January 16, 2020 Community News, Shopping

Gristedes’ “Store 70” at 71 South End Ave. and West Thames will close on Jan. 28, the latest in what seems like a citywide shuttering of supermarkets. Thanks to J. for the tip; the Gristedes real estate parent, Red Apple Group, confirmed the date and added this:

“Our owner, John, owns the real estate, so any changes will still be up to our discretion. We will be looking to remodel; whether it be a remodel of the grocery store, or a repurpose of the store, John will make sure that it works best in that space and for the community.”

John is of course John A. Catsimatidis, the Greek immigrant billionaire owner of Gristedes Foods as well as Red Apple Group, which holds the real estate and runs an aviation company and an oil refinery in Pennsylvania among other things. (I love how Red Apple assumed I was on a first-name basis with Catsimatidis, and I guess they were right.)

In a story in The Times, Catsimatidis points out that not only has rent gone up since he started in the business in the ’70s (from 2 percent of sales to 10 or 12 percent) but street vendors now dip into profits and worse, so does the proliferation of drugstores. Citywide there are almost 600 CVSs and Duane Reades that all sell milk, bread, even some produce.

I had begun to think of Tribeca as a food desert, but of course the neighborhood does not truly compare to real deserts like those in the South Bronx. While we do fall below the City Planning Standard Ratio, if you study the maps below, and it certainly feels dry (the advent of Cocoon at the Best Market space proves that as a collective we have not recovered from the closing of Food Emporium Best Market in October of 2018) there are options here where in some neighborhoods there are none. I could get with the program and grocery shop at Target (just can’t seem to bring myself to do it) but we also have Whole Foods and of course Morgan’s and Amish for emergencies, and depending on where you live, Gourmet Garage on Franklin, Trader Joe’s on Spring, Gristedes at Maiden Lane, the Wall Street Whole Foods on its way, and Key Food on Fulton. (What am I missing?)

I’d like to think there’s still the space and the market — especially in Tribeca — for a real grocery store, but if it’s not coming from Catsimatidis, I’m not sure who can pull it off. TJ’s, can you come just a bit farther south?