The Independent Edition

Kenilworth Fresh Market Owner: unknown Opened:  2020 under current ownership Cooperative:  Krasdale Location:  488 Kenilworth Blvd, Kenilworth, NJ Photographed:  May 2020 and June 2021 We return to this small supermarket at the west end of downtown Kenilworth after first seeing it in February 2017 here . This building has held a supermarket for at least about 25 years, as it was an Associated Supermarket in the late 90s, then ExpresSupermarket until around 2012, and Kenilworth Fresh Market from 2012 to 2019 when the store closed. Above is the store in May 2020, available for lease. But at the end of 2020, the store was re-opened under new ownership with everything exactly as it previously was -- inside and outside, and the store was once again affiliated with Krasdale Foods (but this time it's officially a Shop Smart Food Market, and it runs the Shop Smart circular). You can see a few of the Shop Smart sale posters in the first picture, which is from this month, June 2021. The onl

Gold Valley Supermarket Owner:  unknown Opened:  2014 Cooperative:  none Location:  211 Morris Ave, Springfield, NJ Photographed:  March 2019 and December 2020 Today's store is a 23,000 square foot Asian supermarket, in fact, the only Asian supermarket in this part of the state. It was built as a Grand Union and converted to a Circus Foodtown in 2001, later becoming Food King a little under 10 years later. It later became an A Seabra Foods (now Seabra's Market), and in 2014 became Gold Valley. Although the decor inside has been modified to include Chinese characters and some more specific signage, the bones are left from Seabra (compare this store to Union ). After the initial single exterior shot above from March 2019, I returned in December of 2020 to see the interior and I was quite impressed. The store is 23,000 square feet, and it's about twice as deep as it is wide. The back 1/3 or so has a second floor, likely for offices. We enter to a spacious produce department i

The Meat House Owner: Scott Ireland Opened:  2013 Cooperative:  none Location:  321 Springfield Ave, Summit, NJ Photographed:  August 2019 and December 2020 The original Kings Food Market was located here on the eastern end of downtown Summit, with the new replacement store being located west of downtown, about a mile and a half west along Springfield Ave. Interestingly enough, that store was originally 5700 square feet with this one coming in at 5800 (now expanded to 6500). This one probably actually lasted a while after the new one opened, but later became The Luggage Center . In 2013, The Meat House opened in the space, a gourmet butcher-deli-grocery store-liquor store. It's quite a beautiful store. Interestingly enough, the chain has a rough history and today it appears that Summit is the only remaining location . Let's take a look inside the store. A small grocery selection takes up the front left corner of the store, with deli, butcher, and seafood service counters lin

Now here's where it gets fun! Having covered Bergen/Passaic, Essex, and Hudson Counties, we are moving towards the south along the eastern part of the state. My coverage of New Jersey is very north central-centric, meaning that Essex and Union counties are probably my beefiest groups. So, I've decided that as we move through the rest of the state, we'll be seeing things in smaller groups. We're beginning with the northern and central suburbs in the city, starting with the city of Summit in the northwestern corner of the county, then moving through the central areas in Springfield, Maplewood, Union, Kenilworth, Garwood, Westfield, and Clark. We're doing things a bit thematically, covering mainly the suburbs and avoiding Elizabeth to the east and Plainfield to the southwest -- for now. We have posts all over the place, but we'll start in Summit on The Market Report tomorrow! And for a fun bonus post, check out the remodel at the  Foodtown in Caldwell  today also!

Fresh Central Grocery Owner: unknown Opened:  2020 Cooperative:  none Location:  252 Central Ave, The Heights, Jersey City, NJ Photographed:  December 2020 The first store we're going to be taking a look at today is Fresh Central Grocery, a small grocery store with produce, meat, dairy, some general groceries, and a focus on Indian and Asian products. The store was previously Singh Farm from about 2012 to 2017, Tikhi Mirchi (which appeared to be owned by Singh Farm) from 2017 to 2019, and then Akshar Grocery & Restaurant from 2019 to 2020. I didn't get to go inside any of those previous tenants, but Fresh Central is doing a great job with the 2400 square foot space. Although small, the store does have a little bit of everything. A nice large produce department takes up the front half of the store, with three grocery aisles in the back and a meat counter at the back of the store. As we can see here, the store is small but nicely stocked and organized! Check out the other po

Young's Farm Owner: Lee Young Son Opened:  1995 Cooperative:  none Location:  294 Central Ave, The Heights, Jersey City, NJ Photographed:  December 2020 Our next stop here along Central Avenue is Young's Farm! This is a small greengrocer shop that also sells some other items (grocery, dairy, and meat). The store is roughly 2500 square feet, making it very similar to the closed Nin's Market we saw just up the street. Our second store today is a former ACME in the next block south of this, so check it out on Grocery Archaeology here . And tomorrow is our last double-post day, with a small independent grocery store here on The Independent Edition and a look at the neighborhood's chain supermarket over on The Market Report !

Sweet Pineapple Fruit & Vegetable Owner: unknown Opened:  ca. 2012 Cooperative:  none Location:  370 Central Ave, The Heights, Jersey City, NJ Photographed:  December 2020 Opened in 2011 or 2012 in what appears to be part of a former West Coast Video location is this small greengrocer shop, Sweet Pineapple Fruit & Vegetable. It's just a block and a half south of Los Aztecas and about two blocks north of the former Nin's Market on Central Avenue. And tomorrow, we have two more stores just to the south along Central Avenue, one here on The Independent Edition and one over on Grocery Archaeology !

Los Aztecas Deli Grocery Owner: unknown Opened:  2016 Cooperative:  none Location:  401 Central Ave, The Heights, Jersey City, NJ Photographed:  December 2020 Our first store, the farthest to the north here on Central Ave in The Heights, is a tiny deli-grocery store that looked interesting to me. Now I regret not going in, since it's so small but it looked through the windows like they packed a lot of food in there. The store opened around 2016 in what actually was previously a Chinese restaurant, and doesn't even appear to have a Google Maps listing. See our second store for the day here , and our third  over on Grocery Archaeology , and tomorrow we have another post each here on The Independent Edition and Grocery Archaeology !

Value Fresh Market Owner: Maliq Jata Opened:  2017 Cooperative:  none Location:  729 Secaucus Ave Photographed:  December 2020 Moving just 600 feet west of yesterday's Fine Fare to the Value Fresh Market over the border into Jersey City! This 5900 square foot store is less than half the size of Fine Fare, but much newer and more upscale. Four years after its opening, it seems to have found a niche in the market here and looks like it does a good business. It replaced a Bravo Supermarket that later became the independent Plaza Supermarket. The space has been completely remodeled inside for a more upscale positioning. The first aisle has produce on the right side and in islands in the middle, with a service deli and butcher at the back. Dairy and frozen line the left side wall of the store, with two grocery aisles in between. Not only was there a fairly healthy crowd around the store (though fewer people than Fine Fare), there was lots of merchandise including a lot of perishables.