The Independent Edition

Farmboy Country Market Owner: Jae Woo "Willie" Park Opened:  2001 Cooperative:  Key Food Location:  127-20 Rockaway Blvd, South Ozone Park, Queens, NY Photographed:  December 2018 Okay, so not a great first impression. But it gets better. This 13,000 square foot store opened in 2001 in what was probably some older chain supermarket and has operated as Farmboy Country Market since. Up until just before my visit, the store was a member of the White Rose (Met/Pioneer) cooperative and later General Trading (Fine Fare), then switched to Key Food in December 2018. This location was joined by a second Farmboy Country Market, later switched to the first Key Food-run Superfresh store, in Paterson, NJ . (It's possible that location has been sold, as it's no longer Farmboy branded.) I inadvertently visited the store while it was still under construction for a renovation completed in early 2019. The storefront is looking much better nowadays. The logo isn...

Food World Supermarket Owner:  Harold Lee Opened:  2000 Cooperative:  Key Food Location:  119-14 Sutphin Blvd, Queens, NY Photographed:  December 2018 This 25,000 square foot store was built as a Big R Food Warehouse, as were the Food Bazaar locations on Manhattan Ave and Wyckoff Ave in Brooklyn (along with others we haven't covered). While Food Bazaar bought several Big R locations, Harold Lee's company Food Jungle Inc. bought this location in 2000. The chain has expanded with additional locations in Jamaica (north), Valley Stream , and Brooklyn , NY; and Bloomfield , Belleville, Roselle , Linden , and soon Hopelawn and Long Branch, NJ. A short-lived location in Garden City Park, NY has closed. Although Food World is no longer the discount store environment of Big R, it does have a value warehouse feeling to it. Produce and seafood make up the first aisle, with meats on the back wall and cold cuts in the first aisle. As usual, frozen food...

Our next stop is here in southern Jamaica! Much of eastern Queens is referred to colloquially as Jamaica, so to be more clear, we'll be hitting stores in Cambria Heights, Saint Albans, South Jamaica, and South Ozone Park. These primarily residential neighborhoods tend to be lower-income and predominantly African American and Latino. We'll see six stores in this region before continuing west! Check back tomorrow right here for our first store!