The Independent Edition

Fairfield Welcome back to the Corrado's Market in Fairfield! If you recall, I was blown away when I went to this Corrado's as I definitely visited it at its high point. But Corrado's as a whole has been declining steeply and quickly, with the first cracks in the operation showing when they canceled their upcoming Brick store (and apparently doing the same in Old Tappan ). Their strip mall in Wayne was foreclosed on, then the store closed last month . They closed stores in North Arlington and Denville in 2021 and 2023, respectively. While I don't know exactly what's going on inside the company, it sure looks like it's crumbling before our eyes. Then again, there's no sign of that when you enter Fairfield, with a beautiful, fully stocked produce department, a huge deli packed with fresh products, and a massive fully-stocked salad bar. There's even fresh pizzas out in a dedicated service counter. But that good first impression is ruined if you look clo...

Corrado's Market Owner: Jimmy Corrado Opened:  2019 Cooperative:  Associated Supermarket Group Location:  3130 NJ-10, Denville, NJ Photographed:  May 2019 Wait! Before you proceed to read this post, you must read about Olive Tree first ! Olive Tree Marketplace opened a 15,000 square foot high-end supermarket in the Denville Commons back in May 2016, but it was poorly run and extremely short-lived. The store closed in the first month or two of 2018. By May 2019, local Italian specialty chain Corrado's Market had opened up in the space after doing absolutely nothing to the space other than fully stocking it. But what a difference that makes! While I can't speak to how well Denville is doing, I can say that the Corrado's locations in Wayne and Fairfield are quite impressive (sorry, North Arlington , but that store just isn't up to the standards of the others). I was here about a week after Corrado's officially opened, and it was looking quite good. Check out how...

Olive Tree Marketplace Owner: David Shehadeh Opened:  2016-2018 Cooperative:  Key Food Stores > Retail Grocers Group Location:  3130 NJ-10, Denville, NJ Photographed:  October 2017 We return to the 15,000 square foot Olive Tree Marketplace in Denville for the final time. These pictures were a follow-up to our original set , which were rather limited. The short-lived store on route 10 in the southern part of Denville was plagued by many of the same problems that plagued the Shehadeh brothers' Foodtown-turned-Shop Fair in Howard Beach along with their Associated > Key Food > Associated > Shop Fair > Olive Tree in Bay Ridge , which is now a dollar store. So far, the Olive Tree on Staten Island seems to barely still be in business, and the Shehadehs also own two stores on Church Ave in Flatbush ( 4121 and 2720 ) -- both of which were Associated > Key Food > Shop Fair and are now back to Associated again. I also suspect the Associated at 170 Broad...

Corrado's Market Owner: Jimmy Corrado Opened:  2013 Cooperative:  Associated Supermarket Group Location:  45 River Rd, North Arlington, NJ Photographed:  June 2020 We're jumping into Hudson County starting in the northwestern corner of the county, immediately over the Passaic River from Essex County, in fact this store is only a quarter of a mile southeast of the former Bell Farm over in Belleville. The rear parking lot of this store borders the river, which here forms the dividing line between Essex and Passaic counties. Speaking of the rear parking lot, the store is oriented towards the back. The 14,000 square foot store was originally C&J Glass , then Spring Farms . We enter and exit here in the back. Frozen and produce line the first aisle all the way to the left when you look at the store from the back, with cheese on the front wall. Deli and meat line the right side of the store with dairy in the front corner and grocery aisles, in very low shelving, in t...

Corrado's Market Owner: Jimmy Corrado Opened:  unknown Cooperative:  Associated Supermarket Group Location:  480 US-46, Fairfield, NJ Photographed:  December 2020 We're at the northwestern border of Essex County for our next store tour, the Corrado's Market in Fairfield. This is the very first Corrado's I went to many years ago, and it left me very confused. I didn't find it special in any way, it was strangely laid out, the products (especially the perishables) didn't seem to be particularly great quality. Fast forward a few years, and in the second half of 2020 I started to visit a lot of the local stores in my part of northern New Jersey I had previously skipped over. That included some of the Corrado's, since I had basically ignored them based on my previous impression. Well, I sure was surprised visiting the stores, even coming back to this one! I don't think management changed or there was any real difference like that, but this store has been rem...