The Independent Edition

Church Farm Market Owner:  unknown Opened:  2016 Cooperative:  none Location:  4003 Church Ave, East Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Photographed:  May 2019 A very quick look at this store two blocks west of Shop Fair . At 5500 square feet, this store is actually the same size as Shop Fair but sells only produce, seafood, and basic groceries. It's worth noting, though, that Shop Fair has a very small produce department and almost no seafood, so the two stores complement each other very well. A closer look at some of what the store offers on the front sidewalk... Sure could go for one of those 2/$1 mangos right about now. Anyway, that's all for the Church Farm Market. Come back tomorrow for another Ideal Food Basket!

JS Church Farm Owner:  unknown Opened:  2015 Cooperative:  none Location:  4724 Church Ave, East Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Photographed:  May 2019 Right next to yesterday's Ideal Food Basket (see it in the first picture?) is yet another greengrocer shop. As many of these stores are, the JS Church Farm is located on a corner for maximum visibility. It looks from my visit to the Ideal that this smaller store keeps Ideal on its toes as far as produce goes, because both stores had very good-looking produce selections. This store, as far as I can tell, sells only fresh produce.

JB Fruits Natural Food Owner:  Chee Hun Cho Opened:  2017 Cooperative:  none Location:  880 Utica Ave, East Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Photographed:  May 2019 This sharp-looking greengrocer is located at the corner of Utica and Church Avenues in what amounts to the main intersection of East Flatbush. There's certainly quite a selection out there in front of the store! We're just three doors north of the New Best Utica Market that we saw yesterday. While at about 2500 square feet, JB Fruits Natural Food is smaller than New Best Utica, it also looks newer and better organized. While this store doesn't sell fish as New Best Utica does, it does have flowers and organic produce. Next we'll be heading west on Church Avenue from this store to return to the central Flatbush area, and making quite a few stops along the way!

New Best Utica Market Owner:  Hee Dong Ko Opened:  2017 Cooperative:  none Location:  890 Utica Ave, East Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Photographed:  May 2019 This store is deceptively large, being only 40' wide but 120' long. It's a 24-hour grocery store with produce, grocery, beer, and seafood. Meanwhile, it's just three doors south of another greengrocer and food store which we'll see tomorrow! Here we can see more context for this area, which as you can see has more pedestrians than the area near Chef's Choice . The green awning down at the corner is our next stop.

Chef's Choice Cash & Carry Owner:  Pasquale Russo Opened:  1987 Cooperative:  none Location:  1051 Utica Ave, East Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Photographed:  May 2019 Today's snapshot is just up the street (two blocks) from yesterday's Green Acre Farms . It seems to be another warehouse style food store, but this one looks like it's specially designed as a restaurant supply store. There's a parking lot just north of the store, and the whole operation looks more like a wholesaler than a retail store to the public (although Chef's Choice is open to the public). You can also see here what I mean about Utica not being the most pleasant to walk on. As we get to the north, closer to Church Avenue (this time on the far east end of Flatbush), we'll see more walkable neighborhoods.

Green Acre Farms Owner:  Shri Persaud Opened:  1992 Cooperative:  Key Food and Retail Grocers Group Location:  1160 Utica Ave, East Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Photographed:  May 2019 Today we're taking a quick look inside this warehouse-style Caribbean supermarket on Utica Avenue, a major and (for what it's worth) very unpleasant to walk on thoroughfare through East Flatbush. Unlike Flatbush, Nostrand, or Church Avenues, Utica is primarily designed for drivers, while the others also have pedestrian-centered businesses lining both sides (and, therefore, few parking lots and so on). There are a few things that puzzle me about this approximately 8,000 square foot store. The first was taped to the front door -- a standard no photography sign which went on to elaborate that "all requests for photography must be made in writing to Key Food Stores Co-Operative, Inc., 1200 South Avenue, Staten Island, NY." Quite odd given that this store is not a Key ...

C&C Fruit & Vegetables Owner:  unknown Opened:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  4206 Ave D, East Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Photographed:  May 2019 This small greengrocer shop is located on Avenue D, which is a minor business strip through East Flatbush. This neighborhood is much more residential than the other parts of Flatbush we've seen, and much slower-paced. Avenue D is a pleasant two lane tree-lined street with mostly small businesses lining both sides, though there are some larger businesses such as the CTown directly across the street from C&C we're going to see tomorrow.

Alright, we've finished up Bushwick and are now heading to the southwestern portion of Brooklyn to see the area broadly referred to as Flatbush! Flatbush is a fascinating combination of landscapes, architectural styles, cultures, and of course, supermarkets. It is, of course, a massive oversimplification to separate this group of stores into just two neighborhoods, but in the broadest sense, Prospect Lefferts Gardens is the northern section of our tour and Flatbush is the southern section. Our route will take approximately the shape of Texas (I can't think of any other way to describe it), starting in the northern arm with Prospect Lefferts Gardens and stores along Flatbush Avenue, the main thoroughfare through much of southern Brooklyn. We turn west in the northern part of Flatbush to follow Church Avenue to the border of Kensington before returning east along Cortelyou Road in Prospect Park South. At Clarendon Road, we join back up with Flatbush Avenue to continue south in ...