The Independent Edition

Tashkent Supermarket Owner: Odiljon Tursunov Opening:  2024 Cooperative:  none Location:  378 6th Ave, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, NY Photographed:  January 29, 2024 It was March 2023. I was out in Brooklyn on the subway around Crown Heights and an older man walks onto my subway car, which wasn't that crowded. Turns out another older guy on the subway was an old friend of his and they get to talking. Naturally, they are not sitting anywhere near each other and are all but yelling across the subway car to each other in the thickest New York accents you can picture. As a bonus, they both seem to be just a little bit hard of hearing. They're talking about someone's birthday, I think, and then talk about going out to dinner for the party. The conversation then switches to food, so naturally I start eavesdropping. They eventually get to the subject of food shopping, and are swapping supermarket recommendations. One talks about getting vegetables at Western Beef, I thin...

NYC Fresh Market Owner:  Mark Goris Opened:  2010 Cooperative:  Krasdale Location:  1660 Madison Ave, East Harlem, Manhattan, NY Photographed:  January 2020 Today we have a store tour in the next block north of Sami Deli & Halal Market ! This NYC Fresh Market (which also has a location at 150 Myrtle Ave in Brooklyn and owns the Silver Star Meat Market at 3838 Nostrand Ave in Brooklyn) opened in 2010 in the ground floor of a mixed-use East Harlem development. While it's been under the supervision of the Krasdale cooperative, signs installed in late 2019 indicate that the store was to be converted to a CTown Fresh Market. (That's the banner over the sign that's fallen down slightly.) This upscale, fairly large supermarket is made up of two rooms. First, we enter to an island with hot food and cheese (pictured here), with deli/bakery/sushi to the left, produce to the right, and meats on the back of the island. The main supermarket part co...

Sami Deli & Halal Market Owner:  Sanzida Khanam Opened:  2019 Cooperative:  unknown Location:  1630 Madison Ave, East Harlem, Manhattan, NY Photographed:  January 2020 Today's snapshot is a relatively new deli-grocery store that also has Halal groceries just two blocks north of Associated . It looks like this space was previously a Dunkin' Donuts, but it also looks like Sami Deli & Halal Market kind of expanded the space.

Our next group is basically the northern half of Manhattan, which is much more like the outer boroughs. The areas are slightly less dense ( slightly ), slightly less affluent, and more Latino and African American. Supermarket-wise, we'll see some familiar names: Associated, CTown, Shop Fair, Fine Fare, Key Food, Bravo, and so on. Come back tomorrow for our first store tour on The Market Report !

Citarella Gourmet Market Owner:  Joe Gurrera Opened:  1983 (under current ownership) Cooperative:  none Location:  2135 Broadway, Upper West Side, Manhattan, NY Photographed:  April 2019 Contributor: Laura E. Our look today at the original Citarella, a seafood market that expanded into a gourmet market, is brought to us by contributor Laura E.! Okay, seafood, gourmet market, and... houseplants. Today, Citarella has eight grocery store locations and a few assorted liquor stores. I've actually visited one of their other locations, which we will see on the blog in a while. But although the store has expanded to gourmet groceries, and bakery, and so on, the centerpiece remains the seafood: I love this picture that really shows you how huge the seafood department is! (So much so, of course, that it became the graphic for this store group. Save the best for last, right?) That's about all for the southern half of Manhattan, we're contin...

Sunac Fancy Food Owner:  Hyun Moon Shin Opened:  2012 Cooperative:  none Location:  765 6th Ave, Chelsea, Manhattan, NY Photographed:  May 2019 Today's snapshot is a natural food store/oversized bodega with prepared foods, produce, a deli, and basic grocery and dairy items. It's part of a chain that also includes four other Sunac stores, a Sun Sweet Fresh Market , and two Dali Markets which are more in the direction of convenience stores. Check out the interior here ! This store is also directly across the street from yesterday's Fairway .

Jubilee Marketplace Owner:  Leo Y. Yoo Opened: 1999 Cooperative:  none Location:  99 John St, Financial District, Manhattan, NY Photographed:  March 2019 Contributor:  Will T. Our contributor Will brings us a look at the Jubilee Marketplace on John Street! There's another Jubilee on Riverside Dr, which I've been to and it's really nice. And this one looks pretty beautiful too. Jubilee is an upscale market leaning towards perishables but still a full supermarket. To my knowledge, it's not a member of any cooperative, though I do believe the Riverside location shares decor with some Foodtown stores.

Our next group of stores will take us the next week or so and will have us returning to Manhattan! I should note that we've  already seen many stores  in Manhattan, and the other thing that people who are familiar with New York City will notice: my "southern Manhattan" is more accurately the southern half, i.e. everything south of Harlem. We'll more specifically be covering stores in the Financial District,  Chelsea ,  Lenox Hill , and the Upper West Side. We start tomorrow right here on The Independent Edition!

Bleecker Farm Owner:  Kyong S Lee Opened:  1996 Cooperative:  none Location:  272 Bleecker St, Manhattan, NY Photographed:  August 2018 There are actually very few of these remaining in Manhattan, variously called greengrocers, Korean grocers, produce stores, and so on. But the Bleecker Farm holds on. It features grocery/dairy, flowers, produce, and a deli. This particular location is in the southern part of Greenwich Village.

Brooklyn Fare Owner:  Moe Issa Opened:  2016 Cooperative:  Key Food Stores Location:  666 Greenwich St, Manhattan, NY Photographed:  August 2018 A few blocks down from the D'Agostino we saw yesterday on The Market Report is this Key Food-affiliated store. Brooklyn Fare has three locations, one in Brooklyn and two in Manhattan. While it's no less expensive than the D'Agostino (and maybe more expensive), it's just a far superior store. The store is larger, for one, meaning its selection is better, but the quality is also undoubtedly better.

Murray Hill Market Owner:  unknown Opened:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  136 E 34th St, Manhattan, NY Photographed:  February 2018 This 24-hour grocery/deli is also in the immediate vicinity of the United Nations, but just south of it rather than the Gristedes north of it. It's located at the corner of 34th St and Lexington Ave and is one of the ubiquitous corner deli-groceries that dot all five boroughs of the city.

Terra Market Owner:  unknown Opened:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  533 9th Ave, Manhattan, NY Photographed:  August 2018 Highly observant readers will notice that, in fact, this store is only two doors down from the Big Apple Meat Market which we saw earlier today! This one appears to be smaller and produce focused, while Big Apple is meat, dairy, and frozen. (They do, however, sell produce, and both stores sell groceries.)

Big Apple Meat Market Owner:  Peter Castellana III / Cactus Holdings Opened:  1992, 2013 in current location Cooperative:  none Location:  529 9th Ave, Manhattan, NY Photographed:  August 2018 Owned by the same folks who own the Western Beef chain, the Big Apple Meat Market in the Garment District is the type of quirky small business that seems to be rapidly disappearing. The New York Times, in fact, did a feature on the store before it moved to its present location. I would definitely check out that article for a really interesting look into this business! Other note - we're doubling up today, so we'll be seeing another store today at noon here on The Independent Edition!

Ozzie's Fresh Market Owner:  Felipe Fernandez Opened:  1999 (as Associated Supermarkets) Cooperative:  Associated Supermarket Group Location:  592 Fort Washington Ave, Manhattan, NY Photographed:  November 2018 Contributor:  Steve M. Formerly branded Associated Supermarkets, this location in the northern end of Manhattan is now Ozzie's Fresh Market (note the Associated logo remaining on the right side of the storefront). The Associated was scheduled to be replaced by Walgreens, but after an enormous backlash , the property owners agreed to let Associated stay on the condition that they'd remodel the store. Contributor Steve M. brings us a nighttime look at this nicely illuminated store. There is a second Ozzie's (also a former Associated), which operates with Key Food's Food Universe Marketplace banner, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. I can't help but wonder whether this location will also be switched over to Food Universe soon...