The Independent Edition

  Happy winter! I'm going to take some time off from posting, but we'll be back strong starting our look at the southeastern part of New York State (excluding, of course, New York City) on January 1st. Enjoy your holiday season, and I can't wait to see you all at the beginning of next month! In the meantime, don't miss our last few posts and the  Back in Time  feature on Grocery Archaeology! And of course, keep your eye out for some special reports and updates over the next few weeks, too! Key Food - Upper West Side ACME Markets - Allendale, NJ Giant Farmers Market - Waldwick, NJ Trader Joe's - Forest Hills CTown - Morris Heights Antillana SuperFood - Morris Heights Food Bazaar - Ridgewood, Bushwick West, Bushwick East, and Inwood

Giant Farmers Market Owner: Sang Kim Opened:  2018 Cooperative:  Retail Grocers Group Location:  19 Wyckoff Ave, Waldwick, NJ Photographed:  November 12, 2023 It's time for a quick update at the Waldwick Giant Farmers Market! We first saw it in 2020  and since then, it's gotten a minor renovation that shuffles around some of the departments and has turned it from a farmers market-type store with some groceries into a fairly straightforward supermarket with a disproportionately large produce department. Not all the change is positive, though, and some of the produce cases we can see below to the right were empty when I visited. Then again, there was some excellent produce and that appears to have been where the organic selection used to be. I was a bit concerned when I came back and saw those empty cases and then the mostly-empty bakery department in the back. The service counter that was there had been removed and replaced with shelving for bread that was mostl...

  This December... step back in time with Grocery Archaeology! During our winter break, don't miss a collection of old photos, ads, postcards, and more related to grocery stores over on  Grocery Archaeology ! Regular posting will resume on January 1st with jumping into the start of New York State, but in the meantime, enjoy this historical collection and then some time off for our winter break. Enjoy!

Lewis' Supermarket Owner: Jerry Lewis Opened:  1946 previously, unknown in current location Cooperative:  none Location:  109 Oak Ln, Mountainhome, PA Photographed:  December 18, 2019 Welcome to the tiny town of Mountainhome, PA! This 9,000 square foot store opened back in 1946, and it's been here for quite some time although JoshAustin610 says it was an A&P until the 1980s. I'm not convinced, though, since the building looks an awful lot like this picture from an opening day long before the 1980s. In fact, if we do some very simple comparisons, apples were 39 cents for 2 pounds in the 1950s and 25 cents for 4 pounds on this store's opening day, making me think that the ad could be from back in 1946. In other words, I doubt this store was ever an A&P.  The store, while definitely old, is very nicely updated with new flooring and some new fixtures. It looks really nice! Worth noting that the outside was redone to its current appearance around 2008, an...

Ahart's Market Owner: George Ahart Opened:  1999 Cooperative:  Great Valu Markets Location:  248 PA-940, Blakeslee, PA Photographed:  November 29, 2019 We've seen lots of Ahart's in the Lehigh Valley (see Phillipsburg , Bethlehem , and Allentown ), but they have two outside of the immediate Lehigh Valley Area -- which are now the only two stores left. Bath and Blakeslee, both to the north of the Lehigh Valley, have remained in business while the other three have closed. Ahart's remains within the Great Valu Markets cooperative, but they're no longer on their website. At around 36,000 square feet, this store is the largest Ahart's. It opened in 1999 as a new-build, replacing an older store across the street we'll be taking a look at tomorrow. This is also much nicer than the other, older stores, although it hasn't been renovated since it opened and may be starting to show some age. We enter to the grand aisle on the left side of the store, with produce ...

Dutch's Market Owner: John Otway Opened:  1989 Cooperative:  ShurSave Location:  1564 PA-507, Greentown, PA Photographed:  December 18, 2019 Back to our snowy day in December of 2019 when I visited this store to photograph it! This ShurSave opened in 1989, although Dutch's Market has been in this area for at least 15 years more before that. I'm not sure if it was on this site or elsewhere. The store is just around 30,000 square feet, but it feels larger. The grand aisle has produce on one side, with deli/bakery on the left side wall. (Notice that the pictures above and below are looking towards the front wall of the store, not the back one.) Meats and dairy are on the back wall, with frozen foods in the last aisle. The store is on the older side, but it's in good shape. I appreciate the fact that the decor isn't all beige. One of the reasons this space feels so large is because the grand aisle has a lot of space between fixtures. The bakery is at the back of the gr...