Pathmark of Ferry Street

Alright, I guess you are looking for the lowdown on the place. Well, you got questions, I got answers (just don’t go to Radio Shack. They got chapters. 7 and 11 to be exact.)
First of all, calling this Pathmark ghetto is silly — it’s freaking Newark, which at one point not-​too-​long ago was the carjacking capital in America. It stopped doing that not because Newark got much better, it’s because Camden got much worse. Still, it’s Ironbound, the maraschino cherry on top of the horse pie, so it’s not too bad. At least storefronts are open and doing business during daytime hours. You can’t really say that about parts of Northern Newark.
Second of all, you are dealing with Pathmark, which was the very epitome of supermarket mediocrity along with the rest of A&P (the poster child of poorly run supermarket chains). If you want a story about how not to run a supermarket chain, read about them on Wikipedia. A&P were big in the tri-​state area, but nowadays they are fighting with the likes of Foodtown, Associated, Food Bazaar, Stop-​n-​shop and C-​Town, and if you track the local business trends, you’ll note that they are not doing so hot. Typically poorly managed with indifferent staff, mediocre pricing and generic product selections.
That being said, this is one of the stores where they try to compete. It’s relatively clean and well organized (for a Pathmark it’s not bad at all), and unlike a lot of Pathmarks built in ethnic areas, they try to stock items of local interest: for example, they got some Mexican (Meseca Tamal masa harina, Jarritos and el Yucateco salsa) Colombian and Peruvian goods (Chicha Moradas, Aji), Jamaican food items (ackee, callaloo, pick-​a-​pepper) and some surprising items (Royal Boriquen Florecitas and Rica biscuits in a neighborhood short on Puerto Ricans). The strange thing is that their Portuguese and Brazilian selections are really poor. The pricing on items is not that great, and frankly, A&J Seabras will spank them on both product breadth and pricing. Their employees are still somewhat unhelpful, but that’s just Pathmark in general, and self check-​out will help you keep dealing with them to a minimum. They are open 24/​7, which is not what you can say about the Seabras stores. So yes, they do serve a purpose and you should shop there once in awhile. Just don’t make it your first choice. This is more like a grocery side-​chick for the stuff you can’t find somewhere else.

Indeed there are small grocery stores around Newark but there really isn’t a supermarket where you can run in and grab some cost-​effective snacks for a meeting at work. I originally planned to go to Question Mart on Broad Street (closer to my job) but sadly it was closed. I drove down from Broad Street to Ferry Street and it took me about 30 minutes to get somewhere that’s usually a 10 – 15 minute ride at most! The supermarket is fine; well-​organized and pretty clean and stocked up. Entering it from streetside however is confusing. The sign for Pathmark is right on Ferry Street but when turning into the parking lot you end up driving around until you realized the store is in the far back of the parking square. Overall, if you’re downtown Newark and looking for a quick pick up, this isn’t the place (unless you’re already in the Ironbound). If not, you might be paying a little more by heading somewhere downtown (still looking for one, so if you know, give me the heads up).

Large, one stop, supermarket/​pharmacy. Very clean, staff and cashiers are friendly. Large parking lot. They always have deals and specials going on. Their produce could be a little fresher and not so highly priced. Other than that, great place to shop!

This is surely one of Dante’s levels of hell. The cashiers are nice and friendly, but not nearly enough of them to get you out of the store quickly. I don’t purchase produce here because it is too expensive. Good weekly sales, but it is hard to find certain specialty items.

This was how I felt when I couldn’t find carrots (yes, regular f’ing carrots) at the Pathmark in my Neighborhood.
I wasn’t looking for anything organic, or local, or heirloom, just regular orange carrots. All they had were baby carrots.
I’d one star this place if it weren’t for their deli section.

Overpriced rotten produce and rude cashiers are two reasons I haven’t been here since Seabra’s opened on Chestnut Street.

Convenient.

Listen, grocery stores in Newark have to be relatively rated. This is Newark.
This store is definitely the best grocery store within Newark limits that I know of (please message me if you know a better one). It’s also in one of the relatively safe and somewhat clean areas of Newark.
The store itself is very large and has a great selection. They could have better kosher options, but I could very possibly be the only kosher person who shops there.
The produce is ok, for New Jersey. I was definitely spoiled by California though.
The employees are not helpful and very very hard to find. I am pretty sure I have never had am employee successfully help me there, and I go about once every week.
Since it is open 24 hours, I tend to try to go really late at night when there will be very few people. Otherwise, it can be somewhat busy (and I’m not the best shopping cart driver).

The 24 hrs makes it pretty convenient…
but just about impossible to get to anywhere outside of the ironbound

Large clean supermarket with a deli section. Had great prices on blueberries, 2 containers for $ 4. It’s own large parking lot.
There were some aggressive pan handlers outside of the entrance.