C-Town Supermarket

C-​town is now closed, and in its place is Key Food.

Sometimes we all have to do things we don’t want to do. Venturing into C-​Town may very well be one of these things. You will save a ton of cash shopping here, but don’t expect to find the aisles to be very clean, the pickings to be more than slim, or the cashier to speak very much friendly English with you (a clipped Hello, Thank You are more than ample here). You won’t get looks necessarily, and its really not scary inside, but you get a sense that you’ve stepped into another world in which you must respect the fact that food stamps are a means to an end with a large part of the population of Jersey City. Treat C-​Town with a little reverance, figure out where the stuff is you need (TP, corn-​syrup-​based-​anything), and all will go well.
If you’re watching your waistline, C-​Town actually has a lot to choose from as far as fat free jello, or weight watchers dairy stuff. Produce that’s seen better days can be found for half price sometimes, and the last aisle has Goya like you’ve never seen.
Just know that when you break out your reusable bags at the register, the staff will be totally confused and you will feel majorly out of place.
Previous reference to David Lynch by Luca C. Spot on!

JC residents know that at C-​Town, the «C» is for savings.
JC residents also know that the produce you buy here will probably be inedible in two days or less and dents in cans are as commonplace as the menagerie of religious candles right next to the motor oil in aisle 3.
All this being said, if you need toilet paper and you’re not going to hoof it to a bodega or Duane Reade, you’re probably stopping by C-​Town. Keep your sunglasses on and try to ignore the fact it feels like a David Lynch movie as you weave through aisles of nonsensical merchandise, such as shark oil by the bottle and rose water that has assumed the same spot on the shelf for the last decade.
The cashiers are friendly, but few. The aisles are narrow, but stocked. You’ll probably find what you’re looking for at a discount, it just may require a second set of eyes as there is no rhyme or reason as to how the store is laid out.

I’ve lived in JC for a little over 20 years. This was before they built the Shoprite Plaza. This was my go-​to grocery store when I didn’t want to walk to Waldbaum’s (now A&P).
It was never very good. I moved here from the Bronx. The C-​town in my old neighborhood was way better than this one.
It’s overpriced but you can find Indian and organic food (next to the produce aisle). You are still better off buying those items on Newark Avenue.
Over priced and dirty. Only good if you need toilet paper or a pre-​packaged item.

There are parts of C-​town I don’t go to because… the smell.
Cat food here is cheap and I’ve been ok with eggs. H&H, and milk so far, you know bodega essentials. You should come here with an idea of a bodega, or as Dave Chappelle has put it, «These places always have
incredibly old products.»
NEVER ever for frozen, «fresh» veggies/​fruits, or meat. It’s a gamble — I warned ya!

I go to this C Town as a last resort. It is not much closer to my apartment than Shop Rite (which is my second choice to Fresh Direct). I’ll even go to the little supermarket on Manila/​Grove or Duane Reade before C Town.
This is the worst C Town of all the C Towns I have been to. It stinks (literally), the workers are weird, their produce is meh, and the store is set up really odd. The way the shelves are stocked just bothers me. And I find it odd that for a lot of items they only carry one brand so you don’t get to make any decision on your own. Odd.

OH dear me why do you have to smell like cat pee?
I will never buy produce, or meat from this place but may buy some cool whip or pudding for a pie I want to make and need quick easy access groceries.
This place sucks though — clean it up and make it nice so I can shop here. ALSO, SHOVEL THE SIDEWALK WHEN IT SNOWS. This is a community damn it.

Sometimes living in Jersey City reminds me of living in Paris.
No seriously! You know how in Paris, you have to go to the fruit market for your fruit and the butcher for your meat and the boulangerie for your bread? Well, it’s like that in JC, too. We don’t live in the suburbs here, people. It’s not all one-​stop shopping. But you do have to know what to get where.
That being said, you do not go to C-​Town to do your weekly shopping. The meat aisle often smells downright rank. I have gotten cold cuts for sandwiches there, though, and they were just fine.
What you can get at C-​Town for a good price is milk and canned goods. There is a large variety of Spanish goods as well. Often the ice cream is on a very good sale. On occasion you can find Calandra’s bread or a reasonably good other brand of fresh baguette.
I would only buy the fresh produce out of desperation. They recently added an organic section (ie, overpriced yuppie food).
Basically, it’s better to have C-​Town than to not have C-​Town. It’s great for those mid-​week quick trips, but not for a whole lot more. I would love it if they’d clean the place up a bit, but if they did they’d probably have to raise prices. I also wish they stayed open a little later, especially on Sundays.