses, packaged meat, and beer. The last aisle has dairy and frozen, with deli and hot food in the front-left corner.
It's interesting to see how Antillana and Key Food compete here. Both, from what I could see, are well-run stores, but they serve different audiences. Both have the basics of what you'd expect from a supermarket, and both have significant selections of Latin foods (Antillana's is probably larger, though.) But Key Food -- owned by Sal Bonavita -- adds plenty of Italian foods to the mix, including fresh cheeses and Italian breads, while Antillana has very little to choose from cheese-wise, instead opting for a selection of halal meats and related Middle Eastern and South Asian products.
This store has an interesting setup with no aisle markers, but instead prominent category markers that you can see to the left in the above picture. It works because the store isn't very big.
Here's a look across the middle of the store. Meats are in the last aisle on the left side.
And a look at the short aisles towards the back. Here we can see some baked goods and deli items along with bulk beans and grains.
Beer is in another short aisle, with the expansive meat department taking up the back wall. (The Key Food doesn't have a service butcher counter, and at only about 7300 square feet, is much smaller than this store.)
The halal meat counter is in the back-left corner. I believe this is the only Antillana with a dedicated halal butcher.
Packaged meats line the back part of the last aisle, with frozen and dairy in the front part.
Because of the shape of the building, the last aisle gets wider as you move towards the front of the store.
And there's a deli and hot food bar in the front corner.
You'd hardly know this used to be a Rite Aid -- if you didn't see the outside!
Owner: Jose Grullon
Previous Tenants: Eckerd > Rite Aid
Cooperative: Associated Supermarket Group
Location: 2750 E Tremont Ave, Westchester Square, Bronx, NY
Photographed: December 6, 2024
Don't forget to check out this weekend's other new stores!
- A new Pioneer opens in the Bronx's Little Italy, in an A&P-turned-Rite Aid
- Cherry Valley Marketplace shows off two new stores in Fordham Heights
- Another A&P-turned-Rite Aid becomes a Fine Fare in Baychester
- Antillana SuperFood's latest store makes its home in yet another former Rite Aid at Westchester Square (this post)
- And a new-build Key Food store comes to central Bushwick!
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