4 ms·

In NYC area we have Freshdirect now, which follows that sensible model.

mjmahone17 5y ago
I switched to FreshDirect during the pandemic, and I am probably never going to depend on a large grocery store again. FreshDirect is my weekly delivery, and the nearby bodegas have what’s needed when I need a couple things. Every large NY grocery store consistently seems to have either poor-quality or extremely expensive produce, which was drastically exacerbated last April: if you don’t go soon after they stock, people pick over, scratch and generally take all the edible-looking choices. Whole Foods was terrible for delivery: the pickers seemed to just choose what was available, which inevitably tends to be what in store shoppers left over. I’d much rather on average get an average apple or onion, without having to spend time figuring out whether it’s “good”: average is almost always good enough. My total time spent grocery shopping went down, while the quality of the food went up. Their website does a really good job of focusing me on what’s fresh, in season, and otherwise likely to be good this week, and it seems like there’s a lot less waste in this model. I can also order more than I can walk home myself, which is pretty valuable when you don’t own a car.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  The situation is completely reversed outside of a NYC like dense area where everyone has cars. Once you have a car, it makes economic sense to use it and you will likely drive near a grocery store at some point in the week. The grocery stores are also not constrained on space so the quality is much higher and rent or land costs less so prices are lower too. Although, I do have to say grocery stores in London and Toronto were much nicer than NYC in my experience, so it may be a cultural/customer demand thing too.
- oddthink 5y ago
  +1, I've been very impressed by FreshDirect. I have a Morton Williams across the street (crowded, bad produce, iffy selection) and a Whole Foods around the block (pretty nice, but long lines and I didn't really want to go in before vaccination), but FreshDirect has just worked. Their site and app are glacially slow, though. Not sure what's going on there. And for a while they've had some text-entry glitch that reverses text every now and then. But that's just griping. Also, with kids it's nice having the weekly 3-4 gallons of milk just show up rather than schlepping them home from the bowels of Whole Foods.
te_chris 5y ago
I've gotta say, groceries in NYC seem uniquely awful. We stayed with friends in Greenpoint for a week and it was grim. The supermarket that was around was dire, the bodegas were fine, but really expensive for not great quality or range, and then you could walk half an hour to Whole Foods in Willamsburg, which was eye-wateringly expensive and rammed. Compare this to where I live in a London, which is a similar PT distance to central London as Greenpoint. We do all our shopping at a brilliant greengrocer just the round the corner, there's specialty delis and such in walking distance. There's also a number of Sainsbury's and Tesco locals. Then, about 25 min walk away, there's two major supermarkets (a Waitrose and a Morrisons). I guess people in NY don't cook?
- steveBK123 5y ago
  Young people and/or "up&coming" neighborhoods in NYC in small apartments (ie - Greenpoint, Bushwick, E Village, etc). Go to UWS/UES/Greenwich Village and you will find very nice, very expensive, very overcrowded groceries. So misery either way.
- zxcvbn4038 5y ago
  Amazon Fresh does really well in NYC, has been a positive experience except that their baked goods are frequently sold out. Wal-mart wants you to go out to one of their stores to pick things up - great strategy in a city where nobody drives. Target’s master strategy wavers between being out of everything and not telling you they can’t deliver something until you try to check out. So I’ve mostly used peapod to purchase items from Aldi - that has been the most reliable way to get groceries delivered.
- MisterTea 5y ago
  > I've gotta say, groceries in NYC seem uniquely awful. We stayed with friends in Greenpoint for a week and it was grim. What you experienced are the fruits of gentrification in NYC. Greenpoint is an overpriced neighborhood which used to be a Polish enclave (still is to a degree but on life support from what I see). People down there shopped at local ethnic markets, many of which are gone due to gentrification which drove real estate prices through the roof.

I switched to FreshDirect during the pandemic, and I am probably never going to depend on a large grocery store again. FreshDirect is my weekly delivery, and the nearby bodegas have what’s needed when I need a couple things. Every large NY grocery store consistently seems to have either poor-quality or extremely expensive produce, which was drastically exacerbated last April: if you don’t go soon after they stock, people pick over, scratch and generally take all the edible-looking choices. Whole Foods was terrible for delivery: the pickers seemed to just choose what was available, which inevitably tends to be what in store shoppers left over. I’d much rather on average get an average apple or onion, without having to spend time figuring out whether it’s “good”: average is almost always good enough. My total time spent grocery shopping went down, while the quality of the food went up. Their website does a really good job of focusing me on what’s fresh, in season, and otherwise likely to be good this week, and it seems like there’s a lot less waste in this model. I can also order more than I can walk home myself, which is pretty valuable when you don’t own a car.

lotsofpulp 5y ago
The situation is completely reversed outside of a NYC like dense area where everyone has cars. Once you have a car, it makes economic sense to use it and you will likely drive near a grocery store at some point in the week. The grocery stores are also not constrained on space so the quality is much higher and rent or land costs less so prices are lower too. Although, I do have to say grocery stores in London and Toronto were much nicer than NYC in my experience, so it may be a cultural/customer demand thing too.
oddthink 5y ago
+1, I've been very impressed by FreshDirect. I have a Morton Williams across the street (crowded, bad produce, iffy selection) and a Whole Foods around the block (pretty nice, but long lines and I didn't really want to go in before vaccination), but FreshDirect has just worked. Their site and app are glacially slow, though. Not sure what's going on there. And for a while they've had some text-entry glitch that reverses text every now and then. But that's just griping. Also, with kids it's nice having the weekly 3-4 gallons of milk just show up rather than schlepping them home from the bowels of Whole Foods.

te_chris 5y ago

I've gotta say, groceries in NYC seem uniquely awful. We stayed with friends in Greenpoint for a week and it was grim. The supermarket that was around was dire, the bodegas were fine, but really expensive for not great quality or range, and then you could walk half an hour to Whole Foods in Willamsburg, which was eye-wateringly expensive and rammed. Compare this to where I live in a London, which is a similar PT distance to central London as Greenpoint. We do all our shopping at a brilliant greengrocer just the round the corner, there's specialty delis and such in walking distance. There's also a number of Sainsbury's and Tesco locals. Then, about 25 min walk away, there's two major supermarkets (a Waitrose and a Morrisons). I guess people in NY don't cook?

steveBK123 5y ago
Young people and/or "up&coming" neighborhoods in NYC in small apartments (ie - Greenpoint, Bushwick, E Village, etc). Go to UWS/UES/Greenwich Village and you will find very nice, very expensive, very overcrowded groceries. So misery either way.
zxcvbn4038 5y ago
Amazon Fresh does really well in NYC, has been a positive experience except that their baked goods are frequently sold out. Wal-mart wants you to go out to one of their stores to pick things up - great strategy in a city where nobody drives. Target’s master strategy wavers between being out of everything and not telling you they can’t deliver something until you try to check out. So I’ve mostly used peapod to purchase items from Aldi - that has been the most reliable way to get groceries delivered.
MisterTea 5y ago
> I've gotta say, groceries in NYC seem uniquely awful. We stayed with friends in Greenpoint for a week and it was grim. What you experienced are the fruits of gentrification in NYC. Greenpoint is an overpriced neighborhood which used to be a Polish enclave (still is to a degree but on life support from what I see). People down there shopped at local ethnic markets, many of which are gone due to gentrification which drove real estate prices through the roof.