The Independent Edition

  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...

Rastelli Market Fresh Owner: Ray Rastelli Jr. Opened:  2014 Cooperative:  none Location:  710 NJ-73, Marlton, Evesham, NJ Photographed:  January 2021 It's our second to last store here in New Jersey, and it's an impressive one! We arrive at the 35,000 square foot Rastelli Market Fresh in Evesham Township (also referred to as Marlton), which opened in about half of a Genuardi's in 2014. It's Rastelli's second retail location (their first is to the southwest in Deptford , and is much smaller). The butcher shop-turned-gourmet grocer also has a very large wholesale division , which today is the business's focus. Like Patel Brothers in East Windsor , Genuardi's facade is fully intact here but inside, there's nothing left from the former tenant. The interior has been beautifully renovated by Off the Wall, a name that I'm sure is now familiar to any readers of this blog. We enter to a spacious produce aisle with service departments lining the right side of...