[ Scroll to the bottom of this article for a statement from the company and photos of the new layout ]
The more Fairway’s owners change, the more things don’t stay the same.
In 2020, Village Super Market (which operates ShopRite and is owned by Wakefern Food Corporation) bought five of Fairway’s stores and distribution centers, including the flagship market on Broadway and 74th Street. Village is Fairway’s third owner since its founders, the Glickberg family, sold it in 2007.
Since then, the neighborhood landmark has undergone many changes, the latest of which is a drastic overhaul of the butcher and fish counters, rendering them unrecognizable.
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The meat counter is already gone and has been replaced by a row of freezers which now house seafood, meat and plant-based “meat” products.
The fish counter is still intact as of writing, but not for long, according to a store fishmonger. He said that the fish and meat will stand side by side – a virtual surf and turf – in smaller stations in at least part of the area currently dedicated to seafood only.
The smaller counters, which are close to the grocery aisles, will cause human traffic jams in the already frenetic store.
For news across the park visit EastSideFeed.com
This alteration is apparently a cost-cutting measure, calling for fewer highly trained employees while adding more packaged goods, which do not spoil nearly as quickly and have higher margins.
Other changes Fairway has undergone in the past year include the discontinuation of many popular products and specialty items on which Fairway built its name, adding a row of self-checkout terminals, and removing the full-time employee who once operated the slicing machine in the bread department.
Not all of the changes have been bad for the consumer, though. For instance, the organic produce has moved downstairs, staff members have become much less hostile (almost friendly), and there seem to be more varieties of potato chips.
A representative from Wakefern responded to our inquiry with the following statement:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”16″] Fairway is committed to improving the shopping experience for our customers, and the changes being made to the Meat and Seafood departments in our 74th St. store this week are part of that commitment.Here is what is happening in the store:
- We installed brand new cases in both the Meat and Seafood Departments
- By combining the departments, we are actually able to create more floor space for customers shopping the departments
- The assortment and variety in both Meat and Seafood remains the same
- And with the addition of the new freezer cases, we’re able to provide an increased assortment of frozen and speciality foods that we believe customers want
- This is not about cost cutting, this is about improving our offerings and the shopping experience
- We are not eliminating any staffing or hours with this project; we are hiring and encourage anyone interested to join our team of foodies and apply at fairwaymarket.com
[/perfectpullquote]
We checked back in on Thursday … here’s a look at the updated layout:
What they’ve done to Fairway is a crime. It’s now a just a regular filthy Safeway.
Well, Wakefern (the owner of “Fairway” and “Gourmet Garage”) is not the same company as Safeway.
30 years ago, I shopped a bit in a really nice Safeway, albeit in the middle of Silicon Valley, which was hardly poor back then.
It’s not quite that Wakefern is trying to turn “Fairway” into Keyfoods, but Wakefern sure doesn’t know the Upper West Side grocery market even a tiny bit. Wakefern has no idea of what “Fairway’s” competition is. And I write this as someone who thinks that Zabar’s has gone downhill significantly since Murray Klein sold his share in the company back to the Zabar family 26 years ago. Then starting about 10 years ago, Zabar’s declined further. It’s not a disaster, yet, but it’s nothing like what it used to be when Klein controlled the store. Prices are higher, usually can be beat in the neighborhood, and selection has decreased significantly.
Thank God for Trader Joe
Trader Joe’s has basically nothing on even the declined Zabar’s.
The only thing that TJ’s is consistently good at is prepackaged foods like cookies and TJ’s branded ice cream.
So, give thanks for West Side Market, Westerly, and Barzini’s, which I realize are spread over 50 blocks on Manhattan’s west side. In many cases, even Pioneer is better than TJ’s.
I get some pretty good chicken, steaks, fish, scallops at Trader Joe’s. The ice cream though is terrible, every single variety has gums and fillers in it. It’s all carob bean gum and xanthan gum, every flavor.
All sorts of very good ice creams have fillers (gum), many times derived from seaweed.
I was trying to credit TJ’s for what I’ve heard.
Never tried the fish counter, didn’t see one when I looked, but that was a while ago.
You are completely correct! And in my opinion the UWS does not have ONE supermarket which is shocking considering the amount of families in this neighborhood. We need either a Whole Foods , Morton’s, Food Emporium etc. The Brooklyn Fare we went to was a long walk but was worth it just to be in a REAL Supermarket !!
The UWS has several supermarkets. There are Key Food (Amst/86), Gristedes (Col/84), and Pioneer (Col/74). Gristedes is overpriced, and the shelves are not well-stocked. Key Food is small, but well-stocked, and has the nicest staff. Pioneer is the truest supermarket; large, well-stocked, fair prices.
And, of course, there is West Side Market on Bway/98. Yes, the prices are a tad high, but you can get just about anything there.
More than disappointed that Pioneer refuses to stock B&J ice cream any longer.
It could also use a better bread department.
But I still shop there.
My prediction is that Fairway will cease to exist on the Upper west side in a few years. They reduced the fish and meat department employees with kiosk attendants to hand out bags and repair defective checkout terminals.
They are clearly not in touch with the upper west side clientele. There is little reason to go there unless you prefer overpriced hard bagels , produce at double the price of TJ, and prepackaged deli items. I’m done with the store
Ultimately the company that owns Fairway and ShopRite is Wakefern. So “village super market” is not the parent company.
The support email is villagefairway at wakefern dot com.
The selection of organic produce has massively declined with the move downstairs. So no, the move downstairs wasn’t really a help. Far from my favorite Manhattan organic fruit and vegetable market –which is Westerly — but the redone Gary Null’s Whole Foods at Broadway and 89th is now much better than “Fairway” for organic vegetables and fruits.
Hadn’t noticed move/shrinking of butcher counter, but don’t buy red meat from “Fairway”. And I no longer go to Fairway 3 – 5 times a week.
The “Fairway” baguettes have vastly improved. So that’s something positive. The old ones were horrid and not less expensive.
“Fairway” has maintained a good selection of nuts, dried berries, beans, and rices by the pound upstairs.
Those self checkout machines are mostly horrid. It’s as if no one at Wakefern had ever used a competently built and coded one of those machines at Home Depot and just went with whatever was cheapest, supposing that the average “Fairway” customer was/is computer ignorant so wouldn’t know better. It was a staggering big of arrogance.
Very surprised to see a large kosher meats case replaced by a big hot dog case some time last year — 2021.
For many items, Wakefern sure has raised prices beyond what Zabar’s, Pioneer, West Side Market and Morton & Williams charge for the exact same items — though ice cream is usually cheapest at “Fairway”.
I like that “Fairway” sells olive oil packed smoked oysters from South Korea (upstairs); those are still “Fairway” only for the UWS at least.
Wakefern sure has managed to drive out a lot of floor managers with at least 10 years experience. That doesn’t bode well for long term performance.
Check out the website for the”newspaper” which “Fairway” is distributing at customer service. It’s a cringe worthy publication. That’s being polite. You’ll have to go do customer service to figure out the name of this Bergen County weekly.
“Fairway” has done next to nothing to reign in unbelievably rude Instacarters. They seem worse at “Fairway” than at other area supermarkets, like Morton & Williams. But perhaps it’s just that they’re more ubiquitous at “Fairway” than at the other stores I mention.
All true. It’s gone so downhill with the latest owners. It’s like they know zero, I mean NOTHING at all about this neighborhood. I used to shop there daily and rarely go now. When I do shop there, I only buy items on sale b/c their prices are so high now. It’s really sad.
Yeah,
but not only does Wakefern know nothing of the neighborhood, including the competition — which apparently Wakefern management assumes is Keyfood, and bluntly the sophistication of some residents’ tastes, Wakefern only seems to know of many foods, basic ingredients, and simple inventory tracking, by accident.
But to the store’s credit, “Fairway” maintains an excellent selection of potato chip varieties — much better than most other UWS markets.
Yes, great selection of zero nutrition bad for your health snack food that replaced real food.
That Fairway has sold the same brands and varieties of potato chips for years — some upstairs in organics until 2021.
Health Nuts at 99th and Broadway sells many of the same brands and varieties.
Some potato chips are healthier than others. Don’t eat ones made with canola oil. Avoid brands like Frito-Lay-Pepsi.
Fairway is not pretending to be a health foods store.
Newsflash, Jay,
Fairway is definitely NOT the only place in town with smoked oysters hand-packed in olive oil from South Korea. Look no further than the bottom floor of Trader Joe’s for the same thing at $2.99. I’m guessing that’s the same or lower price than Fairway. It’s a bottom-shelf item adjacent to the canned tuna, salmon, mackerel options at TJ’s. I’ve been getting it there for years. Fairway does have squid in ink sauce from Spain which I cannot find anywhere else — it’s not bad for a change of pace when you get tired of sardines, for example.
Now, where you and others can guide me is that I think Fairway, unfortunately, IS the only place with Safe Catch Tuna (it’s mercury-tested, pole & line caught, in other words, no nets are used that in turn trap and kill dolphins, sea turtles among others sacrificed for the all-holy tuna trade). It’s politically-correct wild tuna in a 5 oz. can for $5.49. I’m well aware that Walmart/Amazon, et al. on-line have Safe Catch Tuna
for a cheaper-per-can price but you have to buy 6 or 12 to pay less. I’m fine
with having 2 or 3 cans in the cabinet for a rainy day. It does lend itself to a delicious homemade tuna salad.
True, I have not checked TJ’s for South Korea produced smoked oysters with hot red peppers packed in olive oil.
I could check, but TJ’s isn’t real inspiring for non-packaged foods.
As for the other items at TJ’s which you list, okay, but those weren’t the subject.
I’ve never been particularly fond of the widely available (on the UWS) squid packed in ink and oil.
Fairway’s cost-cutting is costing them customers. I don’t go there anymore. The Organic section moved to the ground floor is laughable now, and they no longer bother to carry specialty items that kept me coming back because it was the only place on the UWS where they could be found. It’s a shoddy grocery store now with complete disdain for its customers and the demographics of their “flagship” location.
Wakefern is a cooperative comprised of individual store-owning companies, including Village Supermarkets. Village Supermarkets operates several well-stocked, attractive & successful Shoprites, including in Livingston, NJ and the Essex Green store in West Orange, NJ. Considering those stores, I had high hopes for their management of Fairway, but have been severely disappointed. In addition to what’s been mentioned above look at how they’ve decimated the once-excellent Fairway deli counter. VS’s suburban Shoprite customers wouldn’t stand for the sort of downgrades being foisted upon the Broadway/74th Fairway.
No, Phil:
To call Wakefern a cooperative is a major misuse of the word “cooperative”. Wakefern is pretending to be a group of loosely associated supermarket chains, when it is one large NJ based company with many divisions. And given that Wikipedia lists no stock abbreviation, I have to assume the company is still privately held.
It is not akin to Associated Markets, some examples of which are the separately owned chains Morton & Williams, Pioneer Supermarkets, and MetFoods.
But I think you do have a point that in a just well off suburb, regular shoppers at some Wakefern owned chains (eg ShopRite) would not tolerate a great deal of what Wakefern has done to “Fairway”.
Part of the problem seems to be that after bringing back the UWS store manager for the second hedge fund run “Fairway”, the one which went under in early 2020: Wakefern did something to make that general manager – Governale who knew what he was doing — leave and the current store general manager is largely incompetent, even if she managed to have the baguettes significantly improved.
Hi Jay,
I’m sorry, but you are strictly wrong. Wakefern is indeed a cooperative — a retailers’ cooperative, to be specific — in fact the largest in the world. There are approximately 50 member companies, one of which is Village Super Market (aka Village, or VSM). Each of these companies is an independently owned and operated business entity, and the vast majority are privately owned. Village is the only publicly traded member company (VLGEA). You can look up the various Wakefern members, but others include Inserra Supermarkets (owned by the Inserra family), Brown’s Superstores (owned by Jeff and Sandy Brown), Grade A Markets (owned by the Cingari family), and so on. Now, each of these member companies owns an equal share in Wakefern — so you are correct to say that Wakefern is privately held, but because it is owned exclusively by these member companies. In other words, you can’t own a part of Wakefern unless you own a ShopRite, and you can’t own a ShopRite unless you own a part of Wakefern (to simplify it immensely).
Each member has the freedom to operate their stores as they please, within certain parameters of course. Village owns roughly 30 stores under the ShopRite name, and then a few each under the Fairway and Gourmet Garage banners. Brown’s owns some ShopRites and some stores under The Fresh Grocer name; Inserra owns mostly ShopRites and two Price Rite Marketplace stores.
Wakefern owns and operates somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 stores, roughly 60 Price Rites and 40 ShopRites. These are under the Wakefern divisions PRRC and SRS, respectively. (This comprises only about 1/4 of the total stores represented by Wakefern because the majority are independently owned but represented by the cooperative.) Fairway is not owned or otherwise operated by Wakefern. Instead, it’s owned and operated by VSM. VSM then runs the stores how they like, but marketing is done by Wakefern. In most member arrangements, Wakefern does most or all of the distribution/warehousing, too, but Village actually acquired Fairway’s production and distribution center so Village and Wakefern split the distribution.
For these reasons, Phil is absolutely right — Wakefern is indeed by definition a cooperative. Wakefern is not identical to the arrangement of the Associated Supermarket Group, which is also comprised of independent owner-operator companies for their banners Associated, Met, Pioneer and Compare (plus others; Morton Williams actually went off independent a few years ago). The biggest difference is that, in the strictest definition, ASG is not technically a cooperative but a buying group, because the owner-operators do not own shares of the overall group (instead, ASG itself is privately owned and they simply represent the members in purchasing and marketing).
Now, I don’t mean to disagree with the general sentiment that VSM has drastically worsened Fairway since their acquisition. I’m not defending VSM or Fairway, but it’s important to be clear on what’s actually going on here.
I’ve been writing about supermarkets for years and I now run four websites. I’ve visited and photographed literally hundreds of grocery stores across New York City and over 2500 overall. I’d love to talk more about grocery stores anytime at all, and I invite you to check out my website too, at marketreportblog.com.
I hope that was enlightening, and I really would love to talk more about grocery stores whenever you like!
So happy I ran up on this article. When I worked on Bd’wy the 74th St store was my main store. I now live in Harlem and the 125th St store was my spot, you can park! I just said recently that I was going to take the bus to 74th St. Now I won’t
Thanks ??
May I suggest:
Take the same bus to Zabar’s, though not what was when it was largely Murray Klein’s store, Zabar’s probably has much of what you’d seek at Fairway, or “Fairway”. Then provided your bag/s aren’t heavy with Zabar’s’ purchases, walk down to “Fairway” and look around — ideally the middle of a weekday afternoon would be best for this experiment.
Then take the bus back north on Broadway.
Thanks Jay,
You are correct, I forgot about Zabars. Do you know if the Fairway still has the Olive Bar? I made the best Olive Tapenade from there.
Yes, Fairway at West 74th Street has the buckets of olives, so I guess you’re calling that a “bar”.
I hope you are just joking that a larger selection of potato chips is a positive!
Gary X,
No, not joking.
The better availability of potato chips made with olive oil and avocado oil (yes I realize increased avocado farming in Mexico is helping to extinct the monarch butterfly) is a positive. Someone at “Fairway” clearly understands that potato chip buyers who care about higher quality and better taste avoid chips fried in canola oil.
But that individual department’s strength isn’t repeated across other departments.
One thing that Wakefern could probably manage is to improve the sushi. Since Fairway (the real one run by Jenkins and owned by the Glickbergs) started selling sushi in the early 2000s, the store’s sushi has been subpar by supermarket standards. I only mention sushi (not because I ever purchase it at “Fairway) because it would be a basic test of management improvement/control.
But given how badly Wakefern handled the installation of the self-check out machines, and given that Wakefern can’t keep items regularly stocked elsewhere in the neighborhood on the shelves, not holding my breath for better supermarket sushi at “Fairway”.
Where are the Beanfields chips at Fairway? They used to have them and no longer, bring back the Beanfields!
Rachel, concerned customer
I don’t know if Fairway has Bean Field chips.
All the chips are on 1, but in various locations.
Before emailing (the email address is posted at customer service), I highly suggest that you confirm Bean Field is shipping the chips that you seek (a pretzel type by a specific brand I like disappeared for a year), AND that a local market is selling the Bean Field chips you want.
So then you’ll be able to say: “Health Nuts at 99th has… please get…”, or something like that.
I’m also annoyed that Fairway stopped carrying the “Late July” Chia & Quinoa chips. They still carry the sea salt, and sea salt and lime, but have apparently discontinued the chia and quinoa, which is the best chip I’ve ever had. 🙁
Are you sure those specific “Late July” chips are still being made?
In 2020 a lot of companies shrank food production lines.
Oh, and you know that quinoa only grows in the Andes, and it’s a staple crop for the locals, so people in rich countries buying it raises the prices in Peru, Bolivia, etc. Yes, I’ve eaten it, bought it and cooked it, but then stopped when I found out it’s not being grown anywhere in North America.
Yes, they still make it. It is on their website, and you can buy it directly from them.
Well, then I’d confirm that the quinoa chips are still being distributed in the NYC area and email Wakefern with your stock request for “Fairway”.
After 30+ years as a Fairway shopper, I have called it quits. From the bread selection to cheese to the produce, it has become pedestrian. How can a store stop selling broccoli rabe? red chili peppers? Comice pears? Roast chickens have shrunk in size, favorite raisin bran and raisins discontinued, etc. etc. And the self-checkout is guaranteed to increase your blood pressure. No thanks, I’ll keep my memories of being run over by little old ladies with deadly shopping carts.
Liz:
The first hedge fund run Fairway destroyed the bread selection. And then the second Hedgeway (bankrupt in early 2020) didn’t fix the awful bread selection. BUT Wakefern has improved at least the store brand bread, if not again stocking Eli’s and Tom Kat. (I realize there are others.)
Does Whole Foods want to open a store in the 70s on Broadway. We could use a market where you can get decent fresh produce, fresh meat and seafood in one place. Fairway is not longer that. ?
Citarella has those things in one place, and it’s a problem with fish and produce in the same room.
Amazon’s Whole Foods is overpriced, and not as good as it should be. This was true before Amazon was allowed to buy the chain.
Also Whole Foods no linger delivers! Except through Amazon, which gives a meager selection and often says its spld out of items such as milk.
The massive DSW space on 79th and Broadway will soon be vacant. I am just praying Whole Foods will take it. Perfect location.
I believe the building with DSW is owned by Zabar’s. I doubt they would rent to another grocer — too much competition.
Yes, it is owned by Zabars. But I think the issue would not be “competition” (though that is possible), but rather whether the building next door would want a food place that might create issues like smells, vermin, etc.
Of course, it would be a fun way for Saul Zabar to get back at his son-in-law, who owned the lot next door, and sold his rights to build that obnoxious building, despite Saul begging him not to.
The building that DSW was in is probably owned by whatever Woolworth’s became. The company didn’t go out of business, it just left that kind of retail business.
The building was always owned by Zabars, and rented out to various companies, including Woolworth and DSW. Zabars also owns half of their own block, the Barnes & Noble building on 82/Bway, and several other commercial buildings in the area. Saul has rejected every financial offer to develop his properties, including a $100+-million offer for the DSW site. He is a neighborhood guy, and made a pledge decades ago not to destroy the UWS with huge obnoxious buildings. That’s why he was so annoyed with his son-in-law when he sold and developed the only property that he controlled.
Had figured that Woolworth’s probably predated Zabar’s on the UWS.
And I’m nearly certain that Woolworth’s predated the vast increase in business that Klein brought to the store which he co-owned with the Zabar family. It’s the Klein generated business profits that afforded the Zabar family the ability to purchase so much real estate, but I don’t think Klein controlled and ran Zabar’s until the late 1950s or early 1960s.
But I guess it’s possible that Woolworth’s never owned the building, and the Zabar family purchased it in the 1970s. However, there is a mighty similar set up with a low former Woolworth’s location on Broadway south of 110 Street.
Will the Fairway Cafe at 74th street, reopen?
Remember a few years ago with the rats in the olives? They covered the bins for a while then went back to open bins. Yuck.
I certainly do remember that and have not bought a single olive at Fairway ever since!
Surprised that no one has mentioned the excellent Citarella which is next door and has been a UWS fixture for at least 60 years. Privately owned and operated and stocked with an amazing assortment of quality prepared foods, great breads, fresh produce and fruits, wonderful cheese and cold cuts, The in house baked goods are sensational. ( Only con here is you have to walk up a flight of stairs to shop for cheese, bakery and cold cuts ) and excellent quality meat and sea food counters manned by people who know about the products and cut everything to order. these may be a bit pricey but it is prime meat and fresh sensational sea food. I have found that on most items like produce, breads,cheese etc they are competitively priced , some may be a bit higher than a super market so I then decide if it is worth the convenience of a one stop shopping trip. Sadly on the UWS there are no large super markets like found in the suburbs. I have lived on the UWS for 60 years and I shop at Citarella, Trader Joe, Whole Foods . I do use Fairway to buy items like paper goods, cleaning supplies and ice cream. I too have noticed that the quality of their food has greatly deteriorated in the last few years. At one time they truly were a great addition to my neighborhood They had a good upstairs cafe that was so convenient and had fairly good food. Alas that too is gone.
Tina,
No one mentioned Citarella because it’s a mess.
It supposes to sell bread, fish, and fresh vegetables in the same room.
It’s red meat isn’t especially, though I’m sure there are some exceptions. And “Fairway’s” red meat had gone down hill too.
Citarella is also usually more expensive than “Fairway” for the same level of quality. But this may have changed because of Wakefern increasing prices on so many items at “Fairway”.
Now, I’m sure Citarella is good for some single items, but it’s been very problematic since transforming into a general market about 20 years ago.
Hi Jay –
I’m going to respectfully disagree about Citarella being “a mess”. IMO, the quality of their fish and meat is (and always has been) far superior to that of any iteration of Fairway. Also, as Tina mentioned, you can get anything cut to order by people who really know the product. I trust what I buy from them. The selection of seafood is unmatched and never smells like Chinatown in July, as it often does at Fairway. Their meats are also excellent and I’m never disappointed by the recommendations of the butchers there.
My family has been shopping at Citarella since I was a kid, when it was just a little seafood store. I’m not sure why you think it’s been problematic since the expansion but we’ve continued to shop there and welcomed all the additions.
Because Citarella isn’t a “supermarket”, having Fairway next door has been a good compromise for me. The addition of TJs has also been great. I buy standard groceries and paper products at Fairway and great prepackaged and frozen items from TJ, but I buy all my fresh products from Citarella. And when I don’t feel like cooking, their prepared foods are a lifesaver–always fresh, always yummy. Honestly, that lasagna is amazing.
Finally, I have to ask why is it a problem for Citarella to sell bread, fish, and fresh vegetables in the same room? Am I missing something? I feel like that happens in many stores.
“Finally, I have to ask why is it a problem for Citarella to sell bread, fish, and fresh vegetables in the same room? Am I missing something? I feel like that happens in many stores.”
Sorry, this question from the end of your comment tells me you aren’t serious about food.
For the west side of Manhattan, go to Ottomanelli (in Greenwich Village, so not a café with that name) for red meat. No, I have not tried the newish butcher on Amsterdam in the 80s, and that does look promising.
(My problem with beef purchases in Manhattan is that no store or green market vendor has good grass fed beef, so if I purchase beef – have not cooked lamb in years – anything decent from good supermarket, Fairway or Citarella included, is okay for my needs/tastes.)
Right, Citarella is fundamentally a fish store. And the fish may still be very good, but that doesn’t vitiate the fact that the store is a mess.
It was an honest question. Sorry if it offended your foodie sensibilities. I do appreciate your recommendation of Ottomanelli. I’ve shopped there many times BTW, but I’m not regularly schlepping down to Bleecker when I have Citarella a few bocks from my door and am not sacrificing quality–which is where this conversation started. Clearly, you and I have different opinions about what constitutes “a mess”, but that’s ok. There is no perfect solution for everyone. But I still say you aren’t getting better fresh product than Citarella anywhere in the neighborhood.
And I gave you a completely honest answer.
I will now add some points:
With the caveat that I have not tried the butcher at Amsterdam and 87, all beef available retail on the UWS isn’t very good; that’s why I suggested the still not perfect Ottomanelli – or just buy whatever from your usual general groceries market.
Fresh vegetables: Consider Gary Null’s Whole Foods, Health Nuts, the big independent grocery on 11th (West End) at approximately 63rd (west side), some corner Korean owned places, West Side Market, even the Wakefern owned (the Fairway owners) Gourmet Garage. I’m not commenting on vegetables at the new Brooklyn Fare, since I’ve not been in, but they look good at Brooklyn Fare on West 37th Street, which has been open for years. I avoid Whole Foods, but some times I’m sure the vegetables there are good, so that’s what 94th and Columbus.
You can skip Pioneer and Morton & Williams. D’Agostino (I believe now part of Gristedes) at 90th and Columbus may have good vegetables, they look good, but the store is generally awful, so to be avoided. Gristedes is generally to be avoided on all accounts, not just for political reasons.
Good fruit is hard to come by in NYC.
Annoying usage note, you mean “sacrificing [high] quality”. “Quality” is just noun that does not imply good or bad, so in this instances needs to be modified with a positive adjective.
I’m sure that Citarella some times stocks good to high quality vegetables. HOWEVER the problem remains that they are in the same room with the fish.
Jay I really do not see where Citarella is a MESS as you write. As to having meat, fish and produce all in the same store I see no objection , it is typical in most stores and when your food gets home I assume you store all in one refrigerator, Isn’t this a fact in all the super markets that you mention. Are you perhaps comparing food shopping in NYC and basically in all States with shopping in Europe where indeed there are separate stores for each category of food, i.e, cheese, meat, fish, produce bread , chocolates etc. In fact supermarkets are on the rise in Europe where one stop shopping is now available. Yes perhaps it is more fun and something to do while vacationing or living abroad to shop that way but sadly most of us do not have the luxury of time to do this
.
“As to having meat, fish and produce all in the same store I see no objection .”
Then you have no objection to decaying fish, and worse decaying shellfish, altering the taste of vegetables [and also bread]. That extra taste featured added to lettuce (especially) and bread is a big problem.
So I reiterate that Citarella is a mess; a mess that also has some good food, which it partly degrades by choice.
Nope, don’t dispute that there are supermarkets in Europe. Have shopped in them a bit, but not in 30 years.
However, I highly doubt that European supermarkets put bread, and or vegetables, and fresh fish in the same room.
“Isn’t this a fact in all the super markets that you mention.”
No. Unequivocally. For example, “Fairway”, the next store down Broadway from Citarella (and the subject of this article) does NOT have its bread department, or cheese, or vegetables in the same room as the fish counter.
Clearly you haven’t shopped in a European supermarket in many years. Of course they have meat and fish counters in the same room. Maybe the general quality isn’t as high as a reputable fishmonger or butcher, but the vast majority of supermarkets share the same design. There is a reason for that! And frankly, if you can smell decaying fish in a supermarket then you (or anyone else) shouldn’t be shopping there
The Fairway rotisserie chickens are still the best in the neighborhood.
The cheese counter is decimated. It’s still there physically but once you get closer you are disappointed. Forget about finding your bold or delicate favorites — they have been discontinued.
It’s a shame about the fish and meat counters. Maybe they think no one is cooking anymore. People are, and more than ever due to the pandemic. Now if I want fresh meat or seafood, I guess I will go to Whole Foods at 97th and Columbus. Or the real old timey butcher at 87th and Amsterdam. Or the seafood market at Chelsea Market, if I happen to be downtown. And thanks to the decimation of Fairway I am trekking to Sahadis in Brooklyn now more than ever.
Overall Wakefern does not seem to understand the UWS or that Fairway is for foodies. We value the experience and taste and skills of the cheese- fish- and meat-mongers (ok butcher, you know what I mean). We value the gourmet. It used to be that when you wanted to be a real chef, you would shop at Fairway. Now it seems Fairway shoppers can only be good suburban processed meal preppers. If I wanted to susbist on frozen or processed foods, as Wakefern seems to think we should, I would shop at Target or Trader Joe’s or become one of those box meal people I see on TV. Wakefern are you listening? Poultry and potato chips will not keep Fairway afloat.
There’s good fish market at 9th and 40, so no need to go all the way to Chelsea.
Haven’t tried the real butcher on Amsterdam in the 80s yet. Seems promising.
Doesn’t H-Mart at 110 and Broadway have a fish department. Or is it just frozen seafood?
The H-Mart on 110th has a pretty good fish department (not huge, but quality is decent), and their meat is quite good.
Surprisingly, the fish counter at Jubilee, on 69th & Freedom Place has a not terrible fish counter too. Not as extensive as Fairway used to be, but pretty good quality.
Hadn’t heard of Jubilee, but have not really been down in the new Riverside South development.
Yes, thought H-Mart would have good fish. It’s a well run chain.
I sent this to Fairway a few days ago. No response so far
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I have been a very long time customer at the 74st store. Your store had a special place in my heart. Not so much anymore. Since your financial troubles I’ve noticed a significant drop in quality in your products, and the scarcity/elimination (?) of others. These things have sadly reduced/eliminated my visits to your store.
Here are just 3 examples:
1–There is no daily organic cooked chicken! It seems it’s sporadically sold, and then only 1 flavor When it is there, the only choice is “plain”, not BBQ, Latin, Herb etc. which you used to carry The non-organic is flavorless, even the Latin variety. All organic Latin, BBQ, etc. had flavor. This is an upscale neighborhood which prefers/ demands high quality and organic products. Your quality of products has diminished.
2–This neighborhood has a high concentration of Jewish clientele. Recently I was astounded that in the kosher Shuk section, you sold sweet noodle kugel made of penne pasta !! I only found that when I cut into it at home. The standard is made of egg noodles. That’s like selling pepperoni pizza and substituting bologna. Really? In this neighborhood? I mentioned this to friends who were shocked.
3–Finally at the deli counter the last few times I’ve been disappointed that the sliced horseradish cheddar cheese has not been available. Has that been eliminated?
I highly recommend the new Brooklyn Fare on West End and W62 (where Western Beef used to be). It’s an absolute pleasure to shop in. Great selection of fresh and prepared foods. Sushi station. Fast, efficient check-out. And a staffed, competitively priced fish counter in back! If you’re not nearby, they deliver.
I like that big independent market on the west side of 11th/West End at approximately 64th street.
Every time I’ve shopped at the West 37th Street Brooklyn Fare, I’ve felt that the store missed a lot, but I don’t think that location has a fish counter. But it’s certainly a vastly better store than the also Wakefern owned Gourmet Garage.
Haven’t been to the new Brooklyn Fare in the old Western Beef space.
In a recent past, it was easy to order from Fairway online and have the groceries delivered nicely to your building.
But now, with the shoddy coordination online, and in making deliveries, between Fairway and Instacart, the process of ordering online from Fairway has become a waking nightmare.
The current owners should be ashamed of themselves.
One wonders if it hasn’t occurred to them to open a “test” account, which the Fairway/Instacart employees servicing would not know was a “retail spy,” and see whether they think that shabby level of service is tolerable.
More corporate doublespeak.
“We’re improving the customer experience” really means “We’re maximizing profits at the customer’s expense.”
Right.
I have seen changes both good and bad since the store got taken over. However, the managers (whether known to the owners or not) have always been willing to cut corners in certain ways. Some may remember that the pickle barrels were much closer to the floor at one time (before Fairway was bought out). I happened to know that it was illegal and that there has to be a minimum number of inches between the floor and the bottom of the containers. Twice I told management, and twice noting happened. So I reported it to the Dept of Health, which came out and fined them and forced them to correct the issue (I also made them put in the sneeze guard, which had been missing.)
On the other hand, the new owners deserve kudos for keeping their promise not to downsize the staff when they bought the place, or when they put in the self-service check-out machines. Anyone who wanted to remain was kept, and simply re-assigned to other areas, without reduction in pay (I know this to be true from personal relationships). So I believe them when they say that no staff will be let go with the introduction of the new freezers.
And with THAT said, some of the staff HAVE told me that it is simply not as much fun to work there anymore. 🙁
Overall, I’d say overall situation (and set-up) has worsened, but that it is not the s—hole that some here are claiming it has become.
As for Zabars, I have been shopping there for over 40 years, and I disagree with the comments made by some here. Yes, prices have risen, but not by that much (prices have risen EVERYWHERE), but I have actually seen an INCREASE in choices, and continue to find the staff helpful and efficient.
Except a lot of cashiers who worked there for say 5 to 10 years, no longer work at the store. Where is Wakefern employing them then, a warehouse?
Sure the cashiers with 20+ years all kept they’re jobs, but not the ones with just 8 years at the store.
Also, except for ice cream — which is still cheapest at Fairway, prices at Fairway West 74th have increased at greater rate than at other area supermarkets over the last 2 years.
Fairway has gone way downhill. I used to shop there all the time and now rarely go. Maybe Wakefern should now model it after their suburban Shop Rites, which are clean, well-laid-out and have quality and quantity. Current Fairway sucks.
It doesn’t suck, it has things other markets don’t.
But it’s not as good as the already declined Hedway 1 and then Hedway 2.
The Glickberg owned and Steve Jenkins run Fairway was best. For a while Jenkins managed Hedway 1 stores.
I hear they spell morons with a capital “M”. Would all of you prefer the bathing olive bar rats run rampant again? Get a clue folks, that store has had zero capex investment in decades, and as it stood, cannot be profitable. Hence the books were cooked for years and the IPO a fraud.. Wake up clowns
Well, except that Hedgefundway 2 installed all new refrigeration, new AC, redid the stockroom accessed from West 74th, built the teaching kitchen, and the Hedgefundway 1 entirely replaced the floor — which had been basically bare plywood for decades, no, no capital expenditures at all. /s
Also only Hedgefundway 1 (which was the owner during the infamous circa 2013 rats in the olives event) did an IPO.
I have plenty of problems with Fairway since the Glickerbergs sold, and especially since Jenkins stopped running the stores, plural, for the first hedgefund — his management of the store staring in the 1970s is the reason for its good reputation. But to say there’s been no capital expended on the West 74th Street store is simply untrue.
Fairway’s cost-cutting is costing them customers. I don’t go there anymore. The Organic section moved to the ground floor is laughable now, and they no longer bother to carry specialty items that kept me coming back because it was the only place on the UWS where they could be found. It’s a shoddy grocery store now with complete disdain for its customers and the demographics of their “flagship” location.
True, even when it was Hedgefundway 1 or 2, I shopped at Fairway at least 3 times a week, and often more.
But now I go about once every 10 days, and that’s just if I know that I can find something at “Fairway” which other area markets don’t ever stock or charge a great deal more for. Only then, once I have that item (there’s a pretzel “don’t ever stock” example I purchased this week) do I consider buying things that “Fairway” has, but which other markets also sell. So “Fairway”‘s incompetence has, in most incidents, lost the sales to me, and I assume others, of those other items which are stocked consistently at “Fairway” but also at other area markets/shops.
It’s so bad that, even if I know the price to be less at “Fairway”, when/if the item I want is on the shelf at “Fairway”, I will shop at other markets, if I can be sure the other markets have what I seek, despite the fact that these other stores consistently charge more than “Fairway”.
Those of us in the West 90s are fortunate to have Trader Joes, Whole Foods and a new and large Key Food about to open. And yes, the West 90s is considered the Upper West Side!
Well, in the west 90s you have the extraordinary (not for meat or fish) Barzini’s, you also have West Side Market.
It’s hard to say that Trade Joe’s as a fish department, it has frozen foods department with fish — at least that’s what the 72nd Street store has for fish. It’s vegetable department is limited. Far too many wheat breads wrapped in plastic.
I avoid Amazon’s Whole Foods, though after years of not buying anything there, made a purchase at the redone West 89th Gary Null’s Whole Foods.
Vegetables are often excellent at Heath Nuts, 99th and Broadway.
Have not been in Keyfoods in years, and the old one on Amsterdam in the never seemed inviting.
“Extraordinary Barzini’s?” Really?! They have an outrageous rat problem, and have been cited several times. I have actually seen rats crawling on the shelves. and no, I don’t mean mice; I can tell them apart. I have also seen roaches, though not recently. I have refused to patronize them due to their obvious DOH-violating health issues.
Ian:
Yes, near extraordinary.
Don’t go if you like. That’s fine. But don’t imply that other stores (Fairway) don’t have rats.
As I say, I can’t recommend Barzini’s for meat.
Jay:
I’m curious. Are you lonely? You seem to comment on EVERY SINGLE COMMENT that people post. Either you are lonely and are seeking the interaction, or you are an insufferable know-it-all. Who made you the expert or arbiter of all things “foodie” on the UWS? Do you have some special degree in supermarkets? I’m really rtying to figure this out.
Thanks.
I’m very annoyed at Wakefern Way.
I’ve shopped in a great number of food stores on the UWS, but I’m far from the arbiter of “only”.
I also object to people (not you) who represent Trader Joe’s as having a fish department. It has a frozen foods department, which stocks frozen fish. Huge difference between that and Fairway, or say Citarella.
Agree re TJ. I never liked them. At the beginning, they used to use a deceptive sales tactic, by understocking their shelves to make it look like things were flying off them. This was a ruse. It irked me so much that I refused to patronize them. Of course, I was also never impressed by most of what they sold either. 🙁