NY Times Ode to Fairway's Elevator

Photograph of the sign inside the UWS Fairway's elevator by Jen Chung

Only in New York, kids: The NY Times front page* features an article about a very slow elevator at a Manhattan grocery store. To be fair(way), it's the elevator that goes between just two floors at the Upper West Side grocery institution, Fairway, where shopping carts are turned into instruments of, if not death, then serious bruising amid well-priced products.

The store is full of so many items and so many shoppers that getting into the elevator requires a lot of cooperation (those doors close fast!) and the mindset of a straphanger at rush hour. Cartoonist, playwright and novelist Jules Feiffer tells the Times the elevator is "like an unruly dog that doesn’t come when it’s called... When it finally does come, it moves at such a slow pace that, well, you have to bring food.” Which is why senior manager Steven Jenkins placed the sign acknowledging the elevator's lack of speed. He also explained the wiring is the problem: "We’d have to rewire the building to make it any faster. And we can’t make the elevator any bigger because there’s no other place to put it.”

Shoppers at Fairway seem to consider enduring the elevator ride a badge of honor. In 2002, an AOL Cityguide commenter wrote, "Fairway has the worlds slowest and funniest elevator to the second floor organic dept." Today, those who squeezed in chatted about the Times article, "We do help each other!" But is it a coincidence that this Fairway gift basket is touted as being perfect for someone "trapped on an elevator"?

A word to the wise: Besides the organic food section, Fairway's restaurant is on the second floor. And you can bypass the elevator by...taking the stairs, which is what the shopping cart- and stroller-less do.

*The NY Times national edition does not feature the Fairway elevator story on its page A1; for the national edition, there's a story on Rod Blagojevich's successor, Pat Quinn.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in Food on January 31, 2009 5:21 PM

Comments [rss]

wiseguynyc

The UWS is not all "pampered, affluent, white." I'm thoroughly middle class as are many of my neighbors. There are also housing projects and a few SROs nearby. The UES on the other hand...

But I do agree with the comments that Fairway customers need to chill out a bit. It's just groceries folks....

ides_of_march

This is what passes for hardship with pampered, affluent white Upper West Siders.

ides_of_march

I'm surprized the latest government bail out didn't provide Fairway a billion or two to fix their elevator. Might create a half a day's work for a couple of repairmen at least.

Tower18

I LOVE that the only reason to go through this "hell" is to have your fat, entitled asses lifted to the organic department.

Like the guy who steals gourmet food from Whole Foods "to survive."

ROFL.

Chutney

Those of us who are born and bred New Yorkers (fifth generation, myself) don't say stupid crap like "only in New York, kids." Is this website run out of Ohio?

Rocknrope

Wow, you're a fifth generation New Yorker? Gee, that's fantastic!

keera

And Gothamist thought this newsworthy? Seriously???

Jen Chung

Newsworthy in the respect that the Times article landed on page A1.

Rocknrope

Glad I go to the Brooklyn Fairway, although the sense of entitlement is only marginally better.

henricus

This isnt the problem with Fairway. The problem with Fairway is that some idiots think it's necessary to practically run with a cart through this store. I'm normally extremely polite, but I've had words with people over rudeness in this place.

babyhitler

it's always old fucks! that's why I steal shit from their carts and then put other shit into them. Makes them think they've gone senile.

NannyState

That's hilarious but you gotta put more expensive stuff in their carts so not only do they look confused at the checkout lane, but cheap and hysterical too.

Gwinny

The shoppers in that Fairway are insanely rude. I mostly go there for the cafe on the 2nd floor... in addition, the few times I've gone in the elevator (with my friends' stroller), the number of able-bodied, non-cart-pushing people who've crammed in there is unbelievable. Take the stairs, people!

The Fairway in my neighborhood (W. Harlem) is the one I go to regularly, but you have to time the visits to avoid the folks who jam the aisles with nearly-empty carts rather than just taking a basket. Ridiculous.

Jen Chung

It's like a daily Idiotarod!

tsol

Stuff Upper West Side People Like!!!

...and people wonder why the Times needed to be bailed out by a Mexican billionaire...

jpeditor

Bet you $10 90% of fairway shoppers voted for O...

Mr Mel

And the other 10% for a white guy.

jpeditor

"And the other 10% for a white guy."

So you are saying...what?

That the handful of Mccain voters on the UWS voted based only on race, but for the majority of the UWS that went for O, race had zero to do with it?