Best Market was a family-owned, regional supermarket chain with 30 stores in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. The company was headquartered in

Bethpage, New York Bethpage (formerly known as Central Park) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 16,429 at the 2010 United States Cen ...

, and had been owned by the Raitses family since the company's first store opened in

Lake Ronkonkoma, New York Lake Ronkonkoma is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Suffolk County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 20,155 at the 2010 census. Lake Ronkonkoma is mainly located in the Town of Brookhaven, but has ...

, in 1994."New Supermarket Chain Comes to CT" Fox CT
Retrieved November 4, 2013"About Best Yet Market," Best Yet Market Website
, Retrieved October 18, 2013. Best Market focused on fresh foods, especially produce, meat, seafood, deli and bakery, but also sold traditional grocery store items."Best Market Opens For Business in Holmdel Commons," Holmdel-Hazlet Patch
Retrieved October 27, 2013. Its stores typically have smaller overall footprints than competitors,"Holmdel Officials Join Best Market in Welcoming Beer and Wine Dept.," Holmdel-Hazlet Patch
Retrieved October 27, 2013."Best Yet to Open in Former Waldbaums," Newsday
Retrieved October 18, 2013. and its offerings also include in-house traditional

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

, a juice bar, sushi department and large selections of craft beer in many stores."Long Island Supermarket Chain Wins Auction Of Northwood Plaza In Newington," Hartford Courant
Retrieved October 19, 2013.

History

Early Years, Produce Warehouse

Best Market was a private, family-owned company. The business, which was founded as a small fruit and vegetable stand by the father of the current owners,
Retrieved February 20, 2016 expanded into a storefront produce store and, later, into the first Produce Warehouse in 1994."'Best Market' Hiring 70 Workers for New Holmdel Store," Holmdel-Hazlet Patch
Retrieved October 27, 2013. Continuing its growth, the company opened up several more Produce Warehouse stores, focusing exclusively on New York and expanding from the outer boroughs of New York City into the suburbs of Long Island. It changed its name to Best Yet Market in 2002. In 2005, Best Yet had attempted a grocery delivery service in Manhattan that was ultimately unsuccessful. At the time, it competed with

FreshDirect FreshDirect is an American online grocery company and among the first enterprises to sell and deliver perishable foods to consumers without maintaining a retail operation. Established in New York City, the company serves the New York metropolita ...

and

Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market IP, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, is an upscale American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. A US ...

, though Best Yet limited its offerings to the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

. Though the delivery service was short-lived, Best Yet would begin offering grocery delivery again in parts of Harlem beginning in 2010. Best Yet had opened a new flagship store in

Harlem, New York Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

, in 2010, bringing the chain to Manhattan for the first time in the company's history and rectifying a shortage in fresh food offerings in the area, according to a

New York City Department of City Planning The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...

survey. The Harlem store, which was funded in part with a million-dollar loan from the Upper Manhattan Development Zone, offers not only fresh produce, but also fresh meat and seafood departments, craft beer, and gourmet grocery products. The 2011 opening of a store in

East Patchogue, New York East Patchogue (, ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 22,469 at the 2010 census. The CDP is a proximate representati ...

earned the chain praise from East Patchogue city officials for bringing a market featuring fresh produce to what had been designated a

food desert Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ing ...

by New York state officials."E. Patchogue Food Desert Gets Market," Newsday
Retrieved October 20, 2013.

Best Market

Best Yet Market began the process of changing the name of its stores from Best Yet Market to Best Market in 2012."Best Yet Launching New Banner," Supermarket News
Retrieved October 19, 2013. The company's first store outside New York, in

Holmdel, New Jersey Holmdel Township (usually shortened to Holmdel) is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The township is centrally located in the Raritan Valley region, being within the regional and cultural influence of the Raritan Baysh ...

, opened in early 2012 as Best Market. Notably, the Holmdel Best Market dedicated 25% of its floor space to produce, and in the immediate aftermath of

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

, the store, powered by an emergency generator, opened to customers and donated most of its undamaged food to local residents impacted by the storm.

Expansion

In 2013, the company expanded into a third state, opening a Best Market location in

Newington, Connecticut Newington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. Located south of downtown Hartford, Newington is an older, mainly residential suburb located in Greater Hartford. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,536. The Connecticu ...

. The Newington location offers traditional

from an in-house smoker, expanding on a program first offered in its Harlem store. The Newington Best Market also includes an

electric car An electric car, battery electric car, or all-electric car is an automobile that is propelled by one or more electric motors, using only energy stored in batteries. Compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, electric cars are quie ...

charging station as part of an alliance with Connecticut Electric Car."Electric Car Installs First Smart Charging Station At New Market," ''Hartford Courant''
Retrieved November 23, 2013 The same year, the company's West Babylon location won the "Best Retro Design" award from ''Progressive Grocer'' in that magazine's annual Store Design Contest."Brilliant Blueprints: Progressive Grocer Store Design Contest 2013," ''Progressive Grocer''
Retrieved October 20, 2013 Beginning in 2015, Best Market began purchasing former A&P locations in New York, including multiple

Waldbaum's Waldbaum's was a supermarket chain with stores in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx; and in Nassau, Suffolk counties and Upstate New York. The chain also for a time operated stores in New Jersey, Connect ...

and

Pathmark Pathmark is a supermarket brand owned by Allegiance Retail Services, a retailers’ cooperative based in Iselin, New Jersey, USA. Pathmark currently has one location in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, which it has operated since 2019. From 1 ...

stores, as well as one former Food Emporium in

Tribeca Tribeca (), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Stre ...

. These locations were all opened under its new Best Market banner, increasing the total number of the company's stores from 19 to 26. The company then opened four more stores in 2016, bringing its total number of stores to 30 and the Best Yet Market name was fully phased out by the end of that year. In August 2016, Best Market and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced it would move its headquarters from Bethpage to

Bay Shore, Long Island Bay Shore is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Islip, New York, United States. It is situated on the South Shore of Long Island, adjoining the Great South Bay. The population of the CDP was 29,244 at the time of the 2020 ...

, taking over a former

Entenmann's Entenmann's is an American company that manufactures baked goods and delivers them throughout the United States to supermarkets and other retailers for sale to the public. The company offers dessert cakes, donuts, cookies, cup cakes, loaf cakes, ...

factory that closed in 2014. The new headquarters would function as the cornerstone of a proposed regional food hub and incorporate food production facilities, distribution for the chain's stores, and a food incubator to support emerging food entrepreneurs. The move was funded in part by the

Empire State Development Corporation Empire State Development (ESD) is the umbrella organization for New York's two principal economic development public-benefit corporations, the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the New York Job Development Authority (JDA). T ...

, which offered a $1 million tax credit in exchange for a promise to create 125 new jobs at the facility and invest approximately $6 million in renovating the building.

Buy Out & acquisition

Lidl Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...

, a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

based grocery chain, has bought out and acquired all of the Best Markets stores statewide except the Newington location. The Newington location was still owned by the Best Market ownership and renamed Local Market. On September 21, 2020, Local Market went out of business.

Locations

According to its website, Best Market has operated 30 locations in New York, and New Jersey.

Sustainability

Best Market has instituted multiple green initiatives at its stores and Bethpage headquarters. It operates an all-hybrid vehicle fleet, including several electric vehicles, and offers car charging stations at some stores. Several store locations are partially powered by solar energy, including its

Massapequa Massapequa (, ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Massapequa area. The po ...

store, which relies almost exclusively on solar panels installed on the store's rooftop for its electricity."Best Yet Market Inc Solar Project," National Grid Energy Management
, Retrieved March 9, 2016.

References

External links

Official website
{{Supermarkets of the United States Defunct supermarkets of the United States American companies established in 1994 Retail companies established in 1994 Companies based in Nassau County, New York 1994 establishments in New York (state) American companies disestablished in 2021 Retail companies disestablished in 2021