TOUR: Food World Supermarket - Valley Stream, NY

Food World Supermarket

Owner: Harold Lee

Opened: 2014

Cooperative: Key Food Stores

Location: 500 W Merrick Rd, Valley Stream, NY

Photographed: December 2018

Another former Waldbaum's makes up today's store tour! This one became a Super Associated (unsure of who the owner was) in 2014, and was converted to Food World shortly thereafter. Food World, based in Jamaica, Queens, also has locations in Brooklyn, Jamaica, and New Jersey (under the SuperFresh banner).

Buried under this facade is actually a centennial A&P. The storefront faces Merrick Road (to the left), with the side of the store being along the parking lot. Produce is in the first aisle, with meat and then seafood running along the back wall. Dairy and frozen are at the far end of the store, with deli/bakery in the front corner.

Heading in, we see a simpler version of the decor in the New Jersey locations (see Bloomfield here and here).

While the location packs in a lot of selection, you have to remember that it's still only an expanded centennial -- so it's still only about 24,000 square feet. Bloomfield is 33,000 and Belleville is over 50,000.

Like in Bloomfield, cold cuts run along the back right side of the produce aisle with packaged meats on the back wall.

Looking towards the front of the store.

Meats and poultry on the back wall. You can see the seafood department at the far end of the store. Hard to tell whether Waldbaum's had a different floor and Food World replaced it, or whether Waldbaum's just had a blank floor throughout the rest of the store.

Nicely stocked grocery aisles, and very clean!

The pictures on the wall over seafood are from the Belleville/Bloomfield decor package. While the fixtures have been updated (I would assume), the seafood sign on the right side of the counter remains from Waldbaum's!

Frozen foods cases definitely a holdover from Waldbaum's, in the second-to-last aisle.

Some new frozen foods on the back wall. I'm thinking this is where Waldbaum's would have had milk and other dairy items (which were frequently stocked from the back), but milk is now in the last aisle dairy department.

And what do we have here in the frozen department?!

That's right, the basic version of the Fresh 2.0 decor! This is the only place where the decor itself actually remains, though much of the rest of the store is original. I would assume this is the only spot where the department remains exactly the same, but I don't know.

Deli-bakery in the front corner. I'm thinking where Food World now has a self-service bakery in the front corner would've been where Waldbaum's had a service bakery department.

And the checkouts are somewhat Waldbaum'sy, if that's a word (it's not). Although the checkout lights have been replaced.

That's about all, but we do have two more stores here in Valley Stream before we move on!