Fairway started as a neighbourhood market in the 1930s on New York’s Upper West Side. It now operates 11 stores on the US East Coast, combining the best of a conventional grocery store with a speciality gourmet and organic offering. Stores have an old-fashioned feel, but Fairway is bang up to date in every other respect, embracing social media and online shopping. It had plans for an IPO until Hurricane Sandy destroyed its Red Hook, Brooklyn, location (now reopened). 

See the complete list of the World’s 50 Best Grocers.