Wednesday, May 17, 2006

A Big Beautiful Brooklyn Box...Fairway Opens in Red Hook


After months of anticipation, we went to the new Fairway that opened in Red Hook, Brooklyn today. Yes, it is huge (52,000 sq. feet) and filled with a multitudinous variety of fresh and prepared foods, including produce, meats (they even have an aging locker for steaks), seafood, cheeses, coffees, beverages of every sort (with an alcohol level below 6%), a bakery with everything from baguettes to bagels, a staff friendlier than Japanese airline flight attendants (impossible?!), and low, make that LOW prices!

We compared and found that many of our staples, e.g. Tropicana Ruby Red Grapefruit juice, Haagen Daz ice cream, Farmland Skim Plus, and Sauders Organic extra large eggs were all anywhere from 50 cents to $1 less than Key Food or Met Food.

Last night at a sake tasting at The Good Fork we heard that the Grand Opening will be Monday, May 22. Mayor Bloomberg is expected to preside at the ribbon cutting ceremony. Yes, this SUPERmarket is literally a BIG deal! It brings more jobs to what was until recently an underdeveloped area. A few years ago, unless you lived there, Sunny's (or Johnny's as this quirky bar is sometimes known) was the only reason outsiders ventured into this former warehouse-fraught area on the southern Brooklyn waterfront. Now, with the new Cruise Line Terminal and the impending opening of an IKEA, the once modest local economy will get a welcome boost and consumers are winners too.

Getting to the new Fairway might be a bit of a trek for all but those who live in Red Hook. But, with parking for 300, the variety, prices, and quality are sure to draw many more shoppers from a wider area....us included!

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