The Independent Edition

Kawran Bazar Supermarket Owner:  unknown Opened:  2005 Cooperative:  none Location:  87-54 168th Pl, Jamaica, NY Photographed:  December 2019 For the last of our halal/southern Asian supermarkets along Hillside Ave in Jamaica (also see Mannan and Premium ), we'll be taking a look at this corner supermarket called Kawran Bazar. While Mannan advertised Bangladeshi food, this one advertises Bengali food. Now don't feel bad if you're  a little shaky on what exactly each of those is; I had to look it up while preparing this post. While Bangladesh is a country in south Asia, the term Bengali refers to an ethnic group that lives primarily in Bangladesh and India. There is a second Kawran Bazar farther west on Hillside Ave that I did not photograph. Up next we're back over to The Market Report for two big name NYC stores, CTown and Ideal Food Basket!

Premium Supermarket Owner: Mohammed Azam Opened:  2014 Cooperative:  Krasdale Location:  168-07 Hillside Ave, Jamaica, NY Photographed:  December 2019 This Krasdale affiliate is also a halal and Southern Asian store, like Mannan that we saw yesterday. Opened in 2014, it's a rather small 5100 square feet, though that's probably larger than Mannan. Like Mannan, though, this store is also open 24 hours.

Mannan Supermarket Owner:  unknown Opened:  2005 Cooperative:  none Location:  166-11 Hillside Ave, Jamaica, NY Photographed:  December 2019 This 24-hour halal grocery store caters to the large Middle Eastern and southern Asian population in northwestern Jamaica. Mannan is now a small chain, but I believe this was the original location. I love the fact that the new sign was simply placed in front of the old one on the storefront. We have two more similar stores as we continue east along Hillside Ave before returning to some familiar brands.

4 Star Vegetable & Food Owner:  Amin Ali Opened:  2009 Cooperative:  Krasdale Location:  87-78 Sutphin Blvd, Jamaica, NY Photographed:  December 2019 We're moving just south of Hillside Ave, the main drag east-west through Jamaica, to this small greengrocer on Sutphin Blvd in the first block south of Hillside. We'll come back to Sutphin when we hit Jamaica South in a few weeks, but for right now we're heading east on Hillside through Jamaica and then towards Long Island!

Trade Fair Supermarket Owner: Farid "Frank" Jaber Opened:  1994 Cooperative:  Retail Grocers Group Location:  130-10 Metropolitan Ave, Richmond Hill, NY Photographed:  December 2019 Trade Fair is a small New York City chain with eight locations in Queens. Many of their stores are probably former chain stores, but all of them have been owned by Trade Fair for a long time. All of their stores are open 24/7, and most of them are located in western Queens near Astoria. This is the farthest-east location. I visited this store (and the others in Jamaica that we'll be seeing) on an absolutely frigid day in December. It barely got into the 20s all day, and by the time night fell, it was very unpleasant. It sure was nice to be in the heated car, that's for sure. This store has been expanded from its original 10,000 square feet to a significantly larger 18,000 square feet, though the actual construction work feels haphazard and temporary. You can see in ...

What is referred to as "Jamaica" takes up most of eastern Queens, so we're going to begin with the northern section, encompassing Richmond Hill, Briarwood, downtown Jamaica, and Jamaica Estates. This runs from 130th St to 178th St east-to-west, and Grand Central Parkway at the north to Jamaica Avenue at the south. The coverage we're going to see over the next few days is by no means exhaustive -- the stores I've photographed represent only a fraction of the supermarkets in this densely populated, urban neighborhood. But we will be seeing a selection of nine supermarkets, mostly along Hillside Avenue, the main thoroughfare through Jamaica. Our first post will be right here tomorrow!