NYC grocery stores inspiration for new Central Market

The chain’s ninth store at Preston and Royal will be 30,000 square feet, which is roughly half of its current stores.

In a press release announcing the store’s grand opening at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, Central Market senior vice president Stephen Butt noted that squeezing Central Market’s prototype into the former Borders location took some creativity, and the most obvious place to look for inspiration was New York City, ” a place with great grocery stores built into smaller square footage,” he says. The Central Market team spent months traveling to New York “to study the most innovative delis and grocery concepts to learn how to pack the most flavor into every square foot,” Butt says.

The Preston Royal Central Market will also draw from the Big Apple with an on-site bakery featuring traditional “boiled then baked” bagels and new bialys, and artisan salumi from NYC-based Charlito’s Cocina. Even with these new features, Butt promises that the smaller store also will “have everything our customers have come to love about Central Market.”