Trade Fair

LOW QUALITY, UN FRESH MEAT, and TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE.
I bought minced meat from here and after two days in the fridge it turned brown and odorous. Most stores will take back the item and give you a new one, but not trade fair! I spent 20 minutes explaining to the manager that I was a loyal costumer and wanted to be put to ease that any future purchases would guarantee freshness and that if anything was bad, I had the option of bringing it back. NOPE. MANAGEMENT DOESN’T CARE ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS AT ALL. In fact she blamed me for probably not putting it in the fridge in time. It was my fault and they couldn’t do anything about it!
The worst thing is that there aren’t many choices around the area, however after this incident, I’d rather pay more and go further to get my groceries than to ever step foot in here again!!! I will advise everyone I know to avoid this SHT HOLE!!!
DISGUSTING place! STAY AWAY!

Having moved away from this Trade Fair, I now understand that this ²⁴⁄₇ supermarket is a gem. Yes, the staff are a bit strange/​unhelpful. Just look at the goods that you get:
Healthy, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Arabic, Hispanic (including Mexican cheese), an array of feta cheese, Halal and Organic meats, ham hocks that are are reasonably priced for that Louisiana dish you’re going to make for your supper club, freshly baked French baquettes, Bustelo coffee, great fresh vegggie selection with EXOTIC vegetables that you will not see elsewhere… this is a United Nations of food. You will not see this anywhere else. Not at Whole Foods. Not anywhere.
When I first moved into the area, they sold Iguana soup from Ecuador. That’s how global this store is.
They have since revamped their entryway to showcase organic items a bit better.
Even Sabah, the raspy-​voiced manager, at the checkout is a gem. An odd, sometimes frustrating not perfect gem, but a gem nonetheless.
Trust me. When you move away and there will be no groceries available during your late-​night pangs/​hurricane/​Christmas you will miss this place.

Cashier was extremely rude. We asked for some small change of money so we could tip the delivery guy, first the cashier just deduct the $ 20 from the total amount we had to pay, then when I asked for change again, cashier gave me only fives and tens, then refused to give me one dollars.
Then guess what, delivery took over three hours.
Are you kidding??? With raw meat, yogurt and milk and you let it sit for several hours in room temperature without delivery???

This is one of the most god-​forsaken places to be on the planet. Sometimes I feel like I’m in an alternate dimension when I walk in. They just expanded their line-​up and guess what — The costs have definitely been inflated and passed along to the consumer on CERTAIN ITEMS so make sure to price check and compare with Key Food which is not too far from here depending on what you usually get. This is an «International» grocery store but the prices to me are heavily inflated on a couple of ethnic grocery items I’ve purchased. It depends on what you need. They are a hit or miss — Because they have grass fed beef burgers for some reason here on the regular and Key Food sometimes doesn’t…ETC
I live on the Trade Fair side of the subway and still try and avoid this place for the following reasons:
1) As other reviewers said the prices were not good on a few different staples and have become even steeper. My Wife says the staff has been re-​trained on new machines. Well it appears she was over-​exaggerating. People are still having problems with the New POS system as the lines are constantly backed up due to price checking and problems with DEBIT transactions — The pin pad is obviously not that great because a lot of people keep getting «Wrong Pin» issues — But this leads into #2 as well…
2) There are large numbers of severely mentally ill people/​substance abusers that frequent this place and wander around. Now for context I grew up in Queens and have been traveling around Queens since I’ve been in Junior H.S. I am no stranger to the Creedmore mental outpatient population. I used to see them all the time on the F train back in the late 90’s. But it seems Astoria has become an area where MANY of them have landed PERMANENTLY and this is the Grocery store where they shop!!! And if you can tell — Many have NOT been taking their medication.
Another thing is there are plenty of immigrant groups in this area that clog the store up with like 50 kids — Look I’m from Flushing so I’ve got nothing against immigrants of any kind, but it seems like their children literally hang out in the store and have nothing else better to do. It doesn’t matter what time of the day it is — There are kids EVERYWHERE just playing and relaxing like it’s their living room, some even roll around on the floor, doing cartwheels in the aisles and scoot down the aisles in their toy cars, scooters, etc. I don’t know if you’ve been to the SkyView mall in Flushing but even the kids there are better behaved and at least appear to be going somewhere in some kind of direction with some kind of purpose, to eventually go to somewhere. (And that’s a got damn Mall !!!)
Either way I’ve lived in a couple of different immigrant heavy areas as a Native NYer and this one is probably the worst neighborhood grocery store in regards to out of control children… All I can do is just shake my head and blame myself for coming here even in an emergency.
Now back to the mentally ill people, I am not exaggerating here, I’ve been to SoCal and it is very reminiscent of the folks over there. Babbling to themselves incoherently, putting random items right on top of your shit on the checkout belt (THEN WALKING AWAY NEVER TO RETURN), unconscientious of others personal space & pushing you when someone is having aforementioned issues with the POS system as mentioned in #1. I have worked with developmentally delayed children in the past and MOST of them have better functioning, common sense and courtesy than a lot of these questionably sane adults roaming this grocery store. It may be hard to believe from this review, I am sympathetic and empathetic to people with mental issues… However, it’s a bit much dealing with a large number of them all in one place combined with this clusterfuck situation where there are screaming children and incompetent store staff roaming all over the got damn place.
3) The lines are still extremely slow at ANY TIME OF THE DAY except for late at night (as in after 9pm). I have gone early in the morning, in the mid-​afternoon, lunch time etc. IT DOESN’T MATTER!!! They don’t staff appropriately and even when they do and all the lines are open the people manning the register are just plain bad — Now it has nothing to do with their background, because the Supermarket on Steinway and 31^st ave sucks too and they are all American over there!!! It’s apparently an Astoria thing… Really. Certain areas in Queens the supermarkets just suck and Astoria, Forest Hills is up there ranking as the worst.
Sometimes all I can do is stare straight ahead and space out as the person to my left is babbling in my ear about her drunk father while the cashier yells over at some other Woman incoherently repeating the same thing 10x before she comes over and realizes she can’t help her, and said cashier needs to walk away for 5 minutes to chat with another Woman randomly, at 7pm with 20 people behind me on the express line. You just can’t make this kind of shit up.

You have to take pictures of all the advertised prices to show them at the register otherwise almost nothing ever scans at the sale price and they won’t believe you.
Also, check all the expiration dates. I have accidentally bought expired moldy product from here before.

Even though they just did renovations it still looks disgustingly dirty And the management and some employees are so rude. The prices never scan as advertised. All in all a massive shit show.
:(I’ll be taking my business to key foods.

I wish I could give zero stars. I hate this store so much. I must admit I shop here more than I would like to admit because it is closer to my apartment than key foods and the prices can’t be beat. But the service is horrible. They never know where anything is. The staff HATES helping customers. There are always insane lines.
Plus, they are horrible at advertising sales. There has been 5 times in which an item should have been on sale based on THEIR description and signage, but once I was at the register, they explained that signage was wrong and my item didn’t apply. Trade Fair makes the signs and advertisements… they should be held responsible for giving their advertised prices.

In their defense, the remodeling has made this place better, but the customer service and check out area is a total mess. 10 minutes at least to pay. Gah! Walk down the street to Key Food.

This place is alright. I live down the block, so out of convenience I will stop here if I need to pick up 1 or 2 things.
Their organic produce selection is very small, and of that selection many of the items are going bad.
Their prices (of non-​organic stuff) is very cheap, which is great.
The store is very hard to navigate, which is probably why I avoid coming here. None of the aisles are labeled and things seem to be places with no rhyme or reason. It’s a shame because they have a lot of regional specialty items (canned/​jarred goods from Greece/​Italy/​etc.) But the frustration of walking around though the aisles makes this place a no-​go most of the time for me.
On the plus side, they have a big beer selection.

I’m ashamed that I (in the past) have defended this place at times. My wife goes to Key Food down the block or even C Town (closed now) on Broadway. Trade Fair has just gotten horrible ! Picture a Supermarket in the Alan Parker film Midnight Express –that’s what this place is !! Not helpful, the woman manager (the one that doesn’t wear a hijab) is more often than not irritable and nasty particularly towards other women. The deal breaker is the outside (I guess for lack of a better word) security guys who now ask customers to check their bags with them. Oh no !!! They DO indeed have a huge selection of ethnic foods from all over– interesting and nice to look at– 98.9% of which I will never in my life use. The cashiers are polite and efficient, oddly enough there’s too many of them in the morning when the store is relatively empty and not enough of them at night when the store is packed.

Terrible supermarket. Its very dirty, and certain sections smell almost nauseating, like just serious uncleanliness that you shouldn’t smell in a supermarket. I also just got food poisoning from some chicken that I had only purchased one day before cooking. AVOID

Trade Fair is a hit or miss and seldom anything in between. For example, their meat department once in a while has great steaks and at great prices – but only when they are fresh. Unless the steak is aged, be forewarned that when the bone starts turning grayish to black signals that the meat has been loitering there for a while. And while it is still edible it doesn’t taste to me as pleasing as a fresher steak. I haven’t tried their halal meats to so I will not comment. So if like the cows I love to eat, you also happen to be a vegetarian, my issue with the meat will obviously not impact you.
They have a large and ever growing fruits and veggie dept that is for the most part pretty damn good. I seldom visit the deli so their will be no comment from me. The groceries in between my favorite aisles are no different than any other indy supermarket that is serviced by Krasdale.
In my humble opinion the value proposition for Trade Fair is convenience and low prices – I am told.

There is no organization to the set up of the aisles and products. It literally feels as though they continue to knock down walls and expand but never thinking about the flow of items. Their check out lines have always been rather long during my check out. Plus side, they have weird items that are hard to find elsewhere.

Decent supermarket, good international selection of food, spices, and other stuff you generally cant find in a traditional supermarket. Ive bought everything from meat to produce to canned food and prices are cheaper than other «nicer» supermarkets. Not much fluff here, straight to the point.
Gotta search for your stuff, the place could use a little renovation/​makeover, and some better organization. Generally though, if you ask for help, you will get it. Albeit not in the perfect english :). I go there for most of my food shopping.
Also, they deliver in about 2 hours which is very convenient. For free!
Place is next to the train conveniently.

Environment: ²⁄₅
Employees: ²⁄₅
Produce: ²⁄₅
Cost: ⁵⁄₅
Accessibility: ⁵⁄₅
Total: ¹⁶⁄₃₀
Synopsis: During occasions when Key Food Supermarket is closed, I resort to this place. Actually, I come here more often than not because as a Dietitian, I know how to search for the correct foods that are within the food safety guidelines. If I weren’t a Dietitian, I would have grave concern for this place. Hopefully, no one ACTUALLY gets sick from the produce here. The prices are much lower than say Key Food Supermarket, but it comes at a price… definitely in terms of proper packaging, leaving expired milk (Yea, I saw this yesterday) on the shelf, and finding what you want.
Environment: Um… this place looks like a dump. It will make you cringe and it reminded me of the supermarkets in Perú… and if you have not been there… then I suggest taking a look. What is more shocking is the music that is played there. Last night, Toxic by Britney Spears was playing. I couldn’t stop laughing, but perhaps the store is trying to create some kind of abstract irony.
Employees: Not the brightest people on Earth. I have to tell them how to properly put groceries together, suggest wrapping my raw meat in another package to prevent contamination followed by food poisoning. But again, if you aren’t familiar with food safety, then I wouldn’t suggest coming here… In one of my packages, the cashier put my eggs on top of all of my spices, which was not an even ground. –_​-​; Seriously, dude?
Produce: This is what you have to REALLY watch out for. Always check everything! And I mean EVERYTHING! The fresh produce was fine, but when it came to foods of food safety concern like milk and eggs, be very wary and use your FOOD SAFETY judgment at all times. Check the eggs. and every egg to make sure nothing is broken! Yes, this happened to me before, where I analyzed five different cartons to find broken eggs. No bueno! Then last night, I saw numerous milk cartons shelved with expired dates on them. Seriously?! This tells me they 1) do not check their stocks everyday 2) Have poor inventory analysis and/​or 3) they didn’t give a damn and hoped the customer is stupid. I wonder if they changed it…
Cost: This is the only pro really,…the cost. But as emphasized before, I would only come here under dire needs and if you check everything! Be careful!
Accessibility: Right next to the train and an even closer walking distance to my apartment.

Get the Halal Merguez (Spiced Lamb/​Beef Sausage) and make it at home and watch you get addicted!!!
Reasons why I love this particular Trade Fair:
— Great quality of Halal meats with low price *including hard to find halal sausages, Merguez sausage and Lamb Keema*
— Fresh Olive Jar selections
— Good quality of various cheese blocks
— Next to Martha’s Bakery *Very Berry Naploean* Kill 2 birds in 1 stone? I think so!
— Not too crowded
— Perhaps one of the closer locations to where I live in Queens
I guess most people here gave this location a low rating, due to the fact that it tends to get a bit on crowded making it hard to navigate thru the aisles. Though I don’t think it’s that bad and after all you’re in NYC folks! Parking may be another issue as it’s located in Astoria! Overall, I still think it’s worth the drive if you’re particularly searching for halal meat products and Wild Salmon (harder to find) and want to get dessert next door while in the process. I’d definitely come back here for reasons mentioned above.

I think everyone loves to exaggerate about how «terrible» a grocery store Trade Fair is. Do I mostly buy my meat elsewhere? Yes. Is it because I think the meat products here are sketchy? No; it’s because I like to buy my meat organic/​free-​range and I can’t always find it here. I will say this though, Key Foods up the street usually has a better meat selection, but it doesn’t carry wild salmon, as Trade Fair does. Also, Trade Fair has a very wide variety of products specific to different ethnic cuisines… Key Foods does not. They expanded the grocery store, which helps with the narrowest aisles ever issue (at least in a chunk of the store). Another plus is that the price for most items is plenty cheaper at Trade Fair… especially produce… and again, they have an incredible amount of produce, even, that one cannot find elsewhere in the neighborhood. So, yes, the aisles are very narrow; I don’t love their selection of meat products (though if you want halal meat, this place is definitely for you); and the checkout ladies could be plenty nicer, but, all in all, I think it’s actually a very good grocery store.

Very deceptive sale prices! Beware! They purposely place sale ads underneath the wrong items to get you to. buy the more expensive item at the register… they purposely word their items to deceive customers.
Place is beyond disgusting… never enough registers… stay away!

Decided to try Trade Fair tonight as they advertise the «Lowest Prices in Town.» This has got to be the dirtiest supermarket I have ever been in. The produce is wilted and bruised. There was a strange smell in one of the aisles by the dirty deli and I quickly became nauseated. I expressed my concern to my boyfriend but he insisted we push through since we walked through the blistering cold to get there (he will later regret this statement). In the next aisle, a woman complained that everything had expired. I grew very weary and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
Later that evening, my boyfriend, who initially suggested we try Trade Fair, opened a package of chicken to cook. I can not even describe the smell that came thereafter. The rotten odor filled our tiny apartment and we both started to dry heave. My boyfriend took a big whiff of the package and actually vomited! We threw out the meat but are still airing out our apartment!
I urge everyone in the area to avoid Trade Fair at all costs!

Smelly, dirty, crowded, and oddly and uncomfortably organized, but they have a great selection of Bob’s Red Mill and a few other healthy food options, and they are not overpriced like Key Food, so I shop here as needed.
I really only shop on one aisle (the aisle with tea and Bob’s Red Mill) when I do go to Trade Fair. Everything else makes me nervous.
Shop off hours if you don’t want to wait in a line or squeeze by people in the aisles. Thank heavens they are 24 hours — they are great for when you need something in a pinch and every other store is closed.