The Independent Edition

HL Supermarket Owner: John Lin Opened:  October 2022 Cooperative:  none Location:  2380 Hylan Blvd, New Dorp, Staten Island, NY Photographed:  January 13, 2023 While Asian Food Markets was working on building its new store in the northwestern corner of Staten Island, five miles southeast near the eastern coast of the island, it was announced that a Brooklyn-based Chinese supermarket would be taking over a 30,000 square foot vacant former banquet hall . After extensive renovation, HL Supermarket opened their New Dorp store in November 2022. All the grandeur of the Excelsior Grand may have been removed from the front wall, but the wall now displays murals of food items. A slightly strange layout, but it ends up working fine -- the main parking lot and entrance are in the rear of the store. But driving down busy Hylan Boulevard, you can't miss this massive signage. And as we head to the back, as usual, the rear entrance is less exciting than the front. For ease of navi...

Asian Food Markets Owner: Jon Chen Opened:  2022 Cooperative:  none Location:  2343 Forest Ave, Mariners Harbor, Staten Island, NY Photographed:  January 13, 2023 We'll be seeing two new Asian supermarkets on Staten Island today, which by the way are also the only two Asian supermarkets on the island. This is the smaller of the two, a 12,000 square foot store in a newly-built strip mall that opened in 2022. Asian Food Markets, whose stores we've seen in New Jersey, moved from an older but much larger 30,000 square foot store in a remote strip mall at 1801 South Avenue . That store actually closed way back in 2018 , so there was quite a gap between its closure and this store's opening. While the store is beautiful and has the same decor package as Plainsboro, we can feel how small it is. I was not expecting it to be this small, especially since the last one I visited was Plainsboro, and was shocked that this was all there was to it. Hot food is on the left side, wit...

Beyar's Market Owner:  Tom Beyar Opened:  2003 Cooperative:  none Location:  2241 Victory Blvd, Westerleigh, Staten Island, NY Photographed:  March 2020 This 3400 square foot store is located just to the west on Victory Blvd from the Met Foods and former Safeway that we've seen in the past few days. It's no bigger than most convenience stores in other parts of the country but manages to pack in produce, beer, groceries, dairy, frozen, a butcher, a deli, and a bakery. You enter and make a sharp right to continue along the front wall of the store, which has produce and beer. Grocery aisles take up the right half of the store, running parallel to the front wall. Dairy runs along the right side of the store, with frozen on the right half of the back wall, followed by deli and bakery. Butcher is on the left wall of the store with checkouts on the front wall. Beyar's sells Essential Everyday storebrand products from Supervalu. The aisl...

Olive Tree Marketplace Owner:  David Shehadeh Opened:  2014 Cooperative:  Retail Grocers Group Location:  1490 Clove Road, Sunnyside, Staten Island, NY Photographed:  March 2020 In 2014, David Shehadeh (of the same family that runs the two Shop Fairs at 4121 and 2720 Church Avenue) opened this Olive Tree Marketplace in a former Mignosi's Supermarket on Staten Island. The Olive Tree banner, originally affiliated with Key Food but now affiliated with Retail Grocers Group's Shop Fair group, has had little success with a location in New Jersey from 2016 to 2018 (more extensive coverage of that location is coming soon) and a location in Brooklyn, which we covered here , from 2018 to, uh, later in 2018. This location has gone through some tough times too, with shelves periodically emptying and then being restocked. At the time of my visit, some parts were a little sparse, but the store had advertised being "under new management," a trick that t...