32 responses so far ↓

• 1 raphael // Dec 11, 2008 at 2:28 pm

  Produce at that Key Food is ghastly. Moldy, busted old junk.

• 2 david // Dec 11, 2008 at 2:38 pm

  yeah, it’s not the best, but i think this is a bit of over reaction.

  also, don’t go to key food if you’re looking for good, fresh produce. they don’t have it. never have. so getting bent out of shape about that is like crying that beer at yankee stadium is overpriced.

  key food is fine for staples, suger, water, juice, t.p, etc.

• 3 Nicko // Dec 11, 2008 at 3:01 pm

  My wife & I used to shop there when we lived in WT. It’s a’ight but where else you gonna go? The ProsPark Greenmarket on Saturdays doesn’t have everything you need. We now live in Prospect Heights and now shop in the sad little Associated on Washington Ave. — talk about a dump! I haven’t seen that many flies since I was an aid worker in Sudan.

• 4 Margaret // Dec 11, 2008 at 4:11 pm

  Okay, we live right there and go to that Key Food quite a bit. The people who work there are really nice, but the store itself does suck. We use it for emergency diapers, milk, etc. I do not ever get produce or meat there. I would recommend ALWAYS checking expiration dates on that store.

• 5 ff // Dec 11, 2008 at 4:20 pm

  Rather than a petition, how about starting a food coop? Or start with a CSA and then later turn it into a coop.

• 6 Jim // Dec 11, 2008 at 5:02 pm

  Been there a few times, but we never bought anything. Kind of really bad.

  If you have wheels, go to the Key on 5th Ave. near Sterling. Their selections are as varied as the neighborhood is, many different food choices. But a lot of the produce is pre-wrapped, so we avoid that.

• 7 JImmy // Dec 11, 2008 at 5:10 pm

  They do have great gaterode and Seltzer, the beer is good and cheap.. For everything else we go to Fairway.. You can do that to 🙂

• 8 Brenda from Flatbush // Dec 11, 2008 at 6:06 pm

  Agree–nice folks, serviceable but basically lousy store. Produce has actually improved over past few years, but I wouldn’t buy raw meat there on a bet–I caught them red-handed relabeling ShadyBrook Farm turkey cutlets with a new date. The guy was so clueless, he assured me it was “alright, he could tell it was okay”! Apparently he can see bacteria multiply with his bare eyes. We do buy overpriced Boar’s Head cold cuts from their deli, haven’t had any problems with those. Basically, they have one thing going for them: a PARKING LOT. I now do Fairway for big stuff every 2 weeks and WT Key Food strictly for fill-in–and of course the GAP Greenmarket every Saturday for everything produce.

• 9 Scott // Dec 11, 2008 at 6:10 pm

  I too live in WT and shop-unwillingly-at this Key Food. Other than Bananas, and the Dole bags of salad – I wouldn’t recommend their produce. I certainly don’t buy any meet there. In general, the store is cramped and dirty (which seems to be some sort of requirement for grocery stores in NYC) and the staff is disinterested at best, rude at the worst.

  It is a great location and it seems like the neighborhood would happily support a decent store.

• 10 Tyrone Shoelaces // Dec 11, 2008 at 8:04 pm

  Even the C-Town on 9th sucks major bootie after a year of schlepping to Fairway (and is actually more expensive). Rubber celery and chicken that spoils a day after one gets it home. I chalk it up to the anti big semi truck rules which lengthen the time to market a few too many days.

  Take a bus and pay for home delivery. You’ll thank me.

• 11 elizabeth // Dec 11, 2008 at 8:06 pm

  food coops are for people not smart enought to figure out they are paying to work- so please dont start one in my neighborhhod. The keyfood could use some renovations but the food products there are not horrendous, snotty attitudes about luxery food stores are also not welcome. keyfood is one of the only reasonably price places to buy food- granted hiking out to fairway is good but over priced- trader joes is awesome, yet limited on produce, and placed in an area that really only services the immediate community- because parking is so tough. i am sure if key food remodelled so appear nicer prices would rise- buy your tofu elsewhere- i hope you bring a petition to my door-

• 12 5th AVE // Dec 11, 2008 at 8:22 pm

  I have shopped at the 5th Ave Park Slope Key Food for a decade. Despite a somewhat recent overhaul on their interior their produce continues to be BAD. I cannot count the number of times that I’ve gotten home with a fruit or vegetable (wrapped) and unwrap it only to find that it is already rotten. The produce that is not rotten at purchase IS within a day or so. I wonder if the two stores share suppliers?

• 13 jack // Dec 11, 2008 at 10:35 pm

  I stopped shopping here months ago. this store is terrible. yes, they do have expired stuff. everything is way overpriced. and nice folks? huh? the produce people are assholes and get angry when you try to find the least rotten veggies. and that manager, i think his name is mike, he’s just a mean dick. averyone else though, is very nice. but the management needs a kick in the ass.

• 14 anne // Dec 11, 2008 at 10:36 pm

  We have three CSAs already in Kensington/WT….but you can’t count on CSAs to provide all your meat and produce. It really would be nice not to have to go to Fairway but to shop locally. Why don’t they just figure it out??

• 15 Dan // Dec 11, 2008 at 11:18 pm

  New York has awful supermarkets. Can anyone explain precisely why? I’ve lived in some really nice neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhattan and they ALL have crappy supermarkets. I love to cook and have all but given up on my local Key Food markets and the fancy shops are too expensive. How hard is it to have meet that I’m not afraid of and some non-expired milk.

  Don’t start a petition drive, start your own market.

• 16 heather // Dec 11, 2008 at 11:29 pm

  Stores in NYC suck. The ones in WT.Kensington are cramped.
  I never go to key food. The ONLY thing I buy there is soda and that’s only when I want to get cash back to pay for laundry.

  The milk there is ALWAYS expired and not by a day, but often by 3 days.

  Renovations are not the answer because they they will just get super expensive like the Foodtown in Kensington where a frozen pizza costs $8.99 (among other things that are ridiculously overpirced).

  I go to Fairway once a week and if I need anything I go to foodtown and pay extra because it beats Key food which is a $hit hole.

• 17 Steve // Dec 12, 2008 at 12:48 am

  The newly revamped FoodTown in Kensington on McDonald Ave. has impressed me quite a bit.
  Fresh produce, including organic.
  So far, there seems to be some pride in managing that store- hopefully it will last.

• 18 Rachel // Dec 12, 2008 at 10:13 am

  I agree with those thast care about what they injest into their body. The produce, raw meat, and deli counter are very gross and def. woould fail a health inspection. I grew up in NYC and basically you have to pick and choose where you want your bread from, meat from and other things. Sometimes you wind up shopping in three different stores just to get decent groceries. I only buy paper towels, bananas and beer from this store. It is sad that the owners don’t give a s..t.

• 19 amelia // Dec 12, 2008 at 10:16 am

  Call Key Food Corporate Headquarters (718)697-8200, (ask for Consumer Relations) and let them know you want Fresh Produce and non-expired items. They aren’t going to be reading Gowanus Lounge so let your complaints matter.

• 20 Judes // Dec 12, 2008 at 10:31 am

  Has anyone tried calling the Dept. of Health? If Key Foods is selling spoiled or expired food, I’d think that would fall under their jurisdiction.

• 21 stacey // Dec 12, 2008 at 4:03 pm

  Hello,

  In our experience over the last 3 years there are way more items at this store than any other we’ve shopped at, that are expired: bagged lettuce, yogurt, bread, you name it.

  The other thing that drives us nuts and seems so blatantly screw-you is that anything that even hints at being natural, organic, local, chemical-free, etc. is marked up beyond belief. There are cans of soup that cost three times what you’d pay at Whole Foods or Fresh Direct, for instance, but really any random thing – cookies, breakfast cereal, frozen foods – not loaded with preservatives falls into a pricing free-for-all zone.

  The checkers are usually kind, even as you watch the screen like a hawk for the inevitable wrong price (and yes it’s ALWAYS in their system higher than what the price tag or shelf tag says), but the managers will do anything not to have to ever acknowledge that you exist, let alone listen to your request or complaint. They seem miserable and pissed, all the time. Argh.

  Thanks for listening to my rant.

  Stacey

• 22 EJ // Dec 12, 2008 at 4:11 pm

  Just for POV — I moved into WT in early 2001, and at that time the Key Food was filthy and stocked with food choices circa 1995. The produce went bad with a few days in my fridge.

  The store was slightly remodeled and considerably cleaned up a couple years later. The produce still sucked.

  As the demographic of WT has shifted more towards young professionals and young families in the past few years, KF has started to stock a serviceable selection of organic foods –milk, bread, eggs, a few other things.

  The produce still sucks.

• 23 Neighbor // Dec 12, 2008 at 4:51 pm

  I agree with most: decent place for staples, but don’t shop for produce or meat. Besides, they never had any produce or meat to begin with! I have gone there looking for basic items and have walked away empty-handed.

  I now shop at the Key Food on 5th, except for produce which I get from Rossmans. It’s a shame, a supermarket just blocks away from my house, yet I have to avoid it.

• 24 Werby // Dec 12, 2008 at 5:48 pm

  C’mon people, get real. If the produce is bad, don’t buy it. I’ve shopped at both Key Food’s mentioned in the comments and Fairway and I’ve gotten good produce and meat from all three. I’ve also gotten some crappy stuff at Fairway, so don’t treat it like food heaven. Ever wonder why that produce they sell outside of Fairway is so cheap?

  Grocery store’s in NYC are pretty crappy, but after living in Chicago and San Francisco I can tell you that they are pretty average for normal priced stores in urban areas. You want pristine produce? Cough up the cash at the farmer’s market or Whole Foods.

  My friend’s from New Orleans are always amazed at how GOOD the produce is in New York, even the Windsor Terrace Key Foods. You want to see some scary produce, go shopping in New Orleans! And stop whining.

• 25 anne // Dec 12, 2008 at 8:23 pm

  someone started a survey to bring to the store. Take a minute and fill it out:
  Please go to the following page to answer the questions:
  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=X7M1id0vXVKFmllwHqYz_2fQ_3d_3d

• 26 Cathy // Dec 13, 2008 at 9:48 am

  I sent Gowanus Lounge the original email about this, and have started the petition. Please sign it, and please pass it on to as many people as possible who shop in Windsor Terrace. Thanks!
  http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/WTKeyFood/

• 27 Jamie // Dec 13, 2008 at 12:19 pm

  So- yes- I have lived in this neighborhood for 10 years- before that I lived in Park Slope- it is where I grew up. Keyfood here is awful! The one on 5th ave is great! Clean, fresh- well lit! This one on 11th ave and Prospect- should be ashamed to call themselves a grocery store. I go there for small things- but it’s so close it would be nice if they could get their act together!

• 28 anne // Dec 15, 2008 at 12:54 pm

  To complain and actually be heard, you can fill out this on-line form to corporate headquarters:

  http://www.keyfoodstores.com/contactus.aspx

• 29 Cate // Dec 17, 2008 at 5:06 pm

  The renovated FoodTown is so much better, even though the extra distance is a pain in bad weather. Their coupons are much better as well.

• 30 Ron // Jan 17, 2009 at 1:48 pm

  My trip into the Twilight Zone at the Key Food.

  I just went to a key Food on Hillside Ave in Queens and I picked up 2 jars of Skippy Reduced fat since it was on sale 2/$4.
  When I got to the register it rang up at $3.19 each.
  I told the woman it was on sale.
  There’s a pile of them in the aisle with a big sign on them, 2 for $4.00.
  she said she needed to check the flyer so I handed her my copy and pointed to the ad right on the front page.
  She said, so help me this it the truth, “It says, assorted” She picks up one of my jars and looks at it. “This says, reduced fat. It has to say assorted, the assorted is on sale.”
  I didn’t even bother to argue with that. I just told her to forget it.

• 31 thomas // Feb 15, 2009 at 7:26 pm

  its been like that as long as i can rember.
  and i moved out in 1995

• 32 al // Oct 30, 2009 at 10:04 am

  I never buy produce at the WT Key Food, but I think they are horrible for other reasons and try to shop there only for bare essentials.

  My main complaint is labeling. It’s impossible to shop for a good deal because most labels are half torn off and the food rarely matches the labels. Things are shifted and they no longer carry many of the things labeled.

  They put sales signs up for things that are on sale for Key Food, but that they themselves do not carry. In particular, a sign may have a price for brand, but only for a certain weight, a size that store never carries, but they put the sign up anyway. So if you don’t pay attention, you’ll pay more, and if you note it at the counter they’ll take 7 minutes just looking for the sale sign.

  I take the train 5 stops up just to go to Trader Joes because I feel happy shopping there, as opposed to how furious I get just getting 2 items at Key Food. Definitely worth the trip. The people and products are much better.