The Independent Edition

115 Meat Market Owner:  Aquilino Belez Opened:  1997 Cooperative:  unknown Location:  115 Roseville Ave, Roseville, Newark, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 The 115 Meat Market in the Roseville section of Newark was previously Aneuris Meat Market and before that, Glenny Meat Market. And before that, it was La Caridad Supermarket -- a name that still appears on the side of the store! Now this is our first store in Newark, and we're going to kind of circle the city clockwise beginning here in Roseville, which is in the northwestern corner of the city. We'll move up through Ampere right over the border in East Orange then pass through downtown Bloomfield and hit the southern tip of Belleville before circling to the east and south through the northeastern corner of Newark: Silver Lake, Forest Hill (with a quick detour back up to Belleville), and Mount Prospect. Then we'll move into the Central Ward, the Ironbound to the east, then across to the West Si...

Tropical Sun Supermarket Owner:  Tony Yoon Opened:  2001 Cooperative:  Associated Supermarket Group Location:  390 Main St, East Orange, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 Our final store along Main Street in the eastern part of East Orange is Tropical Sun Supermarket! A Caribbean store featuring a wide range of specialty products, much like Farmboy Country Market , this 12,000 square foot store started out as a Kings Food Market (and, by the way, was our first post on Grocery Archaeology ). Kings didn't make it all the way until 2001, when Tropical Sun opened, but I don't know which tenant was in the space for that time. Tropical Sun also owns a fish market next door. I have no idea how the store would've been set up originally, but today the main entrance is in the back facing the parking lot. We're going to tour it from the front door though, because that's how I visited (I parked on the street). We enter to dairy and frozen in the first aisle...

Lee's International Food Market Owner:  Xian Lee Opened:  2005 Cooperative:  none Location:  401 Main St, East Orange, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 Previously at 407 Main Street, Lee's International Food Market is now at the other end of the same building. Check out the previous store here ! Our next stop is a former supermarket in the next block east on Grocery Archaeology .

Olive May Natural Foods Owner:  Nasar Arain Opened:  1924 Cooperative:  none Location:  516 Main St, East Orange, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 We're here just across the street from Brick Church Plaza to take a look inside New Jersey's oldest operating natural foods store! That's right, although this store has changed ownership, it's been continuously operating since 1924. Inside, the store features a juice bar, vitamins and supplements, general grocery, and dairy/frozen. It looks fairly newly renovated. The front wall has the juice bar, with the register and vitamins on the right side wall. Dairy is at the back, with frozen on the left side wall pictured here. Grocery aisles line the middle of the store, running parallel to Main Street. I swear I took a picture of a grocery aisle, but my phone seems to have eaten it or else it simply evaporated into thin air. The store, though, is very nice! Our next stop is a few blocks east on Main ...

Extra Supermarket Owner:  Alberto Mendez Opened:  2018 under current ownership; 1980s under previous ownership Cooperative:  none Location:  563 Central Ave, East Orange, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 We're here today to tour the original Extra Supermarket! There are two branches of Extra: Alberto Mendez owns East Orange (this one), Maplewood , Lyons Ave in Newark (which we'll tour soon), and Dover (previously Bravo); and Mitchel Lopez owns Elizabeth, Avon Ave in Newark (both of which we'll tour soon), and Jersey City . Mendez's stores, which are the older locations previously owned by Lopez's father, were Krasdale affiliated but are now independent and sell Best Yet, and Lopez's stores are Retail Grocers Group. We first saw this Extra Supermarket, which was previously a Village ShopRite and before that a Good Deal, back in 2019 in a quick snapshot. You can get an idea of the store's orientation there. The front wall, facing Central Av...

Steve's Market Owner:  Stephane Koffi Opened:  2005 Cooperative:  none Location:  601 Central Ave, East Orange, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 Another small store along Central Avenue in East Orange diagonally across the street from Charlie Supermarket . Our next stop will be at the eastern end of this block, which we'll be touring tomorrow here on The Independent Edition!

Charlie Supermarket Owner:  Charlie Madera Opened:  2013 Cooperative:  unknown Location:  620 Central Ave, East Orange, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 Today's snapshot is just over the border into East Orange (we'll be in East Orange from here on, despite being just a quarter of a mile from yesterday's Save-A-Lot ). This is a large bodega or small supermarket that I unfortunately didn't go inside, as this was my last stop of the day and I was running short on time. We have another small store just across the street on the same block tomorrow here on The Independent Edition, before we head down to the next block east to tour the main large supermarket on Central Ave here in East Orange!

Benny's Market Owner:  Dwayne Williams Opened:  1992 Cooperative:  none Location:  60 Park St, City of Orange, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 Directly across the street from yesterday's Frednes International Market , is this independent grocery store. A small corner store with a lot of selection (produce, grocery, dairy, frozen, deli, meat, hot food), this place packs a lot into 3,000 square feet. Handwritten aisle markers! Gives the store a bit of personality. Up next we're heading to the south of Route 280 to see a few stores along Central Avenue in Orange and East Orange, beginning with one over on The Market Report tomorrow!

Frednes International Market Owner:  unknown Opened:  2011 Cooperative:  none Location:  53 Park St, City of Orange, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 Today's snapshot is this African market just to the north of Main Street. It's in the second block to the north of the main business district, but it's a little more of a destination so people will come specifically to this store for specialty items you can't get elsewhere. Tomorrow we'll take a look at the grocery store across the street!

Ho's Fruit & Vegetables Owner:  Yeon Yoo Opened:  1994 Cooperative:  Red & White FoodBase Location:  173 Main St, City of Orange, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 Our next stop along Main Street is another greengrocer! Just a few doors over from S&E is Ho's Fruit & Vegetables, which also has some grocery items. Let's take a look inside... I love the red floor and wood paneling! Great classic interior, with a nice selection of basics, international items, and natural foods. We're going to head about a block and a half north, just around the corner, to see two stores across the street from each other both here on The Independent Edition!