A small, beloved grocery store is returning to East Rochester after a four-year absence.
Yehya Ali will operate the Village Fair at 119 W. Commercial St. and is shooting for a July 15 opening, said Jonathan Palermo, who manages the property and is working with Ali on the project.
Covering just 3,500 square feet and originally set up with four aisles by founder Paul Constantini, the Village Fair evoked the mom-and-pop grocery stores of yesteryear.
The goal is “to bring it back as close as possible” to the way it was when Constantini was at the helm, Palermo said. “We’re not trying to do version two — we’re doing a continuation.”
Village Fair history
Constantini opened the Village Fair in 1960 and was still working there in 2010 at age 83 when he told the Democrat and Chronicle that personal service, good prices and above all, fresh-cut meats were the keys to the store’s success.
After his death in 2011, Constantini’s family took over the business but in 2020 sold it to ER Convenience.
Two years later, the store went dark after an electrical fire.
In March, with the fire damage repaired, ER Convenience sold 119 W. Commercial St. to J2 Properties Roc LLC, which got people talking about a Village Fair comeback.
Since then, the property has gotten a new roof, and the store’s vintage coolers have been refurbished, said Joe Tumminelli of J2 Properties Roc. The building also contains six apartments that have gotten upgrades.
Tumminelli (who is leasing the grocery store space to Ali) estimates he’s invested about $100,000 in the rehab.
‘A big need in our community’
Initially, Tumminelli considered reconfiguring the store space for office use, but community sentiment heavily favored resurrecting the Village Fair.
In 2023, long before J2 Properties Roc and Ali even entered the picture, East Rochester Mayor John Alfieri made a public plea for another supermarket to take over.
“We have many residents, especially elderly, who are not able to drive to the larger grocery stores around us,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “A downtown grocery store and/or meat market is a big need in our community.”
What will the Village Fair carry?
Palermo expects the store to carry foods by Shurfine, a private-label brand associated with independent, community-focused supermarkets nationwide.
In addition, Richard T. Gasbarre, a Village Fair butcher during the Constantini era, will return as the store’s full-time lead butcher, Palermo said.
Planned hours of operation are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
“This is the type of model that doesn’t exist much anymore,” he said.
Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers the grocery business and consumer-focused grocery news, as well as retail development, openings and closings. Send story tips to mgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Follow her on X @MarciaGreenwood.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Small, beloved grocery store coming back to East Rochester
Reporting by Marcia Greenwood, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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