The Independent Edition

Super Exito Supermarket Owner: Jay Patel Opened:  2007 Cooperative:  Krasdale Foods Location:  218 Dayton Ave, Clifton, NJ Photographed:  January 5, 2023 After many years we're returning to the Super Exito Supermarket at Botany Village in Clifton, NJ! We saw the store back in 2018 looking cramped, cluttered, random, and chock-full of personality. It's been fairly extensively renovated, and is feeling much more spacious but has also clearly lost a lot of personality (which I might gripe about, but who cares) but -- it felt like -- a lot of selection. The outside hasn't changed at all, which is odd since the logo seen here on this storefront is not the latest Exito logo. I guess it doesn't matter all that much, though, since the store uses the CTown circular and in fact it doesn't say Exito anywhere on the circular -- or on the inside of the store, for that matter. Some helpful commenters on my original post clarified the history of the store, most importantly that i...

Twin City Supermarket Owner: Alfonso & Myrna Perez Opened:  early 2000s Cooperative:  Retail Grocers Group Location:  600 Park Ave, Plainfield, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 It's time for our first store in downtown Plainfield! Admittedly, Twin City is a bit outside of the central downtown area, six blocks southeast of Front Street which is the main street in downtown Plainfield. But it's just up the street from yesterday's ALDI . The store has an interesting history, being built in the 60s as a Finast and then becoming an A&P by the late 70s, then a Met Foodmarket in the late 90s into the early 2000s. Thanks to JoshAustin610 (and the Internet Archive) for the history! And yes, there is an A&P remnant on the property... Easy to identify this as an A&P sign! It's looking pretty faded nowadays, it might be time for Twin City to replace it. And sorry for the low-quality picture taken from across the parking lot; if it weren't 95+ degrees the day I visit...

H&Y Marketplace Owner:  unknown Opened:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  1 Remsen Pl, Ridgefield, NJ Photographed:  June 2020 One of the many large Korean supermarkets in this part of Bergen County, this 26,000 square foot store appears to be in a former Met Foodmarket (though I'm not sure on that). I'd estimate H&Y Marketplace opened around 2005, and though it's entirely invisible from the street, it seems to be doing well. Ah yes, Health and Youth. This is clearly the store for me. Most of the carts appear to be secondhand here (except maybe the green one?). The blue ones could be from Pathmark or ShopRite, but I don't know of anyone around here who used or uses red Renaissance carts. Heading in, the store is beautiful! We enter to a grand aisle with produce in the front, prepared foods towards the back, and seafood on the right side wall. Bakery and sushi are at the front of the grand aisle. I had the bad luck...

Fruit Tree Farm Owner:  Chang Gyu Choi Opened:  2001 as Met Foodmarkets, ca. 2016 as Fruit Tree Farm Cooperative:  Retail Grocers Group (this location only) Location:  1197 Grand Ave, Baldwin, NY Photographed:  December 2018 It seems there's been a lot of changes over time in quite a few of these independent supermarkets, as we saw an Associated-turned-Key Food , an Associated-turned-Foodtown , a Key Food-turned-CTown , and here, a Met Foods-turned-Associated-turned-Fruit Tree Farm. (It's important to note that Key Food and Krasdale are almost always the winners, and Associated and affiliates almost always the losers.) While this Fruit Tree Farm is affiliated with Retail Grocers Group and sells Parade products, the other location in Copiague is affiliated with Associated Supermarket Group and sells Avenue A products. While I don't know what this store was originally, it was definitely a supermarket. I love the tower! Alright, that's one way ...