The Independent Edition

Aron's Kissena Farms Owner:  Aron Hirtz Opened:  2009 Cooperative:  Allegiance Location:  75-15 Kissena Blvd, Bayside, NY Photographed:  July 2018 When I say Aron's is next door to yesterday's Key Food , I mean next door . The properties border each other, and there is a whopping 200 feet from the door of Aron's to the door of Key Food. I passed through the area on a Saturday, so Aron's (a Kosher grocery store) was closed for the Sabbath. Aron's replaced in 2009 an independent store called only Kissena Farms, which does not appear to have been a Kosher store. We've seen Aron's newer location in New Jersey over on The Market Report. While Key Food tends to draw from Latino and Caribbean populations to the northeast, offering far more (and more aggressively priced) produce and seafood, at Aron's the focus is on the kosher foods. There's probably not much competition as the two stores serve very different target markets. Not th...

Bayside Milk Farm Owner:  Michael Perulli Opened:  1976 Cooperative:  Krasdale Location:  35-15 Bell Blvd, Bayside, NY Photographed:  December 2019 Okay, so I mentioned yesterday at the Food Universe in Bayside that some stores are kinda boring and some are real standouts. This store solidly fits in the latter category! I added this one to my latest trip through New York City mostly out of curiosity and I was not disappointed. You don't come to this 4900 square foot store for a spacious big box experience. You come for top-notch produce, meat, bakery, and mostly... deli. Stores like this defy categorization - they're by no means gourmet markets but have excellent perishables. They are only their own category. Gorgeous produce. You feel like you're shopping in a farmstand. The displays are all perfect, too. The store was actually far busier than it appears in these pictures. Cheese and deli, their specialty... Sorry Foo...

New Age Fresh Market Owner:  unknown Opened:  2014 Cooperative:  none Location:  160-06 Northern Blvd, Flushing, NY Photographed:  July 2018 This former theater building was converted sometime around 2008 to an independent Chinese supermarket, L&L Supermarket, which was closed by about 2012. By 2014, it was up and running as the current tenant, New Age Fresh Market. The sprawling 20,000 square foot, two-floor building includes a food court on the second floor (not open at the time of my visit) and an independent bakery on the first floor. The checkouts run along the front wall, with seafood, meat, and dairy on the left side wall, packaged meat in the back, and frozen on the right wall. Produce is in the front center with grocery aisles behind it. A sharp paint scheme and signage in many languages brighten up the outside of this hulking building, which feels rather out of place along Northern Blvd. Seafood, including live fish, ...

Gold City Supermarket Owner:  Tisno Hasam Opened:  2003 Cooperative:  none Location:  46-31 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY Photographed:  July 2018 Here we see something rather unusual. Gold City is a primarily Chinese supermarket reflecting the predominant population in this section of Flushing. However, owner Tisno Hasam is Indonesian. This is the only Chinese-focused supermarket I can think of (though I am sure there are some) that is not owned by a Chinese-American owner. This building is a modified A&P centennial store built sometime in the early 1960s. Gold City has opened up the interior to make it feel much larger than its somewhat measly 15,000 square feet. It's also of note that the aisles run parallel to the front of the store now.

Food Plus Supermarket Owner:  Carlos Castillo, Jr. Opened:  1996 Cooperative:  Krasdale Location:  44-24 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY Photographed:  July 2018 Today we're looking inside one of the very few non-Asian supermarkets in Flushing. Originally a Waldbaum's and later a CTown, this Krasdale-affiliated store remains popular because there are few other choices for standard American-style groceries and Latin and Caribbean products in Flushing. From this video (I have no idea what's going on in it, by the way), we can see that the interior has been lightly renovated, with several areas of new fixtures, new flooring, and a new paint scheme on the walls which I must say looks great with this decor. So let's go in for our own look inside as of summer 2018. Substantial produce department in the first two aisles. The produce runs along the front wall of the store, with deli at the end of the first aisle and meats along the side wall oppos...