Showing posts with label Key Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Key Food. Show all posts

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Sunday's opening shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

A happy St. Patrick's Day to those who celebrate and/or enjoy moving the jointed arms on the decorations at Key Food.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

A familiar face returns to Key Food

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

We were surprised to see a familiar employee face this week at Key Food. 

After a year of partial retirement, Arrman Mohammed returned to the supermarket on Avenue A and Fourth Street. 

Mohammed, a manager at Key Food, retired last April 29 after a 35-plus year career with the company, the last 10 in the East Village. (He started at Key Food in 1986 as a teenager on Long Island.) 

He said he "got bored of Florida and missed the excitement of NYC and decided to return to the place I know and the people I know." 

Now an NYC resident again, Mohammed is at 52 Avenue A until tomorrow before he heads to the Astoria Key Food on Newtown Avenue. 

He said he'll be back and forth at different stores but will return to the Avenue A location in two weeks. 

Mohammed doesn't have a direct answer about whether he'll be back permanently, offering with a smile: "Perhaps. I go where I am needed."

Friday, March 8, 2024

Today in discarded finds of the century on 2nd Street

Inexplicably (for now!) discarded (for now!) this afternoon outside 75 E. Second St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

Does anyone have a spare U-Haul? 

(And thanks to EVG reader Camille Coric for the photo!)

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Saturday's opening shot

An early morning Porky drop for Key Food on Avenue A at Fourth Street...

Monday, October 9, 2023

Key Food would like you to use a basket or cart

Photos by Stacie Joy 

If you've been in Key Food on Avenue A at Fourth Street in recent days, then you've likely noticed an abundance of signage asking patrons to please use the baskets and carts provided...
... and NOT your personal carry-on or reusable bags...
Key management says these new signs are to "passively deter shoplifting." And the signs are definitely more passive than this move to stop a shoplifter at Key.

Saturday, September 30, 2023

Noted

Photo by Stacie Joy

Fall arrived at Key Food on Avenue A this past week... just one sign of the Halloween season around the grocery.  (And why would someone with straw hair smoke a pipe?)

Friday, July 14, 2023

Late night at Key Food

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Key Food returned to a 24/7 schedule last October after shortened hours during the pandemic. 

Ownership — the Mandell family operates this location as well as the Key Food outposts in Park Slope and Astoria, part of the Key Food Stores Co-Operative — invited me into the grocery during the overnight hours... and even provided an all-access tour of the space. 

Aside from knowing EVG's affinity for the grocery (for better or worse!), the store on Avenue A and Fourth Street is trying to encourage people to shop between midnight and 6 a.m. and has a promo through July 27 — $5 off a purchase of $50 or more.

While I didn't receive a laminated all-access badge, I did have a tour guide in Dwyane "Petie" Reddy, who has worked for Key Food since 1987 — starting at the Queens store, and here for the past seven years ...
Also on duty this night — store manager Richie Gaitan, who has also been with Key Food since 1987...
...and away we went ... here are some behind-the-scenes scenes ... away from what shoppers might see... the place is a lot bigger than you might think at first glance rounding aisle 1...
A few things I learned... the ready-to-eat salads and prepared meals you see when you enter Key are made in-house. (The sushi is delivered each day from an outside vendor.) The meat department is staffed daily as well...
Key Food management also showed off a new employees-only T-shirt design (and I pitched them on making merch for the store because we'd buy this)...
And some Key trivia — these 24-packs of Poland Spring water are the store's top-selling product. (I'm told this is a loss-leader item)...
Richie's (iconic?) yellow sale signs and other various notices that are everywhere are designed and printed in-house...
And there's a reason for the seemingly never-ending supply of Keebler Export Sodas canisters and those 18-pound bags of wild bird food by the exit — they are big sellers...
We also cracked the mystery of the store music, often heavy on the semi-forgotten and/or guilty pleasure hits from the mid-to-late 1980s (from Level 42 to Glass Tiger to Mike + the Mechanics). 

However, my editor is making me save this scoop for another post so he can list all the random songs he's heard while shopping at Key. 

Speaking of shopping, the overnight hours proved to be a good time to knock this errand off your to-do list ... if it fits into your schedule. 

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

A familiar face is leaving Key Food

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Arrman Mohammed, a manager at Key Food on Avenue A who always seems to be there when we are, is (semi) retiring. His last day here is on Saturday, April 29.

He started at Key Food in 1986 as a teenager on Long Island. He said he walked in, asked for an after-school job, and was given one in the deli. 
Mohammed, now 56, has worked at Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan locations for 35-plus years. He has been at the Avenue A store for the past decade.

He will enjoy not working for now, saying he would "take my alarm clock, put it under my feet, and crush it. No more waking up at 4:30 in the morning." 

Upcoming plans include spending time with his 28-year-old son... before a move to Florida, where he hopes to take up a position with another Key Food. (Florida has 50-plus Key Food stores in the state.) 

Mohammed encourages people to stop by and say goodbye this week before he clocks out one last time ...

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Thursday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

At the Key Food checkout tonight with Shirley and Cáit!

P.S. 
In the background... Key seems to have even more Keebler® Export Sodas in the recloseable can these days. (And why are they always by the checkout and exit?)

Friday, March 31, 2023

Friday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Ready for Passover at Key Food...

Monday, March 13, 2023

March madness! Key Food continues to up its St. Patrick's Day game

Photos by Stacie Joy 

O'Key Food is once again prepped for this coming March 17... with a display at the start of aisle 6 featuring items for dinner (corned beef and cabbage), lunch (spinach and artichoke quiche, potato and garlic pierogies), and breakfast (Guinness) ...
And look for the Irish soda bread and Hot Cross Buns near the front entrance...

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Saturday, December 31, 2022

Why you might need to change your New York's Eve plans

Tough news for anyone who was planning to ring in 2023 at Key Food at the strike of midnight. 

ICYMI: Management for the grocery on Avenue A and Fourth posted (with festive signage!) their holiday hours earlier this week... noting a 10 closure tonight, New Year's Eve...
Otherwise, Key is back to its 24/7 schedule

Meanwhile, see you in Times Square!

Friday, December 23, 2022

Season's Supermarket Greetings

Photos by Stacie Joy 

While out and about this holiday season, EVG contributor Stacie Joy starting keeping tabs on the neighborhood's grocery stores (such as Associated on Avenue C above) to see how the markets were decorating for the season. 

Many places were on the bah-humbug-y side, perhaps with just a few cashier-area holiday tinsel-y ornaments. 

These were the groceries putting in the holiday décor effort, starting with Pioneer/Met Fresh on Avenue D between Eighth Street and Ninth Street ...
... Union Market on Houston and Avenue A...
... H-Mart on Third Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street ...
...New Yorkers Food Market on Second Avenue between Seventh Street and Sixth Street...
... Whole Foods Market® Bowery ...
... and the clear winner in the grocery holiday games — Key Food on Avenue A and Fourth Street,
Key was also the only shop with any Hanukkah signage and opting for the traditional Chanukah spelling...
Please note that Key closes at 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve (tomorrow) and will be closed all day on Christmas. So plan ahead. (Sidenote: We finally found where they stock the mustard now — aisle 1, which doesn't make sense, after the Great Key Reorganization. Stayed tuned for the next investigative series on mustard presentation.)