The Independent Edition

Olive Tree Marketplace Owner:  David Shehadeh Opened:  2014 Cooperative:  Retail Grocers Group Location:  1490 Clove Road, Sunnyside, Staten Island, NY Photographed:  March 2020 In 2014, David Shehadeh (of the same family that runs the two Shop Fairs at 4121 and 2720 Church Avenue) opened this Olive Tree Marketplace in a former Mignosi's Supermarket on Staten Island. The Olive Tree banner, originally affiliated with Key Food but now affiliated with Retail Grocers Group's Shop Fair group, has had little success with a location in New Jersey from 2016 to 2018 (more extensive coverage of that location is coming soon) and a location in Brooklyn, which we covered here , from 2018 to, uh, later in 2018. This location has gone through some tough times too, with shelves periodically emptying and then being restocked. At the time of my visit, some parts were a little sparse, but the store had advertised being "under new management," a trick that t...

Market Fresh Supermarket Owner:  Kenny Othman Opened:  2018 Cooperative:  Krasdale Location:  570 Tompkins Ave, Rosebank, Staten Island, NY Photographed:  March 2020 This former Walgreens was converted to the independent Market Fresh Supermarket, owned by the same family that owns the Key Food on Flatbush Ave . Market Fresh also had a location in Wood-Ridge, NJ, which has since gone out of business (but will be coming to the blog here soon). There's another Market Fresh out there somewhere, but I've yet to figure out where that location is. As I mentioned, this store was a Walgreens. And the restroom in the basement still has a Walgreens garbage can! The 8,000 square foot store begins with produce lining both sides of the first aisle. Deli is at the back, with meats on the back wall. Dairy, oddly, is in the middle of the store in aisle 3, with frozen foods in the last aisle. The store, although it's not large, is very nice. It fea...

Top Tomato Superstore Owner:  Carmine Sciandra Opened:  2007 Cooperative:  none Location:  1071 Bay Street, Rosebank, Staten Island, NY Photographed:  March 2020 Here on The Independent Edition, I like to give some background on the stores we visit and their owners. This time I'm going to let the Staten Island Advance speak for me . Owner Carmine Sciandra even has his own Wikipedia page . But, uh, let's focus on the supermarket here. The 12,000 square foot supermarket is basically divided into two halves. When you enter and turn right, you enter the grocery department with dairy on the right-side wall and frozen food and meat at the back of the store. Deli/bakery, produce, and seafood make up the left half. General grocery is not this store's focus, clearly, since perishables take up more than half of the sales floor space. Like North Shore Farms , this store sells some Price Rite-branded items from Wakefern. Frozen foods are i...

Our next stop after leaving Brooklyn is Staten Island! Now we have been to Staten Island before, seeing a  Key Food Marketplace , a  Superfresh  that has since closed, and a  Met Foodmarket . But, we all know... (oh come on I have to put my song gimmick on here too???) Ahem. (Okay, so the universe found my gimmick, which was a link to the YouTube video of the song "We Can Do Better" by Matt Simons, which you can find here . Or you can see how the whole cringeworthy joke was executed over on The Market Report .) Anyway, we're going to tour EIGHT new supermarkets, see a NEW Superfresh, and RETURN to that Met Foodmarket for a full interior tour! Uh... maybe no one else is as excited about that as I am. But anyway, stay tuned for two weeks of Staten Island.

Wholesome 360 Owner:  unknown Opened: May-July 2019 Cooperative:  none Location:  1351 Nostrand Ave, Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Photographed:  May 2019 This is an exclusive for The Independent Edition! Wholesome 360 had such a short life that very few pictures of it in business exist on the internet. It was open only from May to July 2019. More recently, a new market called Gourmet Garden Market has opened in the space. (Its corporate entity was formed in July 2019, but didn't open until a while after that.) The store, which is located directly across the street from a CTown Supermarket , also featured a hot food bar and coffee shop with a seating area. Next to that, it offered several aisles of gourmet and organic/natural grocery items, along with produce and dairy. Empty cases at the back of the store looked to be preparing for a meat department that never opened. The store, although it was very small, was still very nice. You could hear...

Dream Farm Fruit & Vegetable Owner:  Sang Soo Yu Opened:  2007 Cooperative:  none Location:  1424 Nostrand Ave, Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Photographed:  May 2019 The Meat Place is at the southeastern corner of Nostrand Avenue and Martense Street, with Dream Farm at the southwestern corner. By the way, this is finally the last greengrocer shop we're going to see in Flatbush -- and for quite  a while anywhere. Come back tomorrow for our next store on Nostrand Avenue!