The incoming Whole Foods Market Daily Shop shapes up in StuyTown

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

The transformation of the former Associated continues at 409 E. 14th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

Workers told us progress is "going quickly" and the "next stage" should begin soon. (We don't know exactly what the next stage might entail.) 

As previously reported, Whole Foods Market is opening a smaller-format store, Whole Foods Market Daily Shop, in this space...

Last Fall, Beam Living shared the following email with StuyTown residents about what to expect: 

This store will be one of the first locations of the new Whole Foods Market Daily Shop — a recently announced quick-shop concept from the grocer. Whole Foods Market StuyTown will provide a convenient option for grab-and-go meals and snacks, weekly essentials, and the wide range of fresh, seasonal produce that Whole Foods Market is known and loved for. This location will also feature Juice & Java, which provides coffee, tea, fresh-pressed juices, smoothies, sandwiches, soups, and desserts. 

You can read this EVG post for more details. NYC's first Whole Foods Market Daily Shop opened at 1175 Third Ave. on the UES last fall. 

Associated closed here in December 2019. Joseph Falzon, the store's owner, previously said that a confluence of factors had cut business nearly in half. For starters, construction on 14th Street for the L train obscured the supermarket with a 12-foot fence for nearly two years.

Report: Whole Foods leasing the former Associated space on 14th Street in Stuy Town

Another grocery option is coming to 14th Street. 

According to the Post, Whole Foods signed a lease for a new store at the former Associated Supermarket space on 14th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

The tabloid did not know what type of market this might be for the 20,000-square-foot space, where renovations have been taking place in recent months. There's the usual Whole Foods as seen west on 14th Street, or one of its smaller-format Whole Foods Market Daily Shops set to arrive in NYC later this year. 

As you may recall, in February 2021, Stuy Town management informed residents that Chef's Local Harvest, a 10,000-square-foot grocery store, would open in this space ... from the father-son duo Paul and Aaron Fernandez, who helped create the Union Market chainlet (as seen on Avenue A and Houston) and Ideal Marketplace in Chelsea. 

Associated closed in December 2019. Joseph Falzon, the store's owner, previously told Crain's that a confluence of factors had cut business nearly in half. For starters, construction on 14th Street for the L train obscured the supermarket with a 12-foot fence for nearly two years. 

This block of 14th Street is a chain-friendly corridor (despite the ongoing quality-of-life issues) with a Wingstop, European Wax Center. Domino's, Trader Joe's, Popeyes and Target. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• No new grocery now for the former Associated space on 14th Street in Stuy Town

Whole Foods allows customers 60 and over to shop an hour before the general public

Whole Foods Market has adjusted its hours of operation and set aside a special time for seniors to shop so they're less exposed to the coronavirus, per a company statement.

All Whole Foods stores are allowing customers 60 and older to shop for an hour before opening to the general public.

“We are setting aside this time to help these customers, who national health authorities have identified as among the most vulnerable to COVID-19, feel more comfortable shopping our stores and helping to ensure they are able to get the items they need in a less crowded environment,” Whole Foods said in a statement.

At the Whole Foods Bowery, 60-and-over shoppers can start at 7 a.m. (ditto for the Union Square outpost, which has the same 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. hours)...



Thanks to Mercedes Sanchez for these photos!

Noted

Reports Bloomberg News via Crain's New York:

Whole Foods Market Inc., working to shed its "Whole Paycheck" image, has become one of the cheaper chains for grocery shopping in Manhattan, according to a report by Bloomberg Intelligence.

A basket of 97 items, including orange juice and frozen pizza, was $391.39 at Whole Foods, compared with $398.44 from Fresh Direct and $458.84 at Gristedes, according to the study ...

Does this mean you'll have to sever your arm with a dull knife to eat Pizza Roma?

Spotted outside Whole Foods Bowery... Referencing "127 Hours" to sell pizza seems a little ... odd.

Wait till you see their array of latkes this Passover!

Over at Whole Food Bwoery... via a post by Marjorie Ingall, who wrote: "We appreciate the sentiment and accept your slightly confused but well-intentioned holiday wishes."

Noted

Bustin' stereotypes outside Whole Foods Bowery....

Wish you were here

Outside the Pickle Bar sign at Whole Foods on Houston and the Bowery.

What to do with the Vegan Bowery Burger

A friend recently made me aware of the existence of the Vegan Bowery Burger at Whole Foods. (I realize these things aren't new...just new to me.) So, for the sake of investigative journalism, I went over to Whole Foods on Houston and Bowery to check them out. (And are these just specific to this location? Are there, say, Union Square Burgers at the 14th Street location.) To my good fortune, they were in stock at the deli counter. They go for $7.99 a pound. I've never ordered veggie burgers by the pound. So I asked for three. To my amazement, they came to $7.99. (So next time someone asks me how much a pound weighs...)



I'm not much of a foodie. The burgers tasted pretty good (couldn't even detect the mustard powder), though I recommend that you eat them with heaping piles of cheese and bacon.

Now! To more important matters. How to market the Vegan Bowery Burger!

First! We need some 1970s-style Bowery street cred... Gabba gabba yum!



...some hotties in Bowery wear... Let me see that fake beef!



We have your Vegan Bowery Burger bitches!



And a celebrity spokesperson....

Beep, beep! Delivery for Mr. Moby!



Then we'll raise the price to $17.99 a pound. See you at DBGB, suckers!

Don't you forget about ...our breakfast bar...

Outside Whole Foods on Houston and the Bowery. Not the best Anthony Michael Hall that I've ever seen...

Nuts

A friend said that he saw a man calmly walk into Whole Foods on Houston and the Bowery, grab an armful of nuts that are conveniently located by the front entrance, and turn around and continue on his way...

Posts that I never got around to posting: A less-awful Whole Foods ad campaign

During the recession, marketers turn their attention to yuppies, pervs

How else to explain these newish ads on 14th Street near Third Avenue?





Yeah! Get into it!

Seen in the Bad Timing Department

At Whole Foods on Union Square.