Grocery Archaeology

Original Tenant:  unknown Address:  4602 Ave D, East Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  unknown Photographed:  May 2019 A whole lotta unknowns up in that intro section! And that's because I glanced at this building thinking it was a supermarket. It probably wasn't. This building looks like a former supermarket, but prior to the Dollar General renovation, it really didn't look anything like a grocery store. Oh well. Wishful thinking, I suppose.

Original Tenant:  Possibly Food Fair, Waldbaum's, or something else with a tower Address:  2200 Clarendon Rd, Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:   Key Food Supermarkets (??-2013), King Food Market (2013-2014) Photographed:  May 2019 As you can see if you click on the name King Food Market, Harmony Funeral Home did very little to this building when they moved in in 2015. It still has a distinctive supermarket look to it. This building is located on Clarendon Road in the first block east of Flatbush Avenue, i.e., just about 140 yards from JK Flatbush Farm . As tempting as it is to say that a 10,000 square foot is simply too large to survive in this area where space is at a premium, there's also a 10,000 square foot Food Universe Marketplace just about another 140 yards south of this store. We'll be seeing that in a couple days, but (and we're skipping this store, which I think is fine with everyone)...

Original Tenant:  unknown Address:  781 Flatbush Ave, Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  2S Mart (?? - 2019) Photographed:  May 2019 Unfortunately this one didn't make it. Although there are many produce markets that do very well in this neighborhood, this one closed soon before I visited, which is a shame. It's directly across the street from the Key Food we saw yesterday. So far, no one new has moved into the spot, although it is a great location.

Alright, we've finished up Bushwick and are now heading to the southwestern portion of Brooklyn to see the area broadly referred to as Flatbush! Flatbush is a fascinating combination of landscapes, architectural styles, cultures, and of course, supermarkets. It is, of course, a massive oversimplification to separate this group of stores into just two neighborhoods, but in the broadest sense, Prospect Lefferts Gardens is the northern section of our tour and Flatbush is the southern section. Our route will take approximately the shape of Texas (I can't think of any other way to describe it), starting in the northern arm with Prospect Lefferts Gardens and stores along Flatbush Avenue, the main thoroughfare through much of southern Brooklyn. We turn west in the northern part of Flatbush to follow Church Avenue to the border of Kensington before returning east along Cortelyou Road in Prospect Park South. At Clarendon Road, we join back up with Flatbush Avenue to continue south in ...