The Independent Edition

Ledgewood Farm Owner: Kwang Chung Opened:  2004 Cooperative:  none Location:  1013 US-46, Ledgewood, Roxbury, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 We arrive at a rather strange strip mall, the Ledgewood Plaza, on route 46 just east of the intersection with route 10 (where we saw Succasunna yesterday). This mall looks like it may have been built with a grocery store anchor to the far right and what appears to perhaps be a skating rink to the left (with a barrel roof). The strip mall doesn't really have a singular anchor today, but part of the 19,000 square foot anchor to the right has been combined with a neighboring storefront for a roughly 10,000 square foot grocery store today operating as Ledgewood Farm. Remember the former Wharton Farm ? That was the same owners, and I promised you we'd see another -- guess what, we are! You enter on the left side to the first room, the expansion, with a very large deli and seafood counter lining the left side wall and some grocery ite...

Verdi Fresh Farm Market Owner: unknown Opened:  2014 Cooperative:  none Location:  375 US-46, Budd Lake, Mount Olive, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 We arrive at the western border of Morris County, here in the Budd Lake section of Mount Olive, for a small produce market of roughly 4700 square feet. Although this has been a produce market for a very long time it seems, it's been Verdi Fresh only since 2014 when the Astoria, Queens store opened its second location here (the Astoria location, at 21-01 31st St, opened in 2013 and was an independent grocer previously). The store is of the type we more frequently see in the urban neighborhoods, although some of these do pop up around the suburbs too. Just to take a walk around the perimeter... The store is almost all produce, with a small grocery selection at the front and then some dairy on the back wall. And, of course, produce in the middle... Today's other post is a former A&P just to the east on 46, which we're see...

Extra Supermarket Owner: Alberto Mendez and/or Nick Gonzalez Opened:  2021 Cooperative:  Krasdale Location:  36-42 W Blackwell St, Dover, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 and March 2021 The main supermarket operating today in downtown Dover is the roughly 18,000 square foot Extra Supermarket, which was a Bravo for a very long time. It didn't change ownership, but for one reason or another in very early 2021 it was switched over to Extra owned by the same folks who own Maplewood , Lyons , and East Orange . My summer 2020 visit showed some signs of the impending switch... ...you know, like the Extra truck delivering in the back. By March 2021, the store had been switched over to Extra if only in part -- the Bravo signage remained on the outside, although the signage inside had been updated. The exterior signage has since been updated. Here's a look at the back entrance facing the parking lot in the back, which I don't believe I included in the original post of the Bravo. ...

Latino American Supermarket Owner: unknown Opened: unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  11 Essex St S, Dover, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 Our first stop in downtown Dover is the small Latino American Supermarket at the eastern end of town. This store is just diagonally across the street from the train station, and in the first block south of Blackwell Street, the main street through downtown Dover. Just east on Blackwell Street, to the east of downtown, is the former Food Depot we saw back in 2018 , which is now a gym. Heading in, we find a small but complete supermarket -- just like so many of these other independent urban stores which are just larger than a true bodega but still quite small. Dover's Latino American Supermarket seems to be in the range of approximately 2000 square feet. I don't remember if this store actually has shopping carts, since it's so small. I believe there are roughly 4 aisles. In the rear of the store we encounter a large butcher counter, whi...

Rockaway Farmers Market Owner: unknown Opened:  2013, 2016 under current ownership Cooperative:  none Location:  353 US-46, Rockaway, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 We return to the Rockaway Farmers Market on route 46 (just west of the ALDI ) after first seeing it during Farmers Market Week back in 2019. This time we're taking a more detailed look at the inside. I photographed the store when in the area over the summer of 2020, but I'm glad I did at that time. Jersey Digs reports that LIDL intends to take over the property and demolish the existing building for a new LIDL. As of the fall of 2021, the Rockaway Farmers Market was still going strong so it's unclear exactly what the timeline would be for that takeover. The majority of the store is dedicated to produce, but there's also a deli department in the front right corner of the sales floor. The store is shaped like an L, with the deli in the bottom right part and produce/grocery in the rest. Here we're looking o...

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...