The Independent Edition

Green Way Markets Owner: Robin Estevez Opened:  February 2021 Cooperative:  Allegiance Retail Services Location:  112 N Maple Ave, Ridgewood, NJ Photographed:  June 2022 We return to the Green Way Markets of Ridgewood, which just finished its renovation after opening in a former Kings in early 2021. I was frustrated to see basically no change at the time of my December 2021 visit , even questioning whether the renovation was happening at all. Little did I know that in the weeks immediately following my visit the renovation did, in fact, begin in earnest. And it wrapped up in, I believe, late May when they held their grand reopening. I was very impressed with how the store looked when I went back just a few weeks ago, although the renovation was a little limited in scope. Quite the first impression, though! Check out the floor plan in the January post linked above. You'll see that the produce department and the liquor store are now side-by-side, rather than one in fr...

Green Way Markets Owner:  Robin Estevez Opened:  February 2021 Cooperative:  Allegiance Retail Services Location:  112 N Maple Ave, Ridgewood, NJ Photographed:  December 2021 The 14,000 square foot Green Way Markets of Ridgewood was the first store sold in the Kings bankruptcy that was not part of ACME's purchase agreement of 19 locations. Of the 25, 19 are still in business under the Kings name but under ACME's ownership, 2 are now Green Way Markets (this one opened January 2021 and Maplewood opened October 2021), and 4 are still vacant. Green Way Markets is a brand of Allegiance Retail Services, the cooperative that supports Foodtown and other independent stores; this one is owned by Robin Estevez who owns two other Green Ways and a few Foodtowns, and Maplewood is owned by Adam Shapiro who apparently previously worked for Jack's Supermarkets, which owns four Foodtowns. We return almost a year (roughly 11 months) after the store's opening to confirm that the ...

Green Way Markets Owner: Robin Estevez Opened:  February 2021 Cooperative:  Allegiance Retail Services Location:  112 N Maple Ave, Ridgewood, NJ Photographed:  February 2021 When Kings Food Markets' parent company went bankrupt in late 2020, 19 of the 25 stores were purchased by ACME Markets. Five stores were closed entirely (Maplewood, Bernardsville, Warren, Hoboken South, and Gillette), and one store was briefly closed but purchased by Estevez Markets, an Allegiance member who owns several Foodtown stores, including the ones we saw in Hastings-on-Hudson and Yonkers . That's this one in Ridgewood, and you can see my pre-closing tour here . Instead of converting the store to the more mainstream Foodtown banner, like Old Tappan , Estevez used the higher-end Green Way Markets banner first introduced in Cross River, NY , in 2019. Green Way is also the name of the natural and organic storebrand purchased by Allegiance from A&P. Estevez has only one other New Jersey...