You will now need to rethink your spontaneous 3 a.m. excursions to Key Food on Avenue A at Fourth Street.
We heard rumblings from employees about a late-night shoplifting problem. Plus, unrelated or not, as we understand it, the self-service kiosks stop working for system updates at 1 a.m., so all the people trying to buy, say, beer and chips at that hour have to wait in a solitary line at the only available checkout with the cashier who looks stressed out.
In other gossipy Key news, we're told that those updates to the aisles (detailed here and here) are on hold for the time being due to the uptick in positive COVID-19 cases in NYC.
H/T Stacie Joy!
Ugh. It is so frustrating how places are having to change hours, lock things up, and hire security to deal with shoplifting. It's just going to get worse too with the Manhattan DA refusing to prosecute numerous laws as drafted/charged. Here's hoping we can manage to not become San Francisco.
ReplyDeleteIt's okay. Rather than grabbing beer or chips at 3AM on a Saturday or Sunday morning, people can get off the street just go home. So the Key Food/NYU Commissary will be closed for a few hours, we'll be okay.
ReplyDeleteSun - Sat means 7 days a week, not just the weekend.
DeleteIt’s a bummer for those with odd work shifts. I have friends that work 8pm-8am and their sleep schedule is always tough on off-days. This definitely was great for them - can’t sleep? Get some errands done.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn’t always need to be a rant about “kids these days” and NYU.
Is there a place in the East Village that is less NYU-centric than Key Food? Leave it to the EVGrumps to find a way to make that far-fetched connection!
ReplyDeleteVery sad about this (I usually go to key food at 2-3a) and the way in general our neighborhood is losing its 24hr aspect. Velseka closing at 11pm! Blink also closing at 11pm. Keyfood at 1am. The Liquor authority is trying to stop new bars from serving alcohol past 2am. If nyc loses the things that make it unique, we won't be able to build it back. We were and are supposed to be this amazing 24/7 experience. This is why we endure the rats, garbage and bitter cold. So that we can live in a place like no other....
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t agree more, Wendy. There needs to be at least one place you can sit down comfortably with friends for coffee and conversation at ANY hour, day or night. I miss Veselka.
DeleteRight now it’s a place like no other wants to live 😉 I moved out of NYC after Covid still have a place in the hood but it’s depressing there.
DeleteNew York... San Francisco, etc all places like No other and rapidly going down the RAT Hole thanks to these no enforcement policies. In time you're going to see a swing to the Right. It happens all of the time.
ReplyDeleteI can't even remember that last time I saw an NYU student at Key Food. It's usually people over 40. Or maybe those are just very rough-looking students.
ReplyDeleteWendy, where do you live? 2016? These changes are obviously the result of the pandemic--staff shortages because people are sick. Go read a newspaper for crying out loud.
ReplyDeleteI tend to think that "shoplifting" is being used as an excuse (when it's used; note that Key Food didn't say anything official about this) to cut the always-less-profitable-and-now-even-more-so overnight hours. Which kills me, because I feel like Wendy does (with a side order of hating corporations for shuffling off the blame on an easy target). But with foot traffic way down, I understand it. I just wonder if overnight hours will ever come back once the pandemic is over.
ReplyDeleteI don't usually do my shopping at night, but I do miss having 24-hr diners where you could get a late night meal and enjoy the night scene.
ReplyDeleteWell we lost a number of late night / 24 hour places in the neighborhood before the pandemic even started. I would be surprised if Veselka doesn’t extend its hours again after we’re past the pandemic and they can get workers as long as they have business, and they were usually busy around midnight before….
ReplyDeleteI don’t think it’s fair to say the increase in shoplifting and crime is simply due to insufficient law enforcement response. We have a tremendous homeless problem that is about to get exponentially worse starting next week with the end of the eviction moratorium, and this is largely because government prevented people from working but didn’t provide sufficient financial compensation to get everyone through the shut down / slow down. We can’t take away people’s incomes and housing and act surprised and disappointed when we have homeless.
Bring back Kiev. Always superior to Veselka, still sorry it closed.
ReplyDelete