Gristedes

If I want to go to Whole Foods I'll go to Whole Foods and pay their prices, but whenever I go to Gristedes I always feel weirded out when I grab a handful of things and it ends up being 1.5-2x as expensive as I expect. Case in point, the $2.99 pack of Kraft's Singles from Key Foods is $5.99 at Gristedes. And in my case, these two stores are across the street from each other! Its the exact same product!!!

How is this possible? I just don't understand how Gristedes stays in business when they sell the exact same groceries as key foods (its not like they're selling whole foods tier food), and charge so much more.

Is it a money laundering front or something? What gives?

Can someone explain to me the anomaly of Gristedes still existing throughout the city? Expired, overpriced groceries. Disgusting, dingy, dirty stores. Yet they're every few blocks throughout the city.

How do these guys manage to survive in an era of grocery delivery? It blows my mind that the city bans Walmart and other chain stores but allows Gristedes to stick around and sell meats and produce that expired months ago and charge $10 for a cereal box.

Lived here 10 years. Only hear Gristedes talked about as the butt of a joke. It seems like a perfectly adequate grocery store. What am I missing?

I walk by Gristedes on 89th and lex all the time. Never seen it busy. Meanwhile the lines in whole foods one block away are madness. Is this a price thing or something else?

…And how are they still open if nobody goes there…

I don’t get it. They are in well served neighborhoods with other grocery options and everything they carry (including food town brand items) are at like a 2-3x markup. What’s going on here?????