Editor’s Note: The latest edition of the Norwood News is out now, and its our annual Year in Review issue–-a recap of the biggest stories that took place in 2011, in the Bronx and beyond. Over the next week or so, we’ll be rolling these top stories out here on Breaking Bronx. Enjoy, and a happy and healthy New Year to all of our readers!

This past March, Foodtown, one of Norwood’s premier supermarkets, reopened to rave reviews 15 months after being destroyed in a fire. It marked a welcome sign of resurgence for a neighborhood shopping district crippled by two devastating fires at the end of 2009.

While the first fire took out 10 small businesses on the corner of Bainbridge Avenue, it was the second major fire, on East 204th Street, that left the neighborhood without a major supermarket and all the foot traffic it generated.

In the aftermath, the Katz brothers, who own the Foodtown chain and whose father opened up the family’s first produce stand in Norwood 55 years ago, vowed to rebuild. And they did, expanding the store by 50 percent and introducing new features, such as a sushi bar, an olive and cheese counter, more seafood and a more spacious design.

Customers and employees were glad to be back. “It was tough watching something you put 12 years into go up in smoke,” said store manager Rick Shinnerer, “but out of the ashes a new store has emerged.”

Meanwhile, elsewhere on East 204th Street, a new bar, Beso Lounge, opened up where the old Sandbox used to be. Radioshack also opened a branch down the block to accompany mainstays like Hillside Meats, Freilich Jewelers and McKeon and Son Funeral Home.

The area’s merchant’s association also got a shot in the arm. Eli Garcia, the owner of Beso Lounge, was elected president, Allan Freilich of Freilich Jewelers became vice president, Bill Curran of McKeon and Son Funeral Home became treasurer and Hamlet Aquino of Metro PCS became secretary. There first act brought decorative lights to East the area this holiday season.

On the downside, the lot on Bainbridge Avenue that burned down on Halloween of 2009 remains a rubble-strewn wasteland. The owner, Evelyn Jacobson, who also vowed to rebuild after the fire, is now putting the lot up for sale.