As we have previously posted, Mrs. Green's Natural Market is closing its Hartsdale location. However, the good news for area residents is that the Central Park Avenue store will reopen in only a few
days while a new supermarket opens under the "Best Market" name. Best Market is a supermarket operator based in Long Island,
opening their first store in the Lower Hudson Valley at this location. The new store is not a natural foods type of store but will offer a full line
of produce, meat and deli departments.
ABG staffers took a quick look into Mrs Green's late Wednesday afternoon. They were in the process of a 50%-off liquidation sale. We spoke with one of the store employees whose family had been in the supermarket business for years. He felt the store was too big for what they offered, too limited in what they offered, too expensive for the area and unable to generate the sales volume they needed to succeed.
Mrs.
Green's has locations in Rye, Eastchester and Tarrytown and is expecting to lease space in Rivertowns Square, the
new development under construction in Dobbs Ferry by the Saw Mill River parkway.
Best Market touts freshness and value of its
perishable foods, with prices described as "middle of the road". They will take over the Mrs Green's store on Thursday when they will undergo merchandising,
branding, stocking and general preparation changes. They will be opening by this coming
Tuesday. Our source at Mrs Green's told us that Best Markets has offered jobs to many of the Mrs Green's staff.
While not pertaining directly to Greenburgh, but the shift in our area due to the A&P's bankruptcy, a DeCicco Family Market is set to open in place of the shuttered A&P at 132 Bedford Road in Katonah. That store will open in about a year from now.
After a blight of supermarkets having left the area, it's reassuring to see new ones joining our communities. We're hopeful for the success of these stores and wish them well. It's what will help make A Better Greenburgh.
Showing posts with label Key Foods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Key Foods. Show all posts
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Greenburgh Supermarket To Close In Hartsdale
There is no good news in Greenburgh when it comes to supermarkets. Predictably, we await Mr Feiner's daily GBList email stating there’s "Good News!" to deflect away from the declining supermarket population from the Town. We’ve written previously about businesses that find it difficult to operate in Greenburgh and of the mounting anti-business environment fostered by Mr Feiner and his Town Board. All of the various taxes, imposed under the guise of fees, registrations, permits, applications, etc., along with ordinances, regulations, and more during the 24 years of Mr Feiner's failed financial incompetence, it’s no wonder businesses cannot survive here. It’s paralleled by the residents’ exodus as well.
ABG has also written extensively about the disappearance of food stores throughout the Town. While some loss may certainly be attributed to internet sales as Mr Feiner will have you believe, most of the loss cannot. When ABG spoke to a Greenburgh A&P store manager under the promise of anonymity, he said that the increased and growing competition has forced smaller margins, the high cost of union labor in Westchester in general and the cost of doing business in Greenburgh with its regulations, fees, fines and intrusions, was forcing not only his store, but others in the same strip malls to close.
Based in Irvington, NY, the Mrs Green's chain of natural and health food supermarkets found a difficult time of it after closing their Central park Avenue store and moving into the former Turco's store. When Turco's closed, it created an area void in the Town for a slightly more upscale supermarket with attractive prices, high quality foods, pleasant employees and a seemingly genuine goal of providing excellent customer service. Primarily featuring Italian foods, they too closed based on a shifting demographic as well as increased costs.
After Turco’s closed, Pathmark on Central Park Avenue and Waldbaums in the Crossroads Shopping Center on Rt 119 followed suit. The A&P had only two stores left in the area: the one on Dobbs Ferry Road and the one on Central Park Avenue in Scarsdale. The Dobbs Ferry Road A&P has been purchased and reopened within two days as an Acme Supermarket. Soon, the Scarsdale A&P will be shuttered. Never known to miss an opportunity for publicity, Mr Feiner insisted he and his 24 years of increased fees and costs of doing business in Greenburgh had nothing to do with these stores’ demise. Once it was learned back then that Mrs Green would be taking over the former Turco’s, his media blitz began.
The final day of operation for Mrs Green's is November 12, 2015. Right from the beginning they have seemed to have a rough time of making the store successful. As a niche store, with what could only be seen as a limited offering and generally higher prices, they were competing with other area stores for the sales of some similar products at lower prices. While we're not trying to be critical of their business model, apparently their slight shift from the Scarsdale area to the current location, and the direct competition of H-Mart right next door, was too much to endure. Sadly, while the store’s management says it will try to find positions for its workers in their other locations, we're sure it’ll be a difficult time for many and wish them all well.
It has also been reported that Mrs Green’s was in arrears for approximately $900k with numerous outstanding advertising invoices as reported by the Journal News in 2014. In fact, the Journal News had a substantial amount of money owed to them for advertising. Perhaps if advertising in the Journal News was cost-effective, Mrs Green's might be staying.
We hope there will be another food-related store to move into the soon to be vacated space. The area needs supermarkets and other retail business along Central Avenue in particular and the Town in general. It’s funny in a sad way. Mr Feiner continually green lights plans for his developer friends for carbon copy developments throughout the Town. Yet, these plans never include ideas that would help the Town’s residents, such as supermarkets. This has to change. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.
ABG has also written extensively about the disappearance of food stores throughout the Town. While some loss may certainly be attributed to internet sales as Mr Feiner will have you believe, most of the loss cannot. When ABG spoke to a Greenburgh A&P store manager under the promise of anonymity, he said that the increased and growing competition has forced smaller margins, the high cost of union labor in Westchester in general and the cost of doing business in Greenburgh with its regulations, fees, fines and intrusions, was forcing not only his store, but others in the same strip malls to close.
Based in Irvington, NY, the Mrs Green's chain of natural and health food supermarkets found a difficult time of it after closing their Central park Avenue store and moving into the former Turco's store. When Turco's closed, it created an area void in the Town for a slightly more upscale supermarket with attractive prices, high quality foods, pleasant employees and a seemingly genuine goal of providing excellent customer service. Primarily featuring Italian foods, they too closed based on a shifting demographic as well as increased costs.
After Turco’s closed, Pathmark on Central Park Avenue and Waldbaums in the Crossroads Shopping Center on Rt 119 followed suit. The A&P had only two stores left in the area: the one on Dobbs Ferry Road and the one on Central Park Avenue in Scarsdale. The Dobbs Ferry Road A&P has been purchased and reopened within two days as an Acme Supermarket. Soon, the Scarsdale A&P will be shuttered. Never known to miss an opportunity for publicity, Mr Feiner insisted he and his 24 years of increased fees and costs of doing business in Greenburgh had nothing to do with these stores’ demise. Once it was learned back then that Mrs Green would be taking over the former Turco’s, his media blitz began.
The final day of operation for Mrs Green's is November 12, 2015. Right from the beginning they have seemed to have a rough time of making the store successful. As a niche store, with what could only be seen as a limited offering and generally higher prices, they were competing with other area stores for the sales of some similar products at lower prices. While we're not trying to be critical of their business model, apparently their slight shift from the Scarsdale area to the current location, and the direct competition of H-Mart right next door, was too much to endure. Sadly, while the store’s management says it will try to find positions for its workers in their other locations, we're sure it’ll be a difficult time for many and wish them all well.
It has also been reported that Mrs Green’s was in arrears for approximately $900k with numerous outstanding advertising invoices as reported by the Journal News in 2014. In fact, the Journal News had a substantial amount of money owed to them for advertising. Perhaps if advertising in the Journal News was cost-effective, Mrs Green's might be staying.
We hope there will be another food-related store to move into the soon to be vacated space. The area needs supermarkets and other retail business along Central Avenue in particular and the Town in general. It’s funny in a sad way. Mr Feiner continually green lights plans for his developer friends for carbon copy developments throughout the Town. Yet, these plans never include ideas that would help the Town’s residents, such as supermarkets. This has to change. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.
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