Food Bazaar Supermarket
Opened: September 20, 2025
Time for a visit to the last Stop & Shop-to-Food Bazaar conversion that I hadn't been to yet! That's not to say we haven't seen this store on The Market Report. A contributor from Long Island sent in some pictures shortly after Stop & Shop switched to Food Bazaar last fall in downtown Hempstead. And here's my pictures of the former Stop & Shop from last summer.
Food Bazaar also took on Stop & Shop locations in Carlstadt and Piscataway, NJ, and a location in Brooklyn. They've been extremely slow to make changes to the locations, and in fact Piscataway still sports its Stop & Shop decor. Part of that may have to do with the stores' performance. The two New Jersey stores seem to be pretty low-volume. On my first post for Coney Island, I mentioned that pricing was essential in those NJ locations. Well, just as I said, they did get a reputation for high prices and, just as I said, they do appear to be somewhat dead -- probably doing the same volume as Stop & Shop or less. Hempstead and Coney Island, though, both seem to be fairly busy.
And it's very obvious a big part of the budget for remodeling went to Hempstead. They've started much more extensive work in this store than any of the other acquired stores, which is very obvious as soon as you enter...
In the grand aisle, Food Bazaar has torn out the Stop & Shop drop ceiling over produce. It looks like they'll probably leave the exposed ceiling in this area, given that it seems to be painted roughly the same color as the rest of the ceiling.
Stop & Shop decor remains, although I don't know if that'll be permanent or not.
No big changes to the fixtures so far, though, beyond the replacement of the produce tables when Food Bazaar opened. They also added a service bakery counter for cakes (Stop & Shop didn't have a service counter, just a self-serve refrigerator. Food Bazaar has added the service counter in part of where Stop & Shop had prepared foods.)
You can see a little bit of it to the far left below.
My guess is that this decor will eventually be removed, given that it's not all in great shape...
This store was remodeled by Stop & Shop in 2020. It was the only store remodeled since the logo change in 2018 that closed last year.
Food Bazaar has used Stop & Shop's large cheese island for their own specialty cheese department. Carlstadt and Piscataway don't have cheese departments, and in fact, Stop & Shop's cheese cases in each of those stores are now holding other things. Coney Island didn't really have a cheese department previously as a Stop & Shop and Food Bazaar hasn't added one.
There was a guy on a lift truck doing electrical work in the ceiling, so renovations are very much ongoing here.
Around the perimeter, Food Bazaar has removed the lower slanted ceiling part. See here.
The aisles look basically the same, but they've been reset.
The aisle markers remain from Stop & Shop, and all three other acquired locations got new aisle markers. These didn't have any form of Stop & Shop branding on them, though.
No service butcher counter at any of the acquired stores (Stop & Shop didn't cut meat in-store, but Food Bazaar does).
In addition to this store, Food Bazaar appears to be remodeling the Wyckoff Avenue store in Brooklyn. They're also working on several new locations.
The milk cooler looks a bit bare without the lower ceiling.
Dairy and frozen in the last aisle. In the 2020 remodel, Stop & Shop actually shrank the size of the store by closing off the last few aisles. Notice that, at first, they only painted the ceiling up to the partial wall, but they've also now painted the ceiling in the rest. I don't know what Food Bazaar's plans are for that space, if anything. Stop & Shop used it as a staging area for online orders.
Hempstead, Carlstadt, and Piscataway all had pharmacies when they were Stop & Shops, and an independent pharmacy is preparing to open here in Hempstead. Food Bazaar doesn't run any pharmacies.
It looks like something else is in progress here on the front end. It looks like nothing much was here in the Stop & Shop days. Notice, though, that this store has gotten the signature Food Bazaar trellis over the front-end (Coney Island also has, but neither Carlstadt nor Piscataway has).
Stop & Shop registers and lane markers remain. It'll be interesting to see what else Food Bazaar does with the space.
Owner: Spencer An
Previous Tenants: Melmarkets Foodtown > Stop & Shop (2001-2024)
Cooperative: none
Location: 132 Fulton Ave, Hempstead, NY
Photographed: April 18, 2025
Here's a look at this weekend's other posts!
Comments
Post a Comment