Gristedes

This place is a shit-​hole, but it serves a purpose. It is fine for the essentials. I can be in and out of here in three minutes. But seriously, WTF is that smell up front? It is so bad that it is almost comical. Almost.

I thought I was the only one who thought this place was the pits.
Where to start…
EXTREMELY PRICY
–food here is astronomically overpriced compared to other places not too far away
–their ‘sales’ are basically geared to get you to buy items that are just lower than what they usually are, when in fact they’re just on par with what the rest of the city is selling them for
–you will never, ever hear anyone in NYC say ‘oh, such and such is on sale at Gristedes’
OUTDATED FACILITIES
–this store makes you feel like you’re walking into 1986: wood-​paneled floors, worn floor tiles, poor lighting, and you feel like you’re walking in a maze (some aisles don’t make it all the way to the back, so you need to go back to the front of the store and over a few, then back down in order to get to the other side)
–the signage in the place looks like it is straight out of the 80’s and made by high-​schoolers
–the aisles are narrow, and don’t think you’ll be able to squeeze by if someone else is coming with a cart
–the carts here are mini for a reason (see above) and they’re about the same size as what you get your toddler daughter when she’s playing make-​believe ‘grocery shopping’
The algorithm for deciding on whether or not to go to Gristedes is as follows:
–do you want BETTER QUALITY for SAME prices? go to Fresh Direct (yes, Fresh Direct believe it or not)
–do you want SAME QUALITY but LOWER prices? go to the nearby D’Agostino

This place is such a dump, like I don’t even know where to begin. Ok, I’ll start with the same thing everyone says below: RIDICULOUSLY expensive groceries. WTF is this shit made of? Diamonds mined by Jesus? Nothing is ever on sale and their «sale» prices are average prices.
The atmosphere/​décor of this place is miserable and depressing. I hate going in here because I never feel comfortable. I don’t know what it is — the lighting, the placement of items, the wood paneling. It all sucks.
But this place can’t get 1 star it has to get at least two. This is Manhattan and everything is expensive. I also find myself here periodically, so it must be conveniently located. Heck, I’ll prolly be back sometime this week if I can’t get to Whole Foods.

Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting! The place is filthy has poor service and they should be ashamed of their produce department!!! Wonder when the last time they mopped the floors or cleaned the windows. With any luck it should go out of business and be replaced with a new supermarket. Beware of highway robbery at the cash register!!!

Extremely overpriced compared to every other gristedes. Many items are priced higher than other locations. Baby entrees that normally cost $ 2 – 3 will cost you $ 5 – 6 here.
The supermarket itself is very dingy and needs an overhaul. The hot foods and sandwiches are OK but also very overpriced.
I only come here because it’s conveniently located and the lines are short when I don’t have time to kill.

Why is this the closest grocery store located by me? I love my apartment but wish a good grocery store was nearby. I will walk 10 blocks each way to go to Fairway but sometimes if I need 1 or 2 items, I resort to Gristedes. This supermarket is awful for many reasons: 1. Prices are astronomical compared to other NYC supermarkets. 2. Staff is shady and not helpful. 3. The store is dirty. 4. Not easy to navigate or move around. 5. It’s extremely outdated.
Don’t go here. Avoid at all costs if you can.

Decided to greatly alter my review… although prices and customer service are painful to deal with this place does fulfill a notable lack of a grocery store in the immediate area. On a major dessert craving I got one of their bakery made brownies and it was actually super delicious and went well enough with ice cream to increase my opinion of this place by two whole stars! Hats off to you, Gristedes brownie maker.

I pretty much had it with these small local grocery stores. As convenient as this store is I would walk an extra mile just to avoid it. The store is just hands down disgusting and overpriced. Their weekly specials are still more expensive than normal deals at Fairway. It’s gotta be a losing battle for this place as they have to keep raising prices just to stay in business. Please just do the neighborhood a favor and close down already!

I live right near this Gristedes location so the location is incredibly convenient, but I avoid doing any grocery shopping here. The selection is terrible and the store has a very old, dirty feel. Staff members are not helpful and the layout of the store is really odd. With a Fairway and Morton Williams just a few blocks away, there’s really no need to stop at Gristedes.

The staff looks a bit shady, the prices are astronomical. A peanut butter jar is 5 bucks for basic JIF. A regular sized OJ (Tropicana what have you) is DISCOUNTED to be 5 bucks… Anyways you get the idea. Also the milk is always 1 – 2 days from «sell by date», so its not expiration date meaning you have another week to enjoy it but still… Skeptical. The good news is that this place is decently sized and has household products like Walmart and Target so you can get stuff other than groceries.
I come here cuz its convenient living in Kips Bay Court, its literally a 1 minute walk. But then again we have Fairway that I’ll check out soon which is 1 block away from Gristedes.

I’m not snooty and never complain, but this place straight up sucks, one of the worst supermarkets in the city. Overpriced, dirty, and uninterested staff make this place a gem. The people at the deli strategically don’t turn around hoping you will leave, only go here for emergencies, unfortunately it’s the closest place around

Most expensive grocery store I have ever seen. 7.99 $ for a cantaloupe. Seriously? (And it’s not even organic.)
2 reasons why I come here.
1) I love there roast turkey and ham made in house and it’s 7.99 $ a pound for either. Fairway is 10.99lb for boar’s head.
2) quick oats a huge container for 3.99 $ again cheaper then fairway
I am an avid grocery shopper. I cook 3 meals a day and we eat very healthy I will go to fairway and order heavy items from fresh direct.
Also they have no organic/​wild fish. All farm raised.
If they lowered there prices may consider shopping there more.

Hate this place. All of the fish is farm raised. There are no choices, not even frozen.

5 Stars for Destiny… that girl has a lot of moxie and character than any twenty something should have. I am so impressed by the way she handled an unruly customer.
I listened a woman goad her for at least 15 minutes while Destiny tolerated the insults… At one point this woman started yelling «Am I right? It doesn’t matter… I am the customer and the customer is always right» …this woman has no soul, she probably goes home to beat puppies.
I am really impressed with Destiny, retail is an awful job… I did it through undergrad. I cannot say that I would have managed that B**ch with such grace.

A bit disappointed. Boxes everywhere and pretty dusty looking place they should better organize their products … and the lines for the cashier were pretty horrible… there was one cash-​only register and one huge regular check-​out line. Eeek

Too dirty and expensive to be my regular supermarket. Rather, based on its proximity, Gristides is where I go when I need a single item, be it eggs or bread crumbs.
The layout is extremely confusing and not user-​friendly, plus the aisles are very narrow.
I stick to Fairways.

Dated looking given the modern offerings in the extended neighborhood.
Friendly staff
Conveniently opened until midnight.
Generally overpriced though some good sale items exist

Many real estate brokers brag about a property’s proximity to convenience/​grocery stores, but I feel like this Gristedes actually lowers the value of surrounding property. Here’s why:
1 — Ridiculous prices. As others have said in their reviews, you can easily walk to a D’Agostino’s, Morton Williams, or Food Emporium for better prices on identical items. For me, I work on Long Island, and find myself hoarding back 3lb. family packs of chicken and other items to avoid paying near triple the price at next-​door Gristedes.
2 — Outdated décor. A 1980’s soup kitchen called, and they want their wood-​paneled walls and poorly-​labeled aisle signs back. Seriously, if you expect me to pay $ 10 for a 6-​pack of BUD LIGHT or $ 5.99/lb for chicken, your store better look like Eataly or Whole Foods. Get some LED lighting on the produce, widen the aisles, and do away with those dead-​ends towards the back.
3 — Expired items. On several occasions, I’ve found expired items still on the shelves. While I know it’s probably a daunting task to check everything so frequently, for a store of this size, there shouldn’t be as many expired items laying around. Prospective customers: make sure to check dates before purchasing!
I’d start off by offering this place zero stars. Add one because the staffers here are pretty friendly, and add one more for convenience, because this Gristedes is literally right next door to me, you know, for when I feel like paying $ 4 for eggs.

Semi– fight with boyfriend # 86 (not bad for 2 years coexisting in shoebox apartment):
Me: Where did you get the chicken and groceries from for tonight’s dinner?
Bf: Silence
Me: You went to Associated, right? (now Morton Williams).
Bf: Well, that is 10 minutes further to walk.
Me: I’ve asked you the last 50 times to please stop going to that overpriced place!
Me: We are lucky to be young with legs. to walk. Why do you continually (for SEVEN years) pay 5 times the price of what groceries normally should cost just because this place is a 5 minute walk!!!
Silence.
Me: You know we could have gone out to a nice dinner for the price that the chicken dinner cost you to make at home.
Silence…
Although nice checkout girls, I do not like this dirty, outrageously overpriced store that rips off everybody in the Tudor City /​Murray Hill area. And yes, I am one of those who walk in blizzards the extra 10 blocks to pay 75% less down the street.
And word of advice. please stay far, far away from their prepared foods. Friend attempted to serve their cooked chicken one night. I have never really been served anything I couldn’t eat. This was it.

Oh, Gristedes, why are you so expensive?
I do not have an issue with the size (or lack thereof) in this store, I do, however, have an issue with the ridiculous prices as well as the lack of selection. It looks like they have a lot when you first walk in, but then you quickly realize they really do not have that much of a selection.
The owner and managers are nice, as are the cashiers, but that only goes so far. Oh, and they have a nice (little) bakery. But again, that doesn’t help too much when I lack a sweet tooth and need actual groceries.