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It seems many supermarkets are closing and or changing hands in NYC, especially Manhattan. On both the UES and UWS places are closing or have switched.
The Food Emporium on Third and 83rd has gone through some sort of changes. Lots of new staff and managers. They have stopped posting weekly sales in the front windows as well.
The Food Emporium on Third and 83rd has gone through some sort of changes. Lots of new staff and managers. They have stopped posting weekly sales in the front windows as well.
The combo of Fairway and Whole Foods has doomed the joint. I am sure that the only thing keeping them open is their lease.
The combo of Fairway and Whole Foods has doomed the joint. I am sure that the only thing keeping them open is their lease.
Yes, and no. Used to chat with the old managers often and was told that store does decent enough numbers, just that corporate wants them to do better. It is fairly busy during the day especially with housewives/mommies, maids, and older persons, but at night you often find more people outside digging through their garbage bags than inside the store.
That Food Emporium is in a good location. Aside from the DAG around the corner on Lexington it is the only general supermarket on that part of the UES below 86th aside from the nasty Gristedes on 78th and Third. Even that store does pretty good business for what it is.
What is killing Food Emporium IMHO is they can no longer get away with charging insane prices for not so outstanding goods. Fresh Direct, Whole Foods, Fairway, and certainly Trader Joes offer the same or better quality for less.
IIRC the building is a co-op and you may be right that when the lease comes up for renewal this FE could find itself priced out. The change to the "80/20" rule has many Co-Ops looking to maximize income from commercial space to bring down shareholder fees and add value.
The combo of Fairway and Whole Foods has doomed the joint. I am sure that the only thing keeping them open is their lease.
It will eventually get worse for them (if they are still around). One of the employees at the Union Square Trader Joes informed me Trader Joes is looking at new locations in the city, the Upper East Side included.
Or if this Food Emporium goes under first, Trader Joes could simply lease the space.
It will eventually get worse for them (if they are still around). One of the employees at the Union Square Trader Joes informed me Trader Joes is looking at new locations in the city, the Upper East Side included.
Or if this Food Emporium goes under first, Trader Joes could simply lease the space.
With the arrival of Whole Foods a few weeks ago Trader Joes is not going to leave the UES to them and Fairway. Fully expect sooner or later TJ will open somewhere above 57th Street. They already have a store on the UWS IIRC which probably does a good business from East Siders judging from the bags I see on crosstown buses.
Having lived in NJ for quite a while I got used to SUPERmarkets and laughed at the jokes they had in New York that they sometimes CALLED supermarkets.
They were either overpriced glorified bodega-type (like Gristede's, Pioneer, Associated, Met, even Food Emporium, aka small pricey A&P's) or else chichi types like the SUPER overpriced Fairway and Whole Foods for food snobs with more money than brains.
This impression has changed little in the last 5 years, and I so long for a REAL supermarket with incredible weekly sales and dozens of block long aisles of stock. If it weren't such a pain in the ass without a car, I'd still be buying all my food at Shop-Rite in Newport, Jersey City. Now THAT is a supermarket and one of the only things I miss about Jersey City...the waterfront view being another.
And the rest of the world has the same kind of store in abundance but we have these comparatively little overpriced, understocked holes in the wall or the stores that think we are all oil-tycoons.
Of course, I know the reason...land and rent prices. But still that doesn't help me feel less cheated when I need food in Manhattan.
I had hoped that the PATHMARK on 125th and Lex might fill the bill, and it ALMOST does, but it's unsavory location and distance keeps it from being my store of choice.
Having lived in NJ for quite a while I got used to SUPERmarkets and laughed at the jokes they had in New York that they sometimes CALLED supermarkets.
They were either overpriced glorified bodega-type (like Gristede's, Pioneer, Associated, Met, even Food Emporium, aka small pricey A&P's) or else chichi types like the SUPER overpriced Fairway and Whole Foods for food snobs with more money than brains.
This impression has changed little in the last 5 years, and I so long for a REAL supermarket with incredible weekly sales and dozens of block long aisles of stock. If it weren't such a pain in the ass without a car, I'd still be buying all my food at Shop-Rite in Newport, Jersey City. Now THAT is a supermarket and one of the only things I miss about Jersey City...the waterfront view being another.
And the rest of the world has the same kind of store in abundance but we have these comparatively little overpriced, understocked holes in the wall or the stores that think we are all oil-tycoons.
Of course, I know the reason...land and rent prices. But still that doesn't help me feel less cheated when I need food in Manhattan.
I had hoped that the PATHMARK on 125th and Lex might fill the bill, and it ALMOST does, but it's unsavory location and distance keeps it from being my store of choice.
Don't worry about that Pathmark. As the lease runs out they'll tear it down (the site was sold for 40 million).
Having lived in NJ for quite a while I got used to SUPERmarkets and laughed at the jokes they had in New York that they sometimes CALLED supermarkets.
They were either overpriced glorified bodega-type (like Gristede's, Pioneer, Associated, Met, even Food Emporium, aka small pricey A&P's) or else chichi types like the SUPER overpriced Fairway and Whole Foods for food snobs with more money than brains.
This impression has changed little in the last 5 years, and I so long for a REAL supermarket with incredible weekly sales and dozens of block long aisles of stock. If it weren't such a pain in the ass without a car, I'd still be buying all my food at Shop-Rite in Newport, Jersey City. Now THAT is a supermarket and one of the only things I miss about Jersey City...the waterfront view being another.
And the rest of the world has the same kind of store in abundance but we have these comparatively little overpriced, understocked holes in the wall or the stores that think we are all oil-tycoons.
Of course, I know the reason...land and rent prices. But still that doesn't help me feel less cheated when I need food in Manhattan.
I had hoped that the PATHMARK on 125th and Lex might fill the bill, and it ALMOST does, but it's unsavory location and distance keeps it from being my store of choice.
Only two supermarkets in Manhattan that equaled the ones I knew growing up on Staten Island were the Pathmark stores near the Brooklyn Bridge and guess that one in Harlem.
Now you know why so many from the suburbs take their cars or rent and drive to New Jersey or someplace else outside of the city to grocery shop. Wegman's blows anything we have in NYC out of the water, and that includes Whole Foods, Fairway and Trader Joes.
Only two supermarkets in Manhattan that equaled the ones I knew growing up on Staten Island were the Pathmark stores near the Brooklyn Bridge and guess that one in Harlem.
Now you know why so many from the suburbs take their cars or rent and drive to New Jersey or someplace else outside of the city to grocery shop. Wegman's blows anything we have in NYC out of the water, and that includes Whole Foods, Fairway and Trader Joes.
I think it's more of a psychological thing than anything else.
Suburban style grocery stores have huge spaces and huge parking lots because the suburbs are more spread out and real estate is cheaper. No one can afford to do that in NYC. Whole Foods, Fairway, and Trader Joes are generally huge compared to Associated or Gristedes.
A lot of people in the city don't cook every day (if you count ethnic food places eating out can be comparatively cheap). There's not much of a need for many once they adjust here to fill up a car with groceries and take it home.
There's one still opened on west burnside and grand avenues.
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