STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Two years ago, Mike Virga and his family scouted locations for a new market under the Ideal Fresh brand. With his Staten Island roots and belief in the neighborhood “mom and pop” grocer, he knew that 1006 Rossville Ave. was a perfect fit. And now his crew is ready for a grand opening celebration on Friday, May 9.
After the extensive construction and cosmetic work, Virga and his staff thought this would be an ideal time to fete the fresh Ideal. Starting around noon until about 4 p.m., reps from the store’s food and beverage suppliers will dole out samples. Store manager Joe Baxter will put a variety of items on sale throughout the day.
Ideal Fresh markets in Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Long Island — and now Staten Island — have been in business for over 15 years. They belong to the America’s Food Basket Cooperative and use UNFI as a wholesale food distributor. The borough’s Ideal Fresh sources locally with Lioni cheese products and Huguenot Garden Center.
Virga proudly showed off various corners of the store starting with the fresh mozzarella.
In Ideal Fresh’s basement, there is a substantial area for catering plus a full-blown bakery with a dedicated cookie production line. A rotating oven for prosciutto and spinach breads, boule and traditional Italian loaves steams the hand-crafted dough to glossy perfection.
Virga said each day the market turns out breads by the hundreds. On holidays with lines out the door for the product, he says “John the baker” works almost 24-hours to craft, proof and bake hot bread into the thousand range.
The store’s growth
Virga shared the story of how the Rossville location, one of about 50 stores under the Ideal Fresh brand, came to fruition.
The family originally took over the space formerly known as Mignosi’s, a smaller market. They also assumed a storefront once home to A&W. With a reconfigured space, Ideal encompasses 15,000-square feet of lofty space filled with a deli department, butcher, frozen sections and sprawling produce section. A seafood department will be ready for action by Friday, said Virga.
He pointed out the various tweaks and reconfigurations of shelf space. The lottery station has been moved to a more convenient point of the store near an entrance.
Although some important elements have remained the same — like Mary Montalbano who manages the lottery and knows customers by name…