The Independent Edition

Kenilworth Fresh Market Owner: unknown Opened:  2020 under current ownership Cooperative:  Krasdale Location:  488 Kenilworth Blvd, Kenilworth, NJ Photographed:  May 2020 and June 2021 We return to this small supermarket at the west end of downtown Kenilworth after first seeing it in February 2017 here . This building has held a supermarket for at least about 25 years, as it was an Associated Supermarket in the late 90s, then ExpresSupermarket until around 2012, and Kenilworth Fresh Market from 2012 to 2019 when the store closed. Above is the store in May 2020, available for lease. But at the end of 2020, the store was re-opened under new ownership with everything exactly as it previously was -- inside and outside, and the store was once again affiliated with Krasdale Foods (but this time it's officially a Shop Smart Food Market, and it runs the Shop Smart circular). You can see a few of the Shop Smart sale posters in the first picture, which is from this month, Jun...

Gold Valley Supermarket Owner:  unknown Opened:  2014 Cooperative:  none Location:  211 Morris Ave, Springfield, NJ Photographed:  March 2019 and December 2020 Today's store is a 23,000 square foot Asian supermarket, in fact, the only Asian supermarket in this part of the state. It was built as a Grand Union and converted to a Circus Foodtown in 2001, later becoming Food King a little under 10 years later. It later became an A Seabra Foods (now Seabra's Market), and in 2014 became Gold Valley. Although the decor inside has been modified to include Chinese characters and some more specific signage, the bones are left from Seabra (compare this store to Union ). After the initial single exterior shot above from March 2019, I returned in December of 2020 to see the interior and I was quite impressed. The store is 23,000 square feet, and it's about twice as deep as it is wide. The back 1/3 or so has a second floor, likely for offices. We enter to a spacious produce ...

The Meat House Owner: Scott Ireland Opened:  2013 Cooperative:  none Location:  321 Springfield Ave, Summit, NJ Photographed:  August 2019 and December 2020 The original Kings Food Market was located here on the eastern end of downtown Summit, with the new replacement store being located west of downtown, about a mile and a half west along Springfield Ave. Interestingly enough, that store was originally 5700 square feet with this one coming in at 5800 (now expanded to 6500). This one probably actually lasted a while after the new one opened, but later became The Luggage Center . In 2013, The Meat House opened in the space, a gourmet butcher-deli-grocery store-liquor store. It's quite a beautiful store. Interestingly enough, the chain has a rough history and today it appears that Summit is the only remaining location . Let's take a look inside the store. A small grocery selection takes up the front left corner of the store, with deli, butcher, and seafood service c...

Now here's where it gets fun! Having covered Bergen/Passaic, Essex, and Hudson Counties, we are moving towards the south along the eastern part of the state. My coverage of New Jersey is very north central-centric, meaning that Essex and Union counties are probably my beefiest groups. So, I've decided that as we move through the rest of the state, we'll be seeing things in smaller groups. We're beginning with the northern and central suburbs in the city, starting with the city of Summit in the northwestern corner of the county, then moving through the central areas in Springfield, Maplewood, Union, Kenilworth, Garwood, Westfield, and Clark. We're doing things a bit thematically, covering mainly the suburbs and avoiding Elizabeth to the east and Plainfield to the southwest -- for now. We have posts all over the place, but we'll start in Summit on The Market Report tomorrow! And for a fun bonus post, check out the remodel at the  Foodtown in Caldwell  today also!