Painting and essay by Robert Beck
Despite its anachronistic Upper West Side presence, or possibly because of it, I’m a fan of the Pioneer Supermarket on Columbus at 74th. I pass it on the way to and from my studio, and sometimes I drop by to shop.
Pioneer is different from newer supermarkets, their facades festooned (love that word) with colorful images of fresh vegetables and squirting fruit. This supermarket was once typical of an era, but time happened, and here they are. Let’s pause to consider that the Columbus Avenue Pioneer opened for business in 1959, which is closer to the 1800s than it is to today. Time flies when you’re shopping.
Pioneer’s retro look is authentic. Its windows, filled with advertising broadsides for wipes, pistachios, chicken, lemons, and more, look like a newspaper insert. You remember newspapers. I never noticed anyone on the sidewalk checking out the deals; no one stepping sideways, row by row, saying, “My gosh, Bean Buddy Franks are two for one!” and hightailing it inside before they sell out. I stopped out of curiosity and began reading the ads, and in less than a minute, a woman slowed and began looking at them, too. Maybe there’s something to it.
Most recently, I needed aluminum foil for a project at the studio and some twine to bundle herbs for a stock at home. I asked the first Pioneer employee I saw –- a cashier -–and she leaped from behind the register and happily took me to both.
A shout-out here for my favorite checkout. Stores wrap their registers in gum, candy, and point-of-purchase displays, necessitating a messaging system that informs customers which lanes have an available attendant. Whole Foods has a cattle-chute-like setup with color-coded flat screens, while other stores have lighted numbers or employees dedicated to directing shoppers. The Pioneer cashiers have an orange flag on a stick that they wave in the air.
There is a certain humanity in that which appeals to me. Being a child of the fifties myself, I remember the days before scanners, when people at the checkout counter keyed in every price by hand on a very clunky register. It’s amazing how good they were at that. The faster the manual machines went, the faster the cashiers became. Their fingers were a blur. When scanners arrived, all that manual stuff went the way of cursive. Pioneer didn’t open on Sundays until 2017.
It’s been said that America’s favorite flavor is More. You can add Faster and Shiny Objects to our preferred list. I like the old-school nature of Pioneer, however, the single-width entry door and slim aisles are a challenge for someone piloting today’s megastrollers. Make America Narrow Again.
It wasn’t that long ago when the neon sign on the front started losing its letters. Memory tells me that it dwindled to three: P, I, and E. That might not be exactly true, but I want it to be. The new one smacks of LED trying to be neon, but it was a practical solution. I’m charmed by the secondary sign over the entrance that says “Super P.” It’s true. Not just any P.
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See more of Robert Beck’s work and visit his UWS studio at www.robertbeck.net. Let him know if you have a connection to an archetypical UWS place or event that would make a good West Side Canvas subject. Thank you!
See Robert Beck’s earlier columns here and here.
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It is a great supermarket. Some of the best sardines available. In addition, if your fortunate,
one of the co-owners will educate you about the nutritional bale of skinless vs sardines with skin. You will also get an educational seminar on whether non-organic poultry is truly non-organic.
It’s just a great shopping experience no matter how you slice the pie.
Agree.
Not perfect, no store is, but thankful it is there.
Wish I could agree. The staff is nice, but the store is outdated, an embarrassment to the UWS.
Yuppie alert
If you’re embarrassed by a real supermarket I really don’t know what to tell you. I always point out Pioneer to visitors and they think it looks cool.
Some friends from Europe visited NYC recently. Their last visit was over 10 years ago.
They were disheartened to see NYC 2025 – trash, chain stores, more high rises replacing old buildings and other things.
Actually they thought Pioneer was one of the few authentic places left
They were right about the authenticity. Along with Stationary and Toy World on 72nd it’s practically the only store left from the old UWS.
Any chance Stuart is connected to a real estate company or chain supermarket that failed to acquire the property? I can’t think why else he’d try to make people think Pioneer is embarrassing. Surely there are enough shinny soulless cookie cutter modern chain stores in NYC these days to satisfy anyone who prefers them.
There’s 73rd Street hardware, which used to be Supreme, which admittedly was up Columbus.
How does a store embarrass you ?
Toilet paper stuck on my foot is embarrassing,
A reliable grocery store, that services a community does not bring me embarrassment.
No store is perfect, but I think they do a great job.
They were a critical source for so many of us during the pandemic. I was humbled by their service, selection, and visible dedication to their customers. It was a local example of the Brits’ mantra in WWII, “Keep Calm and Carry On.”
Robert, your description of the Whole Foods checkout as a “cattle chute” is brilliant. Waiting in one of those lines is an exercise in anxiety. Pioneer may trigger nostalgia for the human-scale supermarkets of yore (I was affiliated by marriage to Low’s Foodland in West New York, NJ, which could have been Pioneer’s twin), but it continues to fulfill its essential function of feeding the neighborhood.
Yes! Loved the WF “cattle chute” description! The orange flags at Pioneer are pretty new. I think in response to TJ’s paddle system. The cashiers used to just wave to the next person in line. My family calls it Low Brow, but lovingly.
I love Pioneer! Great meat section…and lovely beer selectIon.
A real class act. Overcharging is the norm, certain products like Ben & Jerry’s won’t be found because the owners disapprove of their political leanings, the older cashiers are surly and often angry for no reason, and none of those cashiers will automatically offer the measly 5% senior discount on Wednesdays unless you ask. Their prices are ridiculous (even Fairway is less expensive) and often mis-programmed in their computers. I use Pioneer as little as possible.
The older cashiers are NOT surly.
Fairway is only less expensive for a limited set of items, eg parmesan, olive oil, and lamb.
Living across the street 74th from Fairway, and a block away from Trader Joe’s, Pioneer for us is one-stop-shopping. We love that store! Being from Queens (hubby is an UWSer through-and-through), I’m used to my supermarkets having a wide variety of everything I need, and Pioneer never disappoints. Last Saturday, we decided to put together our little Cuisinart BBQ grill, and needed all of the accoutrements, i.e. self-lighting charcoal, burgers, hotdogs, buns, ice, and mustard, and we were making plans to go to 3 different places for our items. My husband suggested we stop in Pioneer first, and with that…we found everything we needed. Thank you Pioneer. In us, you have fans for life.
Not only were the cashiers fast, but they knew how to make change, and that change might include a 50 cent piece.
How timely. I just stepped into Pioneer for the first time yesterday, though we’ve been walking by it for years. They have a beautiful selection of Greek / Balkan / Mediterranean canned and jarred products that are hard to find elsewhere — at fair prices! Ajvar, dolmades, flavored tahinis, etc… I love niche little markets like this.
Funny, well written article and beautiful painting as always, Robert.
When Key Food is out of something near me I’ll sometimes go to that Pioneer. It’s the coolest retro market in the neighborhood long may it reign. Then again I still miss Food City.
Wow! You remember Food City? That’s where my mother shopped when I was little I loved going there with her. And I am fairly sure it was on the same block as Woolworths?
Years ago (decades ago, to be more precise), Pioneer was well known to have a large imported beer section, with reasonable prices. Maybe it still does, but I don’t drink much beer anymore so I don’t know.
The prices went up. My understanding is that Andrew Cuomo eliminated a sample pricing loophole that allowed cheap but excellent beer.
The selection is still very good.
Great beer selection, and you can buy single cans!
I never drank beer and still don’t, but in the 80s, my then-boyfriend always went there for the beer, saying they have the best selection.
I’ve always enjoyed going into Pioneer. Human style….it has a cozy feel. This article is spot on!
I’ve checked out the weekly specials posted in Pioneer’s windows.
Also, I’ve seen people in the store consulting the paper list of that week’s specials; the one distributed at the entrance.
It sure is pleasanter to shop at Pioneer (and often cheaper if you’re paying attention) than it is to shop at the Wakeferned Fairway.
The neon sign kept working until the end, but it needed constant tending. This “new” sign is just a reworking of the old, note the old frame holding the letters, what the light source is behind the red plastic is unclear.
The New Yorker in me appreciates how fast I can get in and out of Pioneer, thanks to the well-staffed front end.
Absolutely love Pioneer. Great selection of meats, Balkan products, beer, etc. Good specials.
The cashiers may not have plasticky smiles on their faces but they are wonderful – helpful and efficient.
What a delight to this PT UESider…..a painting and article by Mr. Beck! Hurray. I interrupted my husband’s epaper reading across the room to read aloud the line about 1959 being closer to the 1800’s than today. OMG, I cannot believe that this has not ever occurred to me….and I immerse myself in history, historical fiction, and spend a lot of time thinking back to my childhood in the 50’s. Making necklaces from gum wrappers, “daisy chains” from the flowering weeds in Dad’s precious lawn at our house in the ‘burbs, and candy bars on sale 3 for a dime. The charge account at the market and butcher who gave you free paper to cover your books by day two of the new school year.
Thank you RAG, and Robert Beck, for giving your readers such delightful stories and news.
BTW, where is Mr. Saltonstall? Haven’t seen him latelly? Have I snoozed?
Great painting. But I have to respectfully disagree with the author’s statement that replacing the neon was a “practical solution.” It wasn’t. It was the most facile solution. And the cheapest. Don’t confuse practicality with ease. They’re not the same thing. And the neighborhood loses something every time a neon sign is extinguished.
Great painting. Great accompanying article. The usual great neighborhood highlight from Robert Beck.
I will never shop here!!! I once saw a lady stocking produce put her hands down her pants, scratch herself and then went back to touching the produce.
That is upsetting.
However these days, quite a lot of unhealthy- unsanitary occurrences at Whole Foods with people who bring dogs to the store….
Yikes.
Pioneer is not known for especially good vegetables and fruits.
Anyhow, don’t you put vinegar on your salad?
I I once saw a server at Cafe Lux repeatedly picking at her ear, examining it, and then continuing to hold the plates. Gross, but I’m not going to boycott the place because of one untrained worker. Report it to management and move on with your lif
Don’t you wash your fruit before you eat it?
Front or back? It makes all the difference, you know.
I lived in the W 70s when I first moved here (in the early 80s) and I loved Pioneer. I still do and I’m so happy it’s still there. So many things change on the UWS but seeing Pioneer makes me smile.
I shopped at the Pioneer for the last 25yrs. I’ve always stuck up for it because whenever it is mentioned, a lot of people like to slam it. People usually act like it is beneath them to enter the Pioneer with the Fairway and Trader Joe’s close by. All I know is the times I had to go to Fairway for meat or produce last couple decades, it was never as good as the Pioneer. Never. Give them a chance. They’re good.
I wish I could like it more, but I mainly shop for fresh produce and their selection is a abysmal, and pricey on top of it
Old school vibe but new school prices. One visit was enough for me.
denton,
Then you missed a lot.
Thank you for this article. Pioneer brings back so many memories. My Dad was thrilled it was still there. We had another Pioneer closer to us near 64th street where we did all our shopping. Later on there was a Finest supermarket around 57th street. These memories warm my heart.
Pioneer frequently sells dark-meat turkey parts — legs and thighs — which have all but disappeared into the maw of ground turkey, at chain supermarkets. Fairway also used to carry these, but no more. I hear Fairway is changing their slogan from “Like No Other Market” to “Like Shop-Rite in Hackensack”.
Or: “Like No Other Market, Ignore the Gourmet Garage Packaged Food, and No, We Don’t Sell That [eg turkey legs or Jeni’s Ice Cream]”
Although the prices are a tad high, the store is always clean, well-stocked,, and carries some lesser available items. I shop here whenever I can.
The staff is great. Love all the checkout people and the stockers, etc. But some of the prices are so over the top (at least 40% to 50% more than at other grocery stores) that I only go in for certain things.
Jill,
Really, the prices when higher are not that much higher, and are often much lower than Fairway, eg President butter from France.
I love the Super P! It was always the best place to by beer back in the day if you were having a party.
And I think the people who own the store also own the building. Secret of longevity for retailers. Fisher Bros & Leslie kosher butcher on 72nd St survives for the same reason. Similar story at Health Nuts on Brdwy and 98th
Briefly in the 70s, that tiny storefront next to it was a pot store with a very slight pretence of being a used bookstore. Unsurprisingly, it dudnt last long.
I have shopped here before and sometimes still do. Its just a bit off the beatenntrack for me. They have a great beer selection and the store is a bit of a maze. Many varieties of items and lots of selection. Its definitely a throwback and I enjoy the vibe here. They have great specials as well.