Westside Market opening in the former Met Foods space on 3rd Avenue and 17th Street

[Photo by Harry Weiner]

Westside Market is opening a new location on Third Avenue near 17th Street. (H/T EVG reader Harry Weiner!)

The signage points to a spring opening...



The retail space has been for lease since the longtime Met Foods closed in the spring of 2015.

This is an interesting spot for Westside, the family owned mini chain of markets. The Westside opened in the East Village on Third Avenue and 12th Street in October 2014. Two locations within five blocks?

The Westside location on Broadway near 77th Street closed last month, per the West Side Rag. (As they reported, "the issue was not a rent hike, but [the landlord's] rejection of a plan by Westside Market to rent the available adjacent space.")

This location will be the fifth for Westside.



Previously on EV Grieve:
The Met Foods on 3rd Avenue in Gramercy Park is closing

Met Foods checks out of its longtime 3rd Avenue home

We didn't get the chance to note this last week, when the Met Foods on Third Avenue between East 16th Street and East 17th Street closed for good. (Yes, not technically in the East Village, but we know some residents who live in the northern part of the neighborhood who shopped here.)

And we didn't did hear an official reason for the closure. The space is for rent via Solil Management. The listing doesn't seem to be online.

A sign on the window redirects would-be shoppers to the already crowded Associated on East 14th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A…



The store has mostly been cleared out…





A few items remain, such as the time clock and a cane...



EVG reader Harry Weiner alerted us to the store's last day. And here's what he had to say about the impending closure in February:

"It has been in the neighborhood for many years – one of the last old-school stores. It will be a great loss to many residents. Prices were reasonable," he said. "I'm sad about this. I live nearby and have been shopping there for about 18 years. There are many longtime employees who will lose their jobs.

"Frankly, it's my favorite neighborhood store because it's a vestige of a fading grocery store era and reminds me of my Brooklyn youth."

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Met Foods on 3rd Avenue in Gramercy Park is closing (19 comments)

The Met Foods space is now for rent on 3rd Avenue

Earlier this month, we reported that the Met Foods on Third Avenue between East 16th Street and East 17th Street will be closing at a date to-be-determined this spring.

The for rent sign is now up at the space. We didn't spot a listing for it online just yet.

Meanwhile, the mood inside isn't so good. Said EVG reader Harry Weiner, who shared the above photo: "There is a subdued atmosphere of gloom in the store…"

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Met Foods on 3rd Avenue in Gramercy Park is closing (19 comments)

The Met Foods on 3rd Avenue in Gramercy Park is closing

Several readers have passed along word that the Met Foods on Third Avenue between East 16th Street and East 17th Street will be closing in the months ahead.

Readers made these comments on the Open Pantry post last Friday:

Just heard that the Met Supermarket on Third Ave. between 16th and 17th will be closing in April due to new rent demand. It will be a real loss for the neighborhood. They are all very nice people and the store is a real asset to have nearby.

---

I live on 19th off 3rd and I have to say, that Met is a dive. Always walk the few extra blocks to the Dag on 23rd and 2nd Ave or the new WestEnd Market. If they took care of the place a little better, maybe they'd have been able to afford the increase.

---

...this Met isn't the shiniest apple on the cart. When pressed, however, they did bump up their produce game. That was a clear response to Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and even the health food market on the corner of 16th Street.

But it wasn't enough. Their space isn't meant to house a 21st-century grocery store: low ceilings, three or four registers, exceedingly narrow aisles, and White Rose this and that. It's low-end, low-margin merchandise inside a marginal space, staffed by people who give off an unmistakable vibe of indifference (and I'd probably do no better after a spell working there, bless them).

The sad part is regular shoppers probably rely on it for location and cheaper necessities. Whenever I go in, I invariably see older folks and others who don't appear to have a lot of disposable cash. Coincidentally, the Duane Reade a block north has yet to undergo renovation --- it's still an "old" DR. So I wonder more about the economics of Third Avenue. There are a couple independent and excellent restaurants around 16th and 17th, and no shortage of foot traffic.

Still, the grocery business has notoriously thin margins and much competition; I'm surprised this Met lasted as long as it did.

---

A worker confirmed the April closure to us. The worker didn't really seem to know why the grocery would be shutting down.

We exchanged emails with EVG reader Harry Weiner about the upcoming departure of Met Foods.

"It has been in the neighborhood for many years – one of the last old-school stores. It will be a great loss to many residents. Prices were reasonable," he said. "I'm sad about this. I live nearby and have been shopping there for about 18 years. There are many longtime employees who will lose their jobs.

"Frankly, it's my favorite neighborhood store because it's a vestige of a fading grocery store era and reminds me of my Brooklyn youth."

Met Foods was founded in 1941 in Syosset, Long Island. It was purchased by its current owner DiGiorgio Corporation in 1964-65.

Why did Metropolitan City Market close early today?

Multiple readers have pointed out that the Metropolitan City Market (Met Foods) on Second Avenue closed around 3 today.

There's no sign on the door indicating a problem, like, say, emergency repairs on the AC units. Calls to the Market go unanswered. Maybe they closed early in honor of Canada Day?

Anyone hear anything?

EV Grieve Etc.: Introducing Metropolitan City Market; new Houston-Bowery mural

Catching up on a few items from the last week or two...

One. The wind from Hurricane Sandy ripped off the cover to the new Met Foods sign on Second Avenue... the store had been renovated in anticipation of this new branding of sorts... it's now Metropolitan City Market...

Two. And over at the Houston/Bowery Mural Wall last week, twin brothers HOW and NOSM began creating a storm-themed mural for the corner ...

The mural is dedicated to Tony Goldman, the curator of the wall, who died in September at age 68.

Find more on the mural at BoweryBoogie and Animal NY.

Per Marina Galperina:

See what you want in the bloody mouths of toothy fish, in the stacks of slaughtered tree trunks or in the factory-like humanoid forms spilling diamonds and money from their orifices. The center design is clear — a triangle if black sky around a dead grey street light above a triangle of water with floating debris.

Met Foods removes the R

Renovations seemed to have wrapped up over at Met Foods on Second Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street...

As Jeremiah has written about, a Ratner's was located here for more than 50 years ... (Read Jeremiah's post here.)

The R from Ratner's remained inside the front entrance... given the renovations, it seemed unlikely that this sliver of history would survive...

Sure enough. From a reader:

Manager of the Met on Second Avenue explaining why they removed the R from the floor: "it was cracked and disgusting, you really should have seen it."

Workers put in a new floor here this past week...

And so far, that exposed piece of Ratner's old wall is still there.

Well, perhaps we should just be thankful that the store survived its fight against NYU. We could be looking at a dorm instead...

What do we think of the renovated Met Foods so far?

Renovations continue over at Met Foods on Second Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street... One reader remarked that it was "nice to have it looking clean."

It certainly is cleaner... and it looks bigger. I'm not a regular here, so I don't have much to say on the matter... New deli is in the works...

Curious what will happen with the floor...

As Jeremiah has written about, a Ratner's was located here for more than 50 years ... (Read Jeremiah's post here.) The R remains, but for how long? Hate to see another sliver of history disappear...

And so far, that exposed piece of Ratner's old wall is still there.

Graffiti and groceries

According to today's New York Post:

Graffiti arrests and complaints are skyrocketing as so called "taggers" treat city walls as their personal canvases, new police statistics reveal.

The NYPD recorded and unprecedented 81.5 percent surge in graffiti-related complaints from 2006 to 2007.

Unrelated, but in the Post:

NYU officials and an East Village grocer are working to settle a bitter rent dispute that's threatening the existence of one of the last affordable food stores in the neighborhood.

Negotiations between NYU and the Met Foodmarket - which occupies the ground floor of a university-owned building at 107 Second Ave. - came to an abrupt end earlier this month when the store was offered a three-year lease at triple the current rent, said owner Michael Schumacher.

City Councilwoman Rosie Menendez is mediating the dispute and yesterday, at a meeting in her First Avenue office, the two sides edged toward an agreement, Schumacher said.

"We had a very constructive meeting. Based on our conversation, they seem to want to sustain local businesses. I'm hopeful," he said.

Alicia Hurley, the NYU vice president for government and community affairs, said, "We're hopeful, as well. It is certainly our intention to keep him in the space."

[Image -- Sara Krulwich/The New York Times]