Fairway Market Opening in Midtown in November

Red Hook, Brooklyn

Talk about a worthwhile store opening in the city that's NOT part of a nationwide chain. An exciting announcement for the Eastside of Midtown, Fairway Market is opening a new location this November! For those of you familiar with Fairway you know it's a truly New York store, opening it's first location way back in 1930 at it's 74th Street and Broadway location, which is still the flagship. The new location will be approximately 42,000 square feet, and one of largest in the currently 9 store chain. The new location is at Kips Bay Plaza, 30th Street and 2nd Ave, and will be filling the space where an Office Depot and Crunch Fitness once operated. Back in April Crain's New York reported that the grocery chain was in negotiations for the space, but nothing was official until just recently. Too bad for Whole Foods since they were apparently looking at the space as well...boohoo. Not that I don't like Whole Foods, but we are talking about a New York establishment, an institution, and New Yorkers need to get out and support our businesses. Nationwide chains have their place, but if you let them, they'll multiply like Gremlin's (80's movie reference.)

Here is what a typical Fairway Market offers:

• Huge selection of imported specialty items
• More than 600 artisanal cheeses
• Dozens of hot dishes prepared fresh in Fairway's kitchen
• More than 100 varieties of olive oils including unfiltered barrel oils imported exclusively from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Australia, and California
• Over 80 coffees from all over the world, roasted on premises
• Aisles with more than 90,000 traditional, specialty, and organic groceries
• Vast selection of gluten-free groceries and frozen foods
• Homemade mozzarella, sushi, pastas and sausage
• Enormous array of smoked salmon, various smoked fishes, and Fairway house-smoked salmon
• Custom-cut meats and poultry
• Fresh Glatt Kosher meats and poultry produced under strict rabbinical supervision
• Hand-selected, dry-aged USDA Prime beef
• Produce delivered fresh from farms to store, with no warehousing
• More than 70 types of olives
• Full line of organic produce
• Fresh, made-from-scratch baked goods
• Kosher bakery
• Organic and natural health and beauty aids
• Floral and plant department
• Full-service catering department

What's great about Fairway is that it really feels like a New York store. What do I mean by that without sounding crazy? Honestly you would have had to walked around the neighborhoods of New York for years to truly understand what I mean, but I'll give an example. Arthur Avenue in the Bronx is a true New York food destination with it's 100 year old market in the center surrounded by tons of amazing Italian food shops. For the average New Yorker, it's not a daily trip since not too many people care to make too many trips to the Bronx if they don't have to. For my family, and growing up in Westchester, it was really close to drive to and gave us the real New York City experience without living there. What Fairway does is bring it all together in one store, putting all the flavors of the city at your fingertips. Unfortunately if you live on the Eastside(Midtown) you've never had the chance to shop at one of their markets, unless you were in the area or felt ok with dropping 20 bucks on a cab. For most New Yorkers it's all about convenience and thankfully with the announcement, more people will get to experience just how great Fairway Markets are...