Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
Scenes from Saturday's opening day at Metro Acres Market, the new grocery on the southwest corner of First Avenue and Fifth Street in the former Rite Aid space.
The ribbon-cutting featured co-owners Ennis and Rowhie Said’s mother, who had the honor—and looked very proud doing so.
Outside, there was a small block-party vibe with a DJ, face painting and balloon animals for kids, plus free hot dogs and raffles for TVs, air fryers, microwaves and other prizes. The event drew a sizable crowd.
Management met many neighbors, including officers from the 9th Precinct up the block on Fifth Street, who asked organizers to shut down the outdoor music and sidewalk festivities, and the celebration moved indoors.
Inside, there were free samples of cheeses, meats, coffee and hot sauces ... and plenty of shopping...
The market also features a salad bar and a solid prepared-foods section.
In case you were making a suds run, no beer just yet...
Early price check: Some items seemed better deals than others, though several sale items were priced quite competitively.
In talking with the owners over the past few weeks on our Metro Acres updates, they want to be good neighborhoods, and so far, they've delivered on that.
All told, a solid addition to the neighborhood.
Daily hours: 7 a.m. to midnight. Find the store website here.
5 comments:
Love this as an addition to the neighborhood. So much better than the Rite Aid that seems to have been dying for 20 years.
Miss Rite Aid. It was taken over by predatory private equity in order to sell the store leases..
Breakfast cereal is fun food!
Love this place already. I’ve been 2 times. They have good prices on boneless chicken and avocados and Hagen Daz ice cresm is 3 pints for $10. The salad bar is only 8.99 a pound but the hot food look dried out and less than optimal by the time I got there. The frozen Blueberries are $14. A larger 4lb package at Wegmans is $7.99 so they need to rethink that. It’s way too high even compared to Whole Foods. All in all it’s a great place and the owners and staff are fabulous. I will definitely make it my main store for many thing’s although not for all.
I don't like how their shed took over the sidewalk but I suppose it's a legal necessity for a supermarket. We have already had the restaurants doing whatever they want so I'm used to it. I wonder if they got a permit to fly their ticket tape banner across the avenue. I like it though, cause it's old school New York looking.
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