Every single Upper East Side resident closed his eyes at the same time and made one big wish. The result? Fairway Market opened this week on 86th Street between 2nd and 3rd in the building that was formerly home of Barnes and Noble. I checked it out two days after opening day.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I'm a Fairway veteran. I've been buying my groceries at the one on 130th every week for several years and I'm no stranger to the one on 72nd, either. So though I've not been nearly as eager, I have been awaiting the completion of the Fairway Manhattan Trifecta.
I made sure to go after having had a full meal and I made sure to go during business hours when I thought it might be a bit less crowded. I still have post traumatic flashbacks of trying to shop at Trader Joe's when they first opened in Union Square. I spent about two hours exploring this new shop. It's split between two levels and when I entered, a staff member gave me a printed map of the place. A map! Of a grocery store! A nice one, on glossy paper. I laughed and gave the map to the next entering patron. That was a mistake. While the first floor is somewhat straightforward, the lower level is a labyrinth with little nooks and alcoves. I found myself picking up one of the similarly discarded maps, slightly embarrassed, and giving it a quick consult to help make rhyme or reason of the place. That helped a bit but not completely. I still found their selection of sardines split up between three different areas. One set was in the kosher section, one was in the canned fish section with the tuna and one was in specialty foods. A few different items are located in more than one place, which is confusing, but not uncommon for Fairway. And the design of the lower level is generally convoluted, largely due to the little nooks and alcoves and the twists and turns. There's a reason why most grocery stores are organized in parallel rows.
Confusion notwithstanding, I enjoy shopping at Fairway. There's a wider variety of organic produce and it's fresh and generally lower in price than at Whole Paycheck (Whole Foods) and there's a nice selection of imported specialty foods so there's always something interesting for me to explore and try. And it might be my mind playing tricks on me but it feels like the Fairway folks tried to offer wider aisles in this store than in their 72nd St sardine can. It was a bit easier to get past people standing and staring in the middle of each aisle, which is certainly a welcomed improvement. Not to mention that it's still shiny and clean. We'll see how long they can make that last.
The first few times one shops at this new Fairway on 86th, it's going to take a while to figure out the layout, find everything and navigate the crowd but I didn't see anyone there who seemed to think it wasn't worth it. Quite the contrary, the Upper East Siders were out in full force and advertising their glee in ways that I would expect, specifically of this community.
I heard one woman sigh and announce, to nobody in particular as she was standing alone, "I love it here. It's so civilized." One poor staff member in a Fairway apron was cornered by a young woman who was waxing poetic about all the reasons she likes Fairway better than Whole Foods. It was while I was examining one of the three sardine displays. I believe I heard the poor guy ask no fewer than three times, "Yes ma'am. Is there anything I can help you with?"
And the Yiddish was flying. I think I heard two different middle aged women say they were "kvelling" and when the second said it to her neighbor, the latter said, "Me too. But we're going to have to sit shiva for Gristede's." to which the first replied, "Who cares, our apartment values just went up by 10 thousand dollars" My people, my people.
Now this store opening didn't boost my property values nor did I feel any more civilized there than I had felt before. I also spotted four different guys who were in fraternities when I was in college, which is a fairly significant detractor for me. I generally prefer Fairway on 130th St at 9am on a Saturday morning, when there's nobody else there but us toddler parents. But they did have everything bagels in whole wheat and for that, if for nothing else, I would go to the Fairway on 86th St, fraternity boys and all.
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