The Supermarket Situation

One of the more frustrating things about living in Hell's Kitchen is the Supermarket situation. Having endured the last decade here with only one Supermarket should not really be a problem, at least on the surface. However, in my opinion, we have what I consider to be a very poor Supermarket, Food Emporium, which is located on West 43rd Street near 10th Avenue.

In writing this blog I am doing one thing; stating my opinions. I am not paid by anyone nor do I accept advertising from local business, or accept gifts from them. However, I do have a motive, to hopefully see an improvement from the businesses where in my experience there are issues and problems.

Back to the subject at hand. Food Emporium has long had a monopoly/stranglehold in our little neighborhood (the lower 40's from 9th Ave - 11th Ave), basically no competition. And if you have ever shopped there, you already know the following; high prices, poor service, and a terrible selection. On the plus side, it does appear to be clean.

The fact is, this is not exactly an earth shattering problem, but this blog isn't about earth shattering problems, it's about a neighborhood and the components that make up that neighborhood. The experiences from those components are often what make our lives happy, sad, good, bad, and they are also what can often make a bad day a good day (a good meal), or they can make a good day a bad day (waiting an hour and a half to have your pizza delivered cold after a long day at work).

Unfortunately it appears that the plans for the Whole Foods that was to be on the Northwest Corner of 42nd Street and 11th Avenue, went down the toilet with the economy. However, I recently discovered D'Agastino. No, I am not a moron, I know it has been on 10th Avenue and West 54th Street for quite a while, however, for those of us who live in the 30's and 40's, it isn't really convenient to walk 10 or 15 blocks with 6 or 7 bags, or to walk up there (if you are lazy like me) and back if your choose to have it delivered. And while Food Emporium is way behind in the game, D'Agastino's is definitely trying with their online delivery service, something I was not aware they had until recently.

While Fresh Direct is the most superior service in my opinion, and has a far better user experience on their website, the problem for me is that I don't really want to order my grocery's the day before, nor do I necessarily know when I will be home the next day. Unlike Fresh Direct, D'Agastino's service is same day, and is usually within 2 to 3 hours of ordering, with orders taken for the same day up until 7pm, with a one hour delivery window.

NOTE: I recently discovered that Food Emporium does in fact have online ordering and delivery (they certainly don't advertise it enough), and it is available at the 43rd Street Store. I will check it out and report back.

In my most recent experience, which was my first, I give D'Agastino's online ordering system a B-, however, I give their service a B+. I found out about the service from a coupon mailer, which had a $30 discount coupon for any order over $75, which is 40% off, so I thought it would be worth giving it a shot.

There is however one problem with their system; it isn't tied to their inventory, so unlike Fresh Direct, when an item is out of stock it still shows as available on the website. Having worked in software design and development for the last 10 years, I can tell you that this is not a terribly complicated or expensive solution, and most certainly not a big deal for a company whose annual revenue is likely eight or nine figures.

Approximately 30 minutes after I placed my order on the website, I received a call from an employee who then needed 10 minutes to go through all of the items on my order that were either out of stock or not available in the size I had indicated (about a dozen), and I in turn had to either select alternates or choose not to get that item. This is pretty silly in this day and age, and frankly it almost defeats the point of the online ordering system, however, I must add that the person who called was professional, as quick as they could be, and certainly more than pleasant. For the record, I was slightly annoyed and suggested to them that they mention to their manager that a customer had said that they should tie the system to the inventory, something I assume they have heard before.

The only other complaint was that when I received it, which was within the one hour designated delivery time, the order had a few errors; several items where I had requested two of each, I only received one, one item was missing altogether, and two items where I had requested a replacement, I did not receive the correct replacement item. It is worth noting that the bill was correct and I was not charged for anything I did not receive.

All in all however, the experience was not a bad one, and the prices are very competitive and in my opinion far better than Food Emporium and well worth the $6.99 delivery fee, especially with $30 off for my first order.

Food Emporium
452 West 43rd Street (near 10th Avenue)
NY, NY 10036
212.714.1414
www.thefoodemporium.com

D'Agastino
815 10th Avenue (at 54th Street)
NY, NY 10019
212.215.7781
www.dagnyc.com