The Independent Edition

Superfood Marketplace Owner:  Ana Lemes Opened:  2019 Cooperative:  Retail Grocers Group Location:  543 Shaler Blvd, Ridgefield, NJ Photographed:  January 2020 Our next store in the Bergen - Passaic group is actually one we've been to before! This Coop-turned-Associated-turned-Fine Fare-turned-The Market Place-turned-Met Fresh-turned-Ridgefield Market is now Elizabeth, NJ-based Superfood Marketplace, whose Elizabeth and Allentown locations we've previously seen. Check out the interior shortly after Ridgefield Market closed and a full history of the store here . (By the way, the tree symbol I point out at the Associated is actually called the Twin Pines, and it's the universal sign for a cooperatively owned business, so it dates back to the store's days as a Coop.) Caught up? Good, now we can tour the newly renovated interior! You enter on the right side of the storefront and cross the front of the store to the produce department in the...

Flatbush Food Coop Owner:  cooperatively owned Opened:  1976, 2007 in current location Cooperative:  affiliated with Coop Food Stores Location:  1415 Cortelyou Rd, Brooklyn, NY Photographed:  May 2019 I made a reference to the Flatbush Food Coop in yesterday's Natural Frontier post, so here's a look at the store. In business since 1976, this community-owned natural food coop moved to their present location, a former Associated supermarket, in 2007. This store is, as the storefront advertises, open to the public and not just owners as some are, such as the Park Slope Food Coop in western Brooklyn (which has had more than its share of controversy over its life). The Flatbush Food Coop is fundamentally more welcoming, but the store also makes an effort to be incorporated into the community. It competes with Natural Frontier about four blocks west and a Key Food a block and a half east, so it has to balance the specialty positioning with...