A new market promising to be open 24/7 has popped up at 2755 Broadway at 106th Street, where a KFC closed earlier this year. But despite its familiar-sounding name, it’s not related to Westside Market, the chain of supermarkets around the UWS and the rest of the city, according to managers at Westside Market. In fact, the owners of Westside Market are clearly unhappy with the similarity, Chief Operating Officer Ian Joskowitz told us.
“John Zoitas started Westside Market decades ago. John, his family and thousands of current and former employees worked their tails off building a great reputation. Under no circumstances are we going to allow anyone to use our name to confuse people into thinking that their business is part of our family of markets. We have absolutely nothing to do with the market opening in the near future on 106th street and Broadway.”
It’s not clear then whether West Side Famous Market is connected to another chain or is a new concept. But regardless it will enter an area with quite a bit of competition — a Garden of Eden one block north, a Gristedes two blocks south and a Westside Market and H Mart on 110th.
If anyone knows more about who’s behind this market, let us know!
Thanks to Tracy and Peter for the photo.
I hope it has better prices than the others! We need something like a Sprouts (I go to these in Maryland, but they are in other states too), or an Aldi’s in this neighborhood. Please!
Westside Market closed on 77 & Broadway a few years ago with a promise to relocate soon in the same vicinity and we are still waiting. Is it still a possibility?
I miss Westside Market SO MUCH!
97th and Broadway.
Red Apple is owned by John A. Catsimatidis who purchased Gristedes supermarkets from their founders in 1986. Not finished in the early 1990’s Red Apple also purchased what was left of Sloan’s supermarkets as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gristedes
After bailing out DAG, Red Apple all but owns that chain as well.
Three supermarkets all of middling to low quality all owned by same company.
Probably best deals are found by those who go through Gristedes garbage bags at night.
But it looks as if that has been stopped as many if not most Gristedes supermarkets have either commenced very early trash pick-ups or like some DAG stores hold things overnight for early AM collection.
I miss it, too. I was a regular West Side Market shopper, and now I’m stuck with Fairway, which really pales in comparison. The lines are long, the store is overcrowded, the produce is sub-par, and more often that not I come home to find that at least one of my purchases is unusable (had a carton of broken eggs, a leaky container of olives, and an open package of tofu, all in the past month, and a few days ago I went to use the eggs I’d purchased that very morning, only to notice that they’d expired at the beginning of July!) Not to mention that the employees at Fairway seem to have very little knowledge of their stock or where to find things in the store. West Side Market is superior in every way. Unfortunately for those in the 70s/80s, the store on 98th is a pretty long haul to do a full grocery shop, especially in the summer when frozen items will thaw on the way home. I would be SO happy if West Side Market opened a store in the 70s or 80s to replace the one they closed last year!
I’m still crossing my fingers that Westside Market opens on the corner of 80th and B’way. So much commercial space available there. I wouldn’t even mind a nominal increase on product price. As it stands now, I’m doing my shopping at the 110 street Westside Market and Key Food on 86 street. (Even the cashiers at 110 Street miss their 77 street location).
I remember growing up and having Food City on West 80th and Red Apple on West 83. Miss them to this day ,,,
Red Apple was a pit. We lived on 83rd and only went there in dire need.
This is going to be the “Original”, “Famous Original”, or just “Ray’s” Pizza thing all over again lol.
“It’s not clear then whether West Side Famous Market is connected to a chain or is a new concept.”
Seems crystal clear to me.
How about closer to where I live? 106 is too close to Whole Foods & the market on 97 & Bway. Downtown here on 88 Street, I’ve seen two super markets go out.
The size is not very big – about the size of many bodegas. Considering the rent prices, they will have to either charge very high prices for most items, or specialize somehow. Considering Garden of Eden is across the street, the real WSM on 110th, Gristedes on 103rd, H-Mart on 109th and a similar-sized korean grocery/bodega on 104th, I am not sure how they can survive. Are people that lazy that they wont walk an extra block to get to a cheaper or larger store?
Hahaha….
I hope it has nothing to do with Westside Market, but it’s great publicity for the new market. Probably done on purpose to get press.
As Stu points out, given that the location size is relatively small, is there any reason to believe that this is a grocer? It seems more likely this will remain a restaurant or deli of some sort, with the ‘Market’ moniker riffing on ‘Boston Market’ and the like. Given the property, that was the first thing I thought of, long before I made any connection to Westside Market.
The manager at the 103rd St. Gristedes told me they are taking the vacant commercial space to the corner over and are going to be expanding the store… at least that was the plan, originally to be open by fall but no renovation seems started.
I Certainly miss West Side Market @ 77th & Broadway. To me, their produce was much better than Fairway, but others may not agree with me. And their employees were not surly like what you find at Fairway. Is West Side Market really trying to find another location in the ’70s or ’80s?
C’est la Vie
Actual West Side Markets exist within a half mile North and South of this location.
Every time I pass the closed Lowes store at Broadway and 68th Street I think, “THIS is where Westside Market should move!’ After all, it was a huge Food Emporium for many years.