5 Marvelous Markets

These small markets will satisfy all your shopping needs.

Photo courtesy of Sickles Market.

Cafasso’s began in 1927 as a butcher shop in North Bergen. It has been handed down through four generations of Cafassos and become a sprawling Italian emporium in Fort Lee, offering the best in produce, meat, seafood, prepared dishes, Italian imports and delicacies such as quail eggs and pheasant.

Corrado’s is a cornucopia. It launched in 1950 in Clifton and now has three additional locations: Wayne, River Edge and North Arlington. Along its well-stocked aisles one finds everything from star fruit, fresh sorrel and sugarcane to Jersey Fresh fruits and vegetables. Corrado’s makes its own fresh mozzarella and jars its own marinara sauce, says owner Frank Corrado.

Sickles Market in Little Silver began in 1908 as a farm, selling its own fruits and vegetables to local stores. Harold Sickles and his wife, Elsie, ran it. In 2009, Tori Sickles, representing the fourth generation, joined the family enterprise. It covers six park-like acres and includes a 20,000-square-foot retail store featuring all manner of fine foods: domestic, imported and prepared on-site. Sickles is much more than a food store. It’s a leading garden center, where you can find plants, seeds, tools and all the guidance you need. Events and demos run the gamut from pruning roses to tasting olive oils. A second Sickles site will open in 2018 in Red Bank.

Joe Leone’s, established in Point Pleasant Beach in 1997, was inspired by a passion for baking and cooking handed down from its namesake’s Italian grandparents. House-made breads, mozzarella, panini and catering have earned Joe’s a dedicated following at the original location and a second store in Sea Girt.

Severino Pasta in Westmont opened in 1971 and quickly earned a following for Joseph and Anna Maria Severino’s lovingly crafted dried and fresh pastas. Today their three children, Peter, Louis and Carla, run the business, and Joseph, Louis’s son, is involved as well. The Severinos sell panini, sliders, wraps, prepared foods, sauces and many items imported from Italy. But the pastas are the main draw. They include distinctive combinations such as ravioli stuffed with a mixture of grilled asparagus, roasted red peppers and provolone. Peter Severino says the attraction for many is the show as much as the shopping: “We manufacture here at the store, and you can actually see the people making it.”

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