The Independent Edition

Matthews Market Owner: Bruce Matthews Opened:  1991 Cooperative:  none Location:  14141 Lankford Hwy, Mappsville, VA Photographed:  December 2019 As devoted readers of my blogs will know, I enjoy visiting the unique and out-of-the-way stores. So when I drove by the Matthews Market in Mappsville, VA, I knew I had to see it. And it didn't disappoint. Although the 5500 square foot store is on the older side and a bit dingy, it didn't disappoint. It's packed full of a huge range of groceries given its small footprint. The store opened in 1991 in a former IGA, but I don't know if it was previously a different supermarket before the IGA. A local news outlet did a great profile of the store back in 2016 for the store's 25th anniversary. Let's head in and check out what's inside! In the first aisle, all the way to the left, we have frozen foods and produce, plus lots of snack and candy items. We have, coincidentally, two very different height photos from this same

Snow Hill Food Rite Owner: Thomas Brittengoff Opened:  2009 Cooperative:  Food Rite Location:  308 E Market St, Snow Hill, MD Photographed:  January 2020 Let's take a look inside the small supermarket just outside of downtown Snow Hill, MD! We're about 15 miles southeast of Salisbury and about 115 miles due east of Fredericksburg, although of course to cross that distance you have to go across the Chesapeake Bay. This 13,000 square foot supermarket includes a liquor store, and has a deli-hot food-bakery counter here on the front wall, making it a little bit like a large convenience store. There's a small meat department, plus produce and frozen, so it is a full supermarket but it's pretty small. It's a good spot for local shopping, though, especially since Snow Hill doesn't have any other large supermarkets. Deli/bakery are in the front left corner, across the store from the entrance. Frozen and produce are in the first aisle, with meat and dairy on the back wa

Italian Market Owner: unknown Opened:  2019 Cooperative:  none Location:  3150 N Dupont Hwy, Dover, DE Photographed:  January 2020 Well, we finished off New Jersey with an Italian grocery store so it's only fitting that we start Delaware with one, too! This is an interesting one for sure, in a former gas station-mini mart combination, and while the pumps have been removed the canopy remains, just painted green. I am amused by the hand-painted "ITALIAN MARKET" on the side of the building, but hey, if it works, it works. The place had just opened up when I snapped this photo back in January 2020, and it looks like the core business of this 2900 square foot store is the sandwiches and salads from the deli. We're right by the Dover Speedway here, by the way, and the former Dover ACME (which is now a Hobby Lobby) is just south on Dupont Hwy. There's also a Redner's a little over a mile north and a Safeway, LIDL, and ALDI about three miles south. Tomorrow, we'

 Welcome back, everyone, to our regularly-scheduled programming of supermarket coverage! We are progressing south along the eastern seaboard of the United States, as promised, through first the Delmarva Peninsula, the first stop south of New Jersey. The peninsula extends south from the Wilmington/Newark, DE and Elkton, MD areas down through Cape Charles, VA. The entirety of the tiny state of Delaware is on the peninsula, along with the eastern part of Maryland, and the southern part of the peninsula is Virginia. The cities paralleling the peninsula on the mainland include, from north to south, Wilmington, Baltimore, and Richmond, and Norfolk is just to the south of the southern tip of the peninsula. So we're going to take a look at a few stores primarily along the US-13/113 corridor as we wander down to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which connects Cape Charles to Norfolk. Come back here tomorrow for our first Delaware stop, which is interesting, to say the least!

  It's time for The Independent Edition's Spring Break, so we won't have any posts until we begin our next group on May 1. Be sure to come back then to move on to our next state! In the meantime, don't forget to check out yesterday's Streetside Sights & Scenes  here , and we'll have memorabilia on  Grocery Archaeology  4/17-4/23! P.S.  the store I used for the image here is a preview of one that's coming up in our next group. Extra super bonus points if you have any idea what store it is or where it is. We also have a few updates and special reports, so make sure to check them all out here! Update: Foodtown - Caldwell, NJ Update: SuperFresh - Roselle, NJ Special Report: Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace - Morris Plains, NJ Update: ACME Markets (former) - Morris Plains, NJ Update: ACME Markets (former) - Middlesex, NJ

Botto's Italian Market Owner: Catherine Botto Opened:  1997 Cooperative:  none Location:  1411 Kings Hwy, Swedesboro, NJ Photographed:  January 2022 I was incredibly disappointed upon entering Swedesboro, New Jersey and finding that their only grocery store was not in fact a Swedish grocer, and that there weren't even Swedish Fish available for sale (which I assume to be the national cuisine of Sweden, right?). But I will say that if I can't have that, one of the best independent Italian markets in New Jersey will do just fine. So let's tour, as our final New Jersey store, the roughly 10,000 square foot Botto's Italian Market. If you want to read about the store, I recommend you check out this profile from 2013. The store is attached to Botto's Italian Line restaurant, which I'm sure is excellent as well, and they also sell their products online. Inside the grocery store, we have most of the sales floor (unsurprisingly) taken up by Italian groceries, with