Farm Country

For some reason I always gave this grocery store a miss. there was Fairway (& then it became a chain with old produce & prices to rival Whole Foods without the quality) & recently, Trader Joe’s & Whole Foods. All have their strengths but don’t discount Pioneer UPW for things you can not find anywhere else plus some great prices & a wonderful selection (recently Haagen Dazs pints for $ 2.99). This is an old time (here, in the same place since 1958) grocery. It may lack the glitz & glamour of recent others but the neighborhood would be much the poorer without it. Pioneer is the only family owned grocery chain in ALL of NY state, let alone NYC, for those of you who care about small private businesses.
A MUST have: the brisket/​angus mix for sliders or burgers (combine 2 patties) from Schweid & Sons (check out
).who knew I would find the PERFECT burger meat I had been searching for without success,(or without grinding my own mix), at Whole Foods, Citarella & Fairway at Pioneer? They also carry the plain Angus ground beef made into larger burger patties. Also found a great low carb bread, pickles with out high fructose corn syrup, etc. again, not things I found at other places, plus all the staples & an amazing array of cold beers at good prices. Let’s keep it around .we’ve lost enough of the UPW side to the chains. (not that a blend is not welcome. just, why throw out ALL of the what made the UPW (H & H bagel for instance) different & great?)

They’ve changed the supermarket to Foodtown. Along with the changes came new staff. Got a lot of house brand Foodtown products in the store. It needs a total gut renovation.

This is the best grocery store in my area I’ll admit, only because the other grocery stories leave copious amounts to be desired. Sort of best by default. It’s never jam packed and is roomy, the employees don’t seem like they’d rather be on a deserted island, selection and prices are decent, and there aren’t big empty holes on all the shelves.
However, I’m sad that they were carrying Häagen-​Dazs green tea ice cream, and then I couldn’t locate it on my next visit. Guess I was the only person who was buying that.