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Special Report: City Fresh Market - Ridgewood, NY

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By Zachary
City Fresh Market
Opened: January 2025
Owner: A&E Supermarket Group
Previous Tenants: Rite Aid
Cooperative: Retail Grocers Group
Location: 583 Grandview Ave, Ridgewood, Queens, NY
Photographed: April 7, 2025
At this point, I've posted too many drugstore-to-supermarket conversions to count. They're all interesting to see, and honestly, a lot of them have turned into really great, unique supermarkets. It's fascinating to see how each operator responds to what that area is looking for. Sometimes it's Mexican foods and fresh-made tortillas. Sometimes it's South Asian groceries. I've enjoyed seeing what each supermarket has done to the respective Rite Aids and Walgreens and CVSs. Here in Ridgewood, Queens -- right on the border of Queens and Brooklyn -- City Fresh Market has opened their latest location in an extensively-renovated former Rite Aid. And I have to say, this one truly blew my mind.
Can you believe this was a Rite Aid? I mean, this is what the inside of the Rite Aid looked like. I can't begin to imagine the scope (and expense) of a remodel like this. But City Fresh Market has pulled it off here, and it's worth noting that this store isn't an exception. The same group owns Cherry Valley stores, which has two equally stunning new Bronx stores.
But here in Ridgewood, City Fresh is clearly positioning themselves as a high-end, almost gourmet market. It's still a full supermarket, but not only is the presentation spectacular, the product selection is extensive and thoroughly unique. There are lots of gourmet and natural selections in all the departments, a remarkable feat of merchandising in barely 10,000 square feet.
The truly spectacular grand aisle is on the right side of the store, with produce lining the right-side wall and cheese, deli, bakery, and sushi in the island facing. There's also fresh breads and pastries in cases on the front wall at the front of the grand aisle. Packaged deli items and more baked goods are in the refrigerators at the back, with beer and meat on the rest of the back wall. Frozen foods are in the second-to-last aisle, with service seafood and meat in the back-left corner, and dairy in the last aisle. The store packs this all into just six aisles, not counting the grand aisle. Above, you can see what is perhaps the store's single flaw -- the produce sign is for some reason missing the O in produce.
The "cheese bar" (I love that!) is at the front of the deli island, wrapping around to face the front-end. The selection is truly impressive, punching well above its weight for a store of this size.
The deli is equally impressive, with multiple tiers of merchandising used to their maximum advantage here. The decor is fun yet upscale, and doesn't distract from the extensive selection of merchandise.
Gelato, juice bar, sushi, and prepared foods up next at the back of the island. More packaged grab-and-go prepared foods are at the back of the grand aisle.
Here, we're looking across the back wall of the store.
The grocery aisles are stacked high, almost to the ceiling. There's definitely a selection of basic grocery items, but zoom into the coffee shelves to the right below and you can see the selection goes far beyond the basics. There's also bulk coffee beans at the front of the grand aisle next to the cheese department.
Frozen foods in the second-to-last aisle.
And the spices are on an endcap between frozen and dairy. Here you can get a sense of just how much selection is packed into the small space.
The service butcher and seafood counters are in the back-left corner of the store, lining the outside of the last aisle.
Dairy is facing.
The arched ceiling is such a visually interesting touch. Notice that the shelving in both the grocery aisles and even inside the dairy cases is similarly rounded. The attention to detail is incredible.
Cold cuts and dairy here in the last aisle.
And a look across the front-end, with customer service in the front-left corner. Here you can clearly see the store isn't that big, but it's packed with offerings.
And you exit along the front wall towards the parking lot, walking by one final great feature of the store -- a small cafe between the grand aisle and the exit. The booth along the inside of the cafe seating doubles as a divider, and the breads are on the other side of it. It's a high-traffic location for sure, since everyone exiting the store walks by, but if you're looking to put the seating on the outside of the registers (so people pay before they eat, especially when food is sold by the pound), there aren't that many options of where to put it.
And that wraps up our look at this incredible new supermarket! I just can't believe what they were able to do with a very standard Rite Aid. Incidentally, I have to assume this building was originally a supermarket before Rite Aid, but I don't know that for sure -- just a gut feeling based on the look of it. Don't miss the rest of this weekend's posts! Here's the full list.
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