Like many Bergen residents, Jane Tarvin can recite a long list of different supermarkets she has visited over the years. Some have changed names; some have relocated to bigger buildings; some are just memories. Some of the original "mom and pop" grocery stores are even still in business.

When her five children were young, the long-time Ridgewood resident would check out weekly sales at the A&P on Broad Street (now a wine store), the Grand Union on Franklin Avenue (now Stop & Shop), the Finest on Maple Avenue (now Kings), and a Co-op Supermarket on Godwin Avenue (now Whole Foods.)

"I liked to shop at Finest because they had Green Stamps," Tarvin says, recalling the bonus program where shoppers collected stamps based on the amount of their purchase. The stamps were pasted into booklets and redeemed for gifts.

"We'd drive over to Hackensack and redeem them for just about anything -- microwaves, china, luggage. I still have a glass salad bowl from Green Stamps," she recalls.

Tarvin also remembers when supermarkets had special promotions on dinnerware, pots, glasses and serving pieces. Each week, a new item was offered at a low price, usually with a minimum grocery purchase.

New supermarket openings were huge events, she says, recalling when Hollywood actress Joan Crawford visited Ridgewood in the 1970s to open the new Grand Union.

"She was standing by the door with a basket, handing things out to customers."

In the 1950s and '60s, small supermarkets emerged in Bergen as suburban populations grew. With the real estate boom of the 1970s and '80s, a few supermarket chains experimented with new "mega-stores." Ironically, some supermarket chains today are touting their smaller size and convenient downtown locations.

KINGS

Joan Bratskeir has been shopping at Kings in Ridgewood for about 30 years.

"I prefer shopping in a smaller store where everyone knows you," she says. "If I have a problem, I go to anyone and there are no questions asked."

Although she could find a bigger selection at a larger supermarket a few blocks away, "it's too big for me. I get tired going up and down all those aisles."

Bruce Weitz, Kings' president and CEO, admits that "even our newer, bigger stores are generally smaller" than local competitors. But "we have a different niche than they do. We sell high-quality, larger-size, unique items. In produce, our apples and grapes are larger, better-tasting fruit. Our fresh tuna is cut from 100-pound fish, which gives you better steak. Our goal is not to sell everything from televisions to beach chairs, but to sell unique foods from around the world in addition to the regular everyday items."

The 26-store chain has supermarkets in Cresskill, Fort Lee, Hillsdale, Midland Park and Ridgewood.

Kings also sets itself apart from larger competitors "with unique merchandising concepts and great, friendly, clean stores with unmatched service," Weitz continues.

"I personally get at least 25 letters a week from customers, complimenting specific people who work at Kings," Weitz says. "We are constantly patting them on the back, and we do a lot of training in being friendly and making sure people are content in their jobs. That's part of our mojo. That's one of the things we can do that other companies can't do."

A & P

The supermarkets of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., based in Montvale, have retained a large presence in Bergen after years of reinvention.

A&P is celebrating 150 years in business this year. It started life as The Great American Tea Company, a small market in downtown New York City selling tea, coffee and spices bought directly off arriving ships. It was named the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. in honor of the nation's first transcontinental railroad, and its owners hoped to expand across the continent. The company grew to become the first national supermarket chain in the U.S., with almost 16,000 grocery stores by the 1930s.

After years of experimenting with various types of retail stores, including Waldbaums, A&P Super Foodmart, Food Emporium, Super Fresh, Pathmark and Food Basics, "there is a trend back toward smaller community stores," says Christian W.E. Haub, A&P's executive chairman of the board. "What people are seeking in more difficult times, they stick with people they know."

Deborah Celentano of Upper Saddle River has been a customer at the Woodcliff Lake A&P for more than 20 years.
"The people who work there make me feel almost like a family member," she says. "Some of the cashiers even came to the church for my daughter's wedding! I have a lot of respect for them, and the service that I get there."
Celentano remembers shopping with her mother at an A&P store in Cliffside Park many years ago.

"I remember the smell of the fresh Eight O'Clock Coffee, the aroma from the [coffee grinding] machine," she says. "It was like heaven."

SHOPRITE

ShopRite supermarkets thrive on loyal customers. Years ago, Pat Gramuglia of Washington Township would drive her non-English-speaking mother to her favorite "Shopee-Rite," and the strong ties have remained through the generations, including her sister and daughters. Gramuglia has switched stores whenever her family moved: first the ShopRite in Fort Lee, then Northvale, now Emerson.

"Other supermarkets are sometimes good for specials, but I'm used to ShopRite's variety, and their prices are always low," she says. "I can go there and do all my grocery shopping and not have to jump from store to store looking for sales."

Three ShopRites in Bergen -- Rochelle Park, Paramus and Englewood -- are owned by cousins Irv and Terry Glass; many of the other ShopRites are owned by the Inserra family.

All supermarkets in recent years have had to adapt to an evolving world, says Irv Glass, as more consumers respond to "the green movement, the health movement, the vegetarian movement, the organic movement, and then there is the recession we are in."

"In the '60s and '70s, you ate a protein and a carb and you were done," he says. "Now people are interested in things like triglycerides and folic acid É and other people are just worried about feeding a family of four."
Glass got his start in the family business when he was 13 years old; he and Terry took over when their fathers retired.

"My father, Abe, and my uncle Ben were immigrants who sold fruits and vegetables in the 1930s in and around Paterson," he explains.

The family purchased its first supermarket in 1955 and became part of the ShopRite cooperative. Glass family members help operate the supermarkets and all live in the area, "so they understand the neighborhoods they live in," says Irv Glass. "We have deep roots to the community."

Susan March is a regular customer at the Englewood store, located in the heart of downtown.

"It has everything for a very diverse multi-cultural city with good prices and helpful staff," she says.

MARKET BASKET

Tony Chernalis and his brother, William, opened a small grocery and deli in Wyckoff in 1960, building a customer base among employees from American Cyanamid and IBM in nearby Franklin Lakes.

"Those companies are gone, but I outlasted them," Tony Chernalis says with a chuckle.

In the beginning, customers shopping in Wyckoff "were asking us to make things they could bring home for dinner," Chernalis says. "We made things like beef stroganoff, veal franchese, and salads."

Meanwhile, home construction boomed in the area, construction on Route 287 was completed and the Chernalises outgrew their original location, which led to the opening of the large Franklin Lakes store in 1988. The little Wyckoff store is still there, and today, Market Basket has large warehouses in nearby towns, and "we have about 60 trucks that deliver catering all over Bergen."

Market Basket's specialties include Swedish meatballs, caviar and "everything in between," Chernalis says.
The company's success, he says, "all comes down to hard work and giving people what they want."

CAFASSO'S FAIRWAY MARKET

Angela Matera of Englewood Cliffs started shopping at Cafasso's Fairway Market, Fort Lee, in the 1940s, "almost since I first came to America."

"I've tried to go to other places, but I always come back to Fairway," she says. "They are always fresher. They have the best vegetables and meat. It's a family business and the owner is always there."

The big draw "is definitely the perishables: meat, produce, fish and prepared foods," says David Cafasso, vice president of the family-owned business. His brother, Robert, is president.

Some of the most popular prepared dishes are savory short ribs, tender lamb shanks and "roasted tomatoes seasoned with garlic and balsamic vinegar that fly out of here," he explains.

"We are not as competitive as the big stores," David Cafasso admits. "A shopper will do very well in this day and age by getting their dry goods at Costco or Wal-Mart. But when it comes to perishables, even though the big stores are selling in bulk, we beat their prices and quality."

"We go to the daily markets the old way. We don't have big wholesale suppliers. My son goes to the fish market, my best friend buys the produce."

Cafasso's Fairway Market is not related to the Fairway Supermarket that opened last spring in Paramus -- its first location in New Jersey after many years of popularity in New York City.

OTHER BERGEN SUPERMARKETS, PAST AND PRESENT

KILROY'S, a small family-owned supermarket in Glen Rock, has been in operation since 1916. The store's motto is "Small enough to know you, large enough to serve you."

WHOLE FOODS MARKET, a chain that specializes in organic and natural food products, has stores in Ridgewood, Edgewater and Paramus.

TRADER JOE'S, a California-style supermarket, has locations in Westwood and Paramus.

STOP & SHOP has 12 supermarkets in Bergen. The store chain was founded in New England, but moved into New Jersey in 2001, converting former Grand Union and Edwards stores.

FOODTOWN was a cooperative with many locations in Bergen. In 1998, it declared bankruptcy, and in 2003, Martin Vitale, the company's former chief executive officer, pleaded guilty to embezzling $14 million. Today, Bergen's Foodtown supermarkets are gone; however, two of the many remaining in New Jersey -- in North Haledon and Cedar Grove -- are owned by David Maniaci of Allendale.

GRAND UNION, formerly headquartered in Elmwood Park, was once a dominant presence in Bergen before it declared bankruptcy in 2001. Its stores in Bergen were bought out by other supermarket companies or closed.

PACKARD'S in Hackensack may have been Bergen's first "super" market. A Bergen institution for more than 50 years, its unusual multi-floor setup in an old wallpaper factory, featuring a variety of vendors, could not compete against newer supermarkets. Packards was torn down in 2000 and replaced with a Target department store. Older Bergen residents still have fond memories of the store's sawdust-covered wood floors, thousands of varieties of exotic foods, and its wide range of non-food merchandise.