Whole Foods Coming To Midtown East

I knew people in the west 80s who talked about the effect of the columbus circle whole foods, so I think the impact will hit some of the lower upper east side (especially given it start a few blocks away).

That area in particular will likely be helped, not just by the WF, but the complex it is being built it. I think it will help connect sutton place a little better to midtown. 2nd ave has been a tough cross for a while.

I think whole foods just brings more food.

What's with this Whole foods love affair?
It's an expensive mediocre inventory. As for the prepared food...my days of feeding at the trough are over. I love all of my fellow New Yorkers but I'm not interested in the food safty practices. I have seen some pretty unsanitary action go down at that petri dish they call a food bar. Feel free to challenge your immune system but count me out.

Whole Foods coming to me? That's a reverse of the usual. Me likey.

Falco: I never eat at the food bar, but WF is not always expensive. Depends on what you buy.

i think whold foods is comparable to food emporioum in prices but with much better quality

surpised it hasn't hit yet.. TJ > WF

depends on how you eat/cook. I love the quality/selection at WF (food bar is kinda gross though). I thought I would be going to TJ more frequently, but have no need since Fairway (yes, still loyal!) and WF cover all of my shopping needs. Sorry TJ.

yes food bar is HORRID.. i love indian food, but damn they do a disservice to east 6th street (which is even questionable nowadays)

There's that great greek restaurant on E 6th...or is it 7th? Between A and 1st or A and B.

Damn Im hungry for lemon taters now.

truthskr10: Check out Dafni's on 42nd between 8th and 9th for good greek food.

somewhereelse: I agree with the Sutton Place connection. Between WF, Food Emp, T.J. Maxx, and Bed Bath, the area is getting some life.

RealEstateNY: My answer to your questions:

A new Whole Foods won't affect the neighborhood's demos; and it won't increase R.E. prices.

I was hoping for a Fairway,as was everybody else in this neighborhood (that I know and have discussed this with).

I love WFs. Yes, they can be overpriced, but the quality is good. Also, have discovered new holistic products at WFs. I think it's a big plus.

"like bringing in a younger population and or increasing prices of surrounding real estate."
Very difficult to correlate demographic changes simply due to the opening of 1 store. Ditto re: will the opening of a WFs increase RE value, but, perhaps yes in that a WFs makes the area more desirable.

I feel like I've experienced the "Whole Foods Effect" twice: once on 56th when WF came to Time Warner, and once on the West 90s when WF came to 97th and Columbus. All things equal, having a WF slightly increases real estate demand and prices.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

For me, WFs is a destination. When I want to take a nice, long NY walk, I'll walk 40 blocks to a WF. I think WFs is a great concept because it's where entertainment meets retail.

dwell: It's a couple of years away from opening. I go to the Whole Foods at TimeWarner Center, but not as often as I go to the Fairway on Broadway.

This area has over-priced inventory still sitting on the R.E. market.

dwell: When I want entertainment in food retail, I go to Eataly, and rearrange the over-priced stuff on the shelves. It drives Mario crazy.

That's entertainment meeting retail.

truthskr10
the resturant is Phylos

lol, truth
When I really want entertainment in food retail, I go to La Boqueria in Barcelona. Prob is I can't walk there from here.

I like WF for their generic brand products and loss leaders. The vegetables look nice but they are sprayed with water so they don't last that long - they just look pretty and are very expensive. It certainly wouldn't make me move to a neighborhood. Give that fresh direct delivers all over nyc and I like it a grocery store adds no value to me.

midtown east will also be changed, over the longer term, by the two new schools that are being built. the one at 57th will take back the kids that have been displaced, but will have additional seats. and another school is planned for 35th and 1st. while the city has purchased the land for the latter, construction has not begun so their 2012 targeted opening date doesn't seem feasible. but when and if it does open it will very much change midtown east, which will then have three schools with far more capacity than is now available.

i love both WF and TJ's. fresh direct, not so much, because i don't like to buy my fresh goods unseen and i find their selection of other things not so great.

falco, isn't it pylos? great ceiling. i really like it, but it's not everyone's cup of greek tea.

could very well be.
I was just going by my memory which is, as you know, ravaged by time.

if it's just ravaged by time you're doing quite well.

dwell: Oh, La Boqueria in Barcelona!

The best entertainment in town there.
A little Gaudi sightseeing, then hop over to La Boqueria.

i was shocked at how many more times/week I have been going to TJ over Fairway. I still buy more food-dollars-wise at Fway and Citarella, but I refill at TJs 2-3x/week for milk, avocados, bananas, lemons, organic broccoli and yogurt.

oops, "closest"

If you are really into organic produce, you will know the point of Whole Foods!

It is indeed Pylos, great food.

And OMG, SE has edited this thread with great surgical skill! It's a bit creepy.

Yes, excellent editing (thanks!) but it's not creepy, it's Magical Internet Robots and Unicorns!

What is the latest word on timing for the opening of WF on 57th & 2nd?

aboutready, do you know?

keep praying WF will raise RE in ME hahahahha

caonima, who do you pray to?

Whole Foods scheduled to open in August.

Also lots of additional retail will join WF in the next couple of years when the old High School of Art and Design is torn down and replaced with a 60 story tower and retail base.

As to raising the real estate prices, Midtown East has been prime real estate for the past century, right Brooksie! LOL!

Right, just ask mastonjones

WF is close to opening, shelves being stocked, registers are live and checkout clerks being trained.

Probably open in the next week or two.

The sign still says "August 2012." So they have 16 days to go...I am psyched for the hot/cold salad bar at lunch time...

Will it have a sprint store in it?

$2.40 to $5.38 in 4 months. Flmaozzz. Keep pumping real estate. The bubble will be back anytime now. Anytime. Very soon. Very very soon. When interest rates goes to -400bps it'll really pop!

Don't forget to repaint the walls to match WF's. Re 'owners' unite!!!!!

time to dump s what do u think?

Really? Who gives a flying fk

>flying fk

What's that?

You know, I miss Aboutready. I wish we had some adults around here. Instead we have yikes/Wbottom with his froo froo kiddy talk overlayed with the estrogen of a day trader, somewhereelse who is smarter than everyone else but no one else likes him, inododo who can alienate anyone and whose "shitlist" is best in a lousy economy vs. the one today, columbiacounty and his meltdowns, and then str33teasier and his various flying aliases (ahem, ahem). Alanhart is fun and smarter than somewhereelse but we need an adult with established social connections. Aboutready is my choice: sharp legal wife, recently bought an apartment, giving back to the community one person at a time, not trying to pump a stock, well traveled, etc.

Oh well.

Forgot Jim Hones, and his illegal scheme to con the government in exchange for free housekeeping.

Word has it that WF is opening on 8/23, one week from today.

Next up, tear down the old High School of Art & Design. It's vacant and baited, probably begin demolition over the next couple of months.

Yeah more condos! That'll be great bc it'll increase re prices in that area. Borkers. More supply = higher prices!

WF means higher prices! Euro crashing means higher prices! It never goes down!

can't wait to eat food touched by lots of different people!
Yum!

Falco, you do go to restaurants, no? Ever read kitchen confidential? Or the jungle?

People are sneezing in the produce section, also, but I'm not going to quit buying Brussels sprouts.

ar,
What don't you know about me.
Every place I eat is a combo of canery row and fast food nation. I need an immune system that looks like seal team 6. I'm not saying that I don't eat out, I'm just saying that I'm only a few mill short of living on the top floor of a Vegas hotel and swearing off nail clippers.

It's here, opened this morning.

"Whole Foods has arrived in Midtown East.

Dozens of eager shoppers lined East 57th Street between Second and Third avenues on Thursday morning — some as early as 6 a.m. — to be among the first to experience the 33,500-square-foot addition to the neighborhood.

Shoppers were joined by several elected officials, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Councilman Dan Garodnick and State Sen. Liz Krueger, to welcome Whole Foods, which has also pledged to donate 57 salad bars to schools throughout New York City.

At a press conference before the store opened to the public, Bloomberg jokingly complained that he lived on 57th Street for 10 years and never got to take advantage of having a Whole Foods in his neighborhood.

"I was cooking all my own meals back then," the mayor said. "People here [now] are much luckier."

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120823/midtown-east/whole-foods-east-57th-street-store-opening-draws-throngs-of-shoppers#ixzz24NwYpY1B

""I was cooking all my own meals back then," the mayor said. "People here [now] are much luckier."

Oh yes, Mr. Mayor. They are all ever so "lucky".

Maybe they should live in one or your Bloombergvilles in a 50-square-foot "affordable" apartment for $3000/month?

It was a zoo. I went there just to check it out. It will die down a bit in a few days, but it was PACKED like sardines just now.