The Independent Edition

Farmboy Country Market Owner: Jae Woo "Willie" Park Opened:  2001 Cooperative:  Key Food Location:  127-20 Rockaway Blvd, South Ozone Park, Queens, NY Photographed:  December 2018 Okay, so not a great first impression. But it gets better. This 13,000 square foot store opened in 2001 in what was probably some older chain supermarket and has operated as Farmboy Country Market since. Up until just before my visit, the store was a member of the White Rose (Met/Pioneer) cooperative and later General Trading (Fine Fare), then switched to Key Food in December 2018. This location was joined by a second Farmboy Country Market, later switched to the first Key Food-run Superfresh store, in Paterson, NJ . (It's possible that location has been sold, as it's no longer Farmboy branded.) I inadvertently visited the store while it was still under construction for a renovation completed in early 2019. The storefront is looking much better nowadays. The logo isn...

Food World Supermarket Owner:  Harold Lee Opened:  2000 Cooperative:  Key Food Location:  119-14 Sutphin Blvd, Queens, NY Photographed:  December 2018 This 25,000 square foot store was built as a Big R Food Warehouse, as were the Food Bazaar locations on Manhattan Ave and Wyckoff Ave in Brooklyn (along with others we haven't covered). While Food Bazaar bought several Big R locations, Harold Lee's company Food Jungle Inc. bought this location in 2000. The chain has expanded with additional locations in Jamaica (north), Valley Stream , and Brooklyn , NY; and Bloomfield , Belleville, Roselle , Linden , and soon Hopelawn and Long Branch, NJ. A short-lived location in Garden City Park, NY has closed. Although Food World is no longer the discount store environment of Big R, it does have a value warehouse feeling to it. Produce and seafood make up the first aisle, with meats on the back wall and cold cuts in the first aisle. As usual, frozen food...

Farmbria Food Center Owner:  Yun Il An Opened:  1984 Cooperative:  Krasdale Location:  217-20 Linden Blvd, Cambria Heights, Queens, NY Photographed:  December 2018 This sprawling (for Queens), 27,000 square foot grocery store is the only major supermarket in Cambria Heights. Originally built in the late 1960s as a Supermarkets General-owned ShopRite, it was converted to Pathmark in 1968. By approximately 1980, Pathmark had closed and was replaced by a store called something like Busy Bee Supermarket (I don't believe that's actually its name, but it's similar). It was affiliated with CTown Supermarkets and was the only African American-owned supermarket in New York City when it opened. By 1984, the property was taken over by An & Brothers, Inc., which runs under the banner Farmbria Food Center. Though the store is owned by Yun Il An, I do not believe there is any relation to the Food Bazaar founder Hwee Il An. Today, the store is a bust...

Our next stop is here in southern Jamaica! Much of eastern Queens is referred to colloquially as Jamaica, so to be more clear, we'll be hitting stores in Cambria Heights, Saint Albans, South Jamaica, and South Ozone Park. These primarily residential neighborhoods tend to be lower-income and predominantly African American and Latino. We'll see six stores in this region before continuing west! Check back tomorrow right here for our first store!

Kawran Bazar Supermarket Owner:  unknown Opened:  2005 Cooperative:  none Location:  87-54 168th Pl, Jamaica, NY Photographed:  December 2019 For the last of our halal/southern Asian supermarkets along Hillside Ave in Jamaica (also see Mannan and Premium ), we'll be taking a look at this corner supermarket called Kawran Bazar. While Mannan advertised Bangladeshi food, this one advertises Bengali food. Now don't feel bad if you're  a little shaky on what exactly each of those is; I had to look it up while preparing this post. While Bangladesh is a country in south Asia, the term Bengali refers to an ethnic group that lives primarily in Bangladesh and India. There is a second Kawran Bazar farther west on Hillside Ave that I did not photograph. Up next we're back over to The Market Report for two big name NYC stores, CTown and Ideal Food Basket!

Premium Supermarket Owner: Mohammed Azam Opened:  2014 Cooperative:  Krasdale Location:  168-07 Hillside Ave, Jamaica, NY Photographed:  December 2019 This Krasdale affiliate is also a halal and Southern Asian store, like Mannan that we saw yesterday. Opened in 2014, it's a rather small 5100 square feet, though that's probably larger than Mannan. Like Mannan, though, this store is also open 24 hours.