The Independent Edition

Trade Fair Supermarket Owner: Farid "Frank" Jaber Opened:  1994 Cooperative:  Retail Grocers Group Location:  130-10 Metropolitan Ave, Richmond Hill, NY Photographed:  December 2019 Trade Fair is a small New York City chain with eight locations in Queens. Many of their stores are probably former chain stores, but all of them have been owned by Trade Fair for a long time. All of their stores are open 24/7, and most of them are located in western Queens near Astoria. This is the farthest-east location. I visited this store (and the others in Jamaica that we'll be seeing) on an absolutely frigid day in December. It barely got into the 20s all day, and by the time night fell, it was very unpleasant. It sure was nice to be in the heated car, that's for sure. This store has been expanded from its original 10,000 square feet to a significantly larger 18,000 square feet, though the actual construction work feels haphazard and temporary. You can see in ...

What is referred to as "Jamaica" takes up most of eastern Queens, so we're going to begin with the northern section, encompassing Richmond Hill, Briarwood, downtown Jamaica, and Jamaica Estates. This runs from 130th St to 178th St east-to-west, and Grand Central Parkway at the north to Jamaica Avenue at the south. The coverage we're going to see over the next few days is by no means exhaustive -- the stores I've photographed represent only a fraction of the supermarkets in this densely populated, urban neighborhood. But we will be seeing a selection of nine supermarkets, mostly along Hillside Avenue, the main thoroughfare through Jamaica. Our first post will be right here tomorrow!