Photo by Laura Weiss.
Everyone know Whole Foods has the most expensive food on the Upper West Side, right? Right??
Wrong!
A new report from Bloomberg Intelligence took a look at prices for a basket of 97 foods at several grocery chains in the New York area, and the results may surprise you. (News reports about the proprietary study don’t include every chain — Westside Market, Key Food, Associated and Trader Joe’s are notably absent — but the ones below were cited by shopping blog Racked).
1. Gristedes: $458.84
2. Food Emporium: $429.66
3. D’Agostino: $428.64
4. FreshDirect: $398.44
5. Whole Foods: $391.39
6. Fairway Market: $347.10
Anyone surprised?
As one Yelp reviewer wrote about the Gristedes on 84th and Columbus: “Oh Gristedes. Where to even begin.”
I suspect that in actuality it’s West Side Market that would be at #5 if it had been included, with Trader Joe’s possibly cheaper in price than even Fairway. In true Upper West Sider fashion, I’ve comparison shopped between West Side Market, Fairway, Citarella, Zabar’s, and Trader Joe’s relative to numerous items (not always the same brand of course, since Trader Joe’s offers its own brand), and West Side Market is often the most expensive and never the cheapest. But, that’s not a complaint because: 1. They’re also the only one of those four that’s open 24/7, 365 days of the year (they may close for a few hours on Christmas, I’m not sure) and 2. They’re still cheaper than their West Side Market location in Chelsea. I actually like West Side Market, it’s just that for some products it’s not a good place to shop when value for money is your main concern. Each of the five markets I mentioned is a go-to place for me depending on the product.
Markets on Broadway are the highest in prices due to the prime locations they inhabit. Depends on what you buy, Westside Market may actually be closer to #2 if it were rated. Inconsistent prices between different store locations are also an issue at Gristedes and Westside Market.
A place to explore outside the UWS is Best Market at 118th and Fredrick Douglas Blvd. Pathmark has some locations uptown with reasonable prices also.
Associated (2 blocks from West Side, on Amsterdam) is usually pretty cheap and good quality if you check your produce. I don’t really buy meat from there though.
Also 24/7
HA! I knew it. When WF opened up I did some spot-checking between their prices & Gristedes, and they were generally lower (for much better produce, I might add). Plus, the checkout clerks weren’t grim and surly. Gristedes and their ilk have had a captive market for years, and I’m glad they’re getting called out for it.
WIsh they would have checked into Gourmet Garage – it’s not Gourmet and it’s not a Garage
They forgot to also include Pioneer as well as Zabars which I would put at #3 & #4. As much as the prices annoy me the selection of foods is amazing on the UWS. I almost always find any food item, even rare imports.
Don’t fool yourself. once you get past the basics (coffee, bread, lox) – Zabar’s prices are out of control. You need to shop carefully.
agreed.
i love pioneer. same 3 managers since late 1970s, i could shop in my sleep. plus, i LOVE the time warp, just love it. it is what i imagined the inside of my ‘Plasticville, USA supermarket’ of my Lionel train set to be like.b
added bonus: the clerks. one day all of the women had worn their biggest, gold hoop earrings and it was quite a site. beautiful. surly? i don’t care. i think of it as their market, and they simply let me in.
Re: “…it is what i imagined the inside of my ‘Plasticville, USA supermarket’ of my Lionel train set to be like….”
Ummm…doubtful that the people who created the Plasticville, USA supermarket were envisioning the UWS!
Just imagine:
– during the day, tiny plastic replicas of $6 per hour nannies pushing tiny plastic replicas of $600 dollar Bugaboo strollers laden with tiny plastic replicas of screaming spoiled brats;
– earlier, tiny plastic replicas of slightly-confused 90-year-olds pushing tiny plastic replicas of two-wheeled shopping trolleys;
– and after 6:00 P.M., tiny plastic replicas of 30-somethings in business attire impatiently asking the tiny plastic replica of the Cheese-guy why he doesn’t have any more tiny plastic replicas of $12 per pound Brie.
Then again, it would be wonderful to experience this…but first you’d have to have someone make a tiny plastic replica of yourself!
If you can find a $6/hour nanny, please give send me her number. Try $15-$20/hr.
Commenter is specifically referring to PIONEER supermarket, not UWS in general. There surely is not Cheese Guy in Pioneer.
fairway, here i come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!………and whole foods would be the obviously close second.
You really ought to do a piece on the rising prices at Fairway since their IPO. I have receipts saved for ten years – and for a long time, they were the best buy and reasonable. Certain items i have bought for years have gone up a whopping 117% this year alone!
I’m not in the least surprised. I noticed a while ago that Fairway was a relative bargain in NYC, and that Whole Foods was a good bit cheaper than Gristede’s. The closest store to me is a Gristede’s, but I never go there — I go an extra block and a half to Westside Market, or several extra blocks to Whole Foods, and if I’m shopping for a lot of stuff, sometimes I’ll even hike more than a mile each way to Fairway. (If it were closer, that’s where I’d go all the time.)
My last visit to Gristede’s was a couple of years ago. I was in a hurry and stopped in quickly to grab a jar of some spice I needed for a recipe. It was $12! (And no, it wasn’t a fancy spice). I put it down at walked to the next closest store, which at the time was Gourmet Garage. I got the spice for $4.
Fresh Direct should be charging a lot less. Have you seen those boxes sitting in the street while the delivery people smoke cigarettes. Support our local grocery stores. Its important!
Every day,Fresh Direct parks a truck directly in the crosswalk of 101 St. and Amsterdam, often blocking the traffic light. The truck, frequently unmarked, keeps its motor running all day long.
Not surprised at all. Gristedes is ridiculously expensive. Wonder where Garden of Eden and West Side Market would fit in that list. Towards the end, I’m thinking.
I know if you shop carefully, Whole Foods on Columbus is the place to go. Their store brand quality is good and fairly priced and they have good sales. Also, I find it the most pleasant place to shop, brightly lit, wide aisles, helpful staff and a great return policy. I also supplement when I see sales at other stores and use the little neighborhood store near me. I avoid the other Whole Foods as they are like zoos!
I wonder why Trader Joe’s was left out??
As a newcomer to NYC, groceries are a real challenge. Name brands are only available at some markets, like Fairway. You can never count on a product being in stock. Delivery will often result in things missing or broken. As for prices, here is an example. KIND nut bars. Prices from $1.49 to $2.99 for the same item. If you want the best prices, be prepared to walk to several grocers.
Not surprised….Gristedes & Food Emporium prices have always been absurdly high. Their sales are NOT sales! I wish that Associated, Key Foods, Trader Joe’s & Pioneer had been included in the study. I recommend getting the circulars on line Friday mornings and look for the bargains. CVS, DR & Rite Aid circulars (and we all know theres one on EVERY block), are available Sunday morning.
Gristedes is a total racket! I was so outraged by the prices (e.g., a box of pasta that was 3x the price I could get it for on FreshDirect) that I put down my half full basket in the middle of the aisle and walked out. I haven’t been back since.
FAIRWAY PRICING SCAM: Fairway shelf prices are sometimes lower than the price charged at the checkout counter. Either it’s sloppiness or intended : the disparity between the 2 prices: always higher in the computer. You need to watch the ringing-up, and insist that someone check the shelf price. This is a bother, and Fairway figures you won’t want the bother, or won’t notice. You pay higher.
I have never been to any grocery or drug store where this did NOT happen, and sometimes the discrepancies DO go in the consumer’s favor, including at Fairway. It’s careless or rushed minimum wage employees doing the work — what do you expect? Do you really think the CEO of the store arranges for this? Just pay attention when they ring you up and you’ll be fine.
If it really were company policy to deliberately do this, don’t you think some disgruntled former employee would have exposed the “scam” long ago?
Very perceptive!! I completely agree with you, and I watch the ringing very often and 9 out of 10 times the prices are higher from the shelf price, not by a few cents but by a dollar or more.
TraderJoes may be cheaper, but they don’t have everything, and I’m noticing that they have been recalling their products quite often.
I, too, wonder how WSM would stack up. I emailed the reporter who wrote the Bloomberg piece to request a list of the items in her “cart”. I’ll post the results if she responds.
A survey of grocery chains by Bloomberg Intelligence? What “intelligence”? As commentators have pointed out, a number of chains which should be included aren’t there. Some survey. P.s. There are NO “supermarkets” in Manhattan (80,000 sq. ft. or greater).
Where are all the anti-chain UWS elitist poseurs? You know, the ones who use phrases like “blecch” and “yecccch” and “stay in horrible NJ” when (fill in the blank chain) enters Manhattan. Where are you on this story? The silence is deafening!
Because all the stores listed are only in Manhattan. Even Food Emporium, which is now owned by A&P, started in NY.
Keep quiet or all the NJites will be clogging WEA trying to get to Fairway.
There’s a Fairway in Paramus! And it’s big and roomy.
Yeah I know, Fairway went public this year and they have plans for nationwide expansion, I assume to compete with Whole Foods. Almost all the Fairways are roomier than 74th st, but 74th is where it all started, and I kinda enjoy the shopping-as-a-contact-sport. Note to retired people: Please shop at Fairway when everyone else is at work.
My favorite activity on Sunday mornings used to be shopping at Fairway and (literally) bumping into Mayor Koch. He insisted on doing his own shopping, every Sunday morning at 10:30 or so, and insisted on the 74th St store.
One day, we reached for the same peach. I said, “Oh! Mr. Mayor, please take it. You need your nourishment!” His response? “Oh, constituent! So do you!”
I got the peach.
****
Now, it’s FreshDirect and Barzinis. Since the IPO, the quality of prepared foods at Fairway hasn’t been great.
I’m surprised D’Agostino isn’t #1.
If Gristedes left property values in the area would go up 5%. If Publix moved in they would go up another 5%.
Arrrggghhhh!! Publix in NY?
No-o-o-o-o-o!!
Publix is great for Flori-duhh, where it qualifies as a major cultural attraction.
But LEAVE IT in Flori-duhh, as seeing it here will traumatize us reluctant-snowbirds, reminding us that winter is coming and soon we will have to decamp to that Land-of-the-Bland.
Oh, you poor thing! How I pity you.
Having-to to spend an entire winter, every year, surrounded by all those philistines, in that vast cultural wasteland of land of early-bird specials, where the weekly mahjong and bingo at the senior clubhouse passes for “nightlife”…
How do you manage?
I moved to Staten Island. The best prices here? SHOPRITE.
But since it costs you $15 to get across the bridge, is the price discount on SI worth it? (I’m asking seriously.)
Gristedes=sticker shock. It is unbelievable how high their prices are. Unfortunately if I need to run out for two minutes to get something I forgot, I go there and want to kick myself as I leave. It’s just plain highway robbery. Associated is the cheapest but does not carry the wide variety you find at Gristedes. When they say they have a sale, it is usually equivalent to the everyday price at Associated.
Here’s the problem I have with Fairway @Bway & 74th St. — the prices on the shelves often don’t match the scanned prices at the register. On three different visits this week I have been charged more than the shelf tag. $4.99 for $2.99 Dole Pineapple Juice. $10.99 for $9.99 per pound listed roast beef. $4.79 for Bel Aria rice on the shelf for $2.99. Is it merely incompetence or is there something systemic going on? By the way, whenever there is a discrepancy between the shelf price and the scanned price, it is always in the store’s favor. Often I don’t realize the “mistake” until I get home.
You should report the fact that Fairway regularly has incorrect info when they scan your groceries to the City’s Department of Consumer Affairs. If they find an institutional problem there should be big fines.
I would be very happy if we all started boycotting Gristedes. They are thieves. We live near the one on 103rd, which is right near housing projects. It makes me so angry that people from the projects have to pay two or three times what they should for simple items. E.G., a big bottle of Tide costs $26.00 at Gristedes. It is $10 less from Fresh Direct. (OK, it’s $16 less upstate, but…). We used to go there for “emergencies,” but have stopped shopping there. We go to Garden of Eden, Whole Foods, West Side, local small places even to avoid Gristedes.
You pay for the isles to be clear.
#antisocial
I agree that Gristede’s is not only overpriced but dirty, disorganized and the clerks are unpleasant. I would rather walk a few blocks to Key foods which is relatively inexpensive, but very crowded. meat dept. poor, Moving to new larger location. Love D’Agostinos but really overpriced. Best meat in neighborhood . Trader Joe’s is the best but far away. Staff is friendly and helpful, prices are good and they have most items.
“Staff is friendly and helpful, prices are good and they have most items.”
Too friendly, I’m afraid; over-the-top, transparently contrived, hyper-friendliness/politeness.
At least in the case of the cashiers, in my experience.
Does anyone actually appreciate such saccharine phoniness?
Good article West Side Blog! I really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments. We all seem to agree that Gristedes’ is robbery especially in low income neighborhoods. I would love to see a Shop Rite on the UWS. Whenever I leave the city I try to take advantage of the lower prices. Word of caution….wherever you shop pay attention to whats ringing up on the register item by item. Sale items are not always in the computer and have to be brought to the attention of the check out clerk. Every penny counts.
“We all seem to agree that Gristedes’ is robbery”
“I would love to see a Shop Rite on the UWS.”
Ironically, Gristedes carries many ShopRite brand products* …at prices much higher than what you would pay for them at ShopRite…but still considerably less than the comparable name-brand items.
(*This, despite the fact that to the best of my knowledge, the respective parent companies of the two chains are not affiliated with each other.)
OOOPS forgot….if a sale item is not on the shelf be bold….ask for a rain check. Speak up.
Now that I can with free shipping (Prime account deal) bulk order spices and pantry items from Amazon, like coconut powder, cavity fighting and Atkins friendly xylitol sweetener, Stok coffee shots for hot cocoa spiking, paprika, annatto seads, roasted pumpkin seads (Nuts.com), bay leaves, real oyster sauce, prepared French glaze stock concentrates, dried shiitake mushrooms, diced olives, Atkins friendly black soybeans, real wasabi powder, red wine vinegar, oils, curry pastes, all very expensive or unavailable locally, never in bulk, my shopping at West Side Market on 110th is extremely simple and cheap since their chicken price (non organic) is as good as Costco, as are ribs I often braise on the stovetop, and a few greens, along with cheaper than fresh frozen blueberries that make a perfect icy smoothie with water and xylitol. The luxury items are now cheap bulk purchases.
I love Pioneer, but Applegate cold cuts – sold at Trader Joe’s – are $2 less than they are priced at Pioneer.
Is anything happening with the former Food City location? That spot on Columbus is just sitting there, empty. Such a shame.
@ whatsupduck :
( https://www.westsiderag.com/2014/09/04/study-reveals-which-manhattan-grocery-chains-charge-premium-prices#comment-248718 ;
No “reply” button )
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More than any peach could have nourished his body, did your deference, no doubt, nourish the late mayor’s insatiable ego.
This list is extremely inaccurate in my (recent) experience. I visited Whole Foods today purely on the basis of your article and graphic, and the experience is not one I’ll repeat any time soon. Unless the shopping basket was specifically tailored to favor Whole Foods over the competitors, there is no way on earth their prices compare favorably with Fresh Direct (or with D’Agostino’s, for that matter.) The Whole Foods selection in every department I visited was laughably inadequate and I will make it a point to avoid this chain in the future.
“I visited Whole Foods today purely on the basis of your article and graphic,”
I was considering doing the same. Now I don’t know…
Thanks for posting your experience.
It seems that I am wrong; I’m now hearing that the Whole Foods on B’wy and 89th is not, in fact a Whole Foods, despite its signage. ( ? ) My comments, just to clarify, apply to this not-Whole Foods store which is named Whole Foods.
I had posted my previous comment before seeing this correction (which had not appeared for me earlier). Thanks for posting it.
Regarding the store at 2421 Broadway (northwest corner of 89th street) that you went-to, the full-name is actually, “Gary Null’s Uptown Whole Foods”.
But I used to frequent this store, around twenty years ago, and I recall it being just “Whole Foods”. Not only that but it, along with a downtown location (SoHo, if I recall correctly) of the same name, were the only two “Whole Foods” I was familiar with. At that time, Gary Null promoted these stores, which carried his line of products, on his radio shows* and made regular appearances in at least the Broadway location. But I do not recall, from back then, ever being aware of or under the impression that Null had any actual ownership in either location.
(*I used-to listen, I am ashamed to reveal. But I was still rather young at the time.)
Perhaps someone who knows the history can summarize some of it here, such as when and why the name change was made (legal pressure from Mackey’s Whole Foods chain? The opening of a branch of said chain at Columbus and 97th?), when Gary Null purchased the store (or if he had always had at least part ownership of it), etc.
Regarding this “Gary Null’s Uptown Whole Foods” at 2421 Broadway, a Yelp reviewer wrote,
“Look at it this way, you’re not just buying organic produce here–in one of the wealthiest cities and highest rent in the world I might add; you’re supporting Gary Null’s important health outreach and activism, for example.”
I do not wish to take this thread off-topic. I will just note that unlike the Yelp reviewer I quoted just above, many, if not a solid majority of people would not take any comfort in the knowledge or thought of supporting such “outreach and activism”. Quite the contrary, I’m afraid, for many.