Remember last month, when super-scary right-wing advocacy group One Million Moms campaigned to get "vulgar, repulsive" Ben & Jerry's Schweddy Balls ice cream off the shelves of stores across the country? Well, holy baby Jesus! It might have actually worked!
"Vulgar" Schweddy Balls Ice Cream Frozen Out Of Grocery Stores
Guess The Year: A & P in Manhattan
We stumbled across this old photograph of an A & P in Manhattan (just look at those prices, and fonts!)—can you guess what year it was taken in? We'll post the answer here at the end of the day.
Bronx Residents: Obese, But Still Hungry
Even though the Bronx has some of the highest obesity rates in the nation, it also has some of the hungriest people, according to recent study. The Times says the seeming contradiction can be explained through a redefinition of the word “hunger.” These days “food insecure” is the term used by researchers to describe low-income people who have high calorie diets with poor nutritional value. “Hunger and obesity are often flip sides to the same malnutrition coin,” said Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. But what is the city doing about it?
Whole Foods Still An Option for Gowanus
Decontamination efforts are well underway for a toxic Gowanus site, slated to house Brooklyn's first Whole Foods. But though the hole should be contaminant-free by April, the upscale grocery purveyor won't confirm its move to the neighborhood. “Everything I know is that Whole Foods is committed to building on that site,” said John Bogdanski, an environmental consultant for the store. “Still, there is always the option to sell the property.”
Holy War Over A Grocery Store's Menorah And Christmas Tree
A Windsor Terrace grocery store manager came under fire from customers for installing and promptly removing a menorah and a Christmas tree he had placed in front of his store. For the second year in a row, Key Food manager Mike Jordings allowed Rabbi Moshe Hecht to put a 10-foot tall menorah in front of his Prospect Avenue store during Hanukkah. But by the third night of the Festival of Lights, complaints about the Jewish icon were getting intense. "I was trying to be festive, but my everyday customers didn't feel that way," he told the Daily News. "They felt uncomfortable."
Woman Sues Pathmark After Spaghetti Sauce Avalanche
A Queens Pathmark is being sued by a woman who ended up covered in tomato sauce. No, 55-year-old Patricia Samaroo didn't get the tomato treatment following a bad comedy routine, she simply ended up the victim of a toppled-over stack of sauce jars when a display collapsed on top of her at the Ozone Park grocery store. Samaroo says that nine months after the accident, she still has pain in her neck and uses painkillers for the incident that left her "sick, lame, sore and disabled." What drew the Long Islander to the unstable stack—famous last words: "It was on sale." Samaroo's suit claims that Pathmark was negligent for failing to determine if jars were likely to topple and fall. She tells the News, "I was in shock when it happened. All I know is that I was covered in spaghetti sauce." While there is no surveillance video of the incident, we did find a disaster from the Canadian version of after the jump that might suffice.
UWS Whole Foods Offers Neighborhood Preview
The long-awaited Whole Foods at Columbus and 97th Street is opening on Thursday, but yesterday it opened its doors to the neighborhood—for $15 admission, which went to the Riverside Park Fund. MyUpperWest reports, "The store itself occupies two vast floors, outpacing the Columbus Circle in terms of size and selection." And Racked, which calls it a kid-friendly location, adds, "This store won't be selling as many different prepared foods as its downtown compatriots, but what it lacks in variety it makes up in kosherness—a nod to the demographics of the neighborhood," and found that the wine shop (Whole Foods' first in the city) does indeed sell three kinds of Ed Hardy wines. But can someone tell us if the UWS liberals were up in arms about Whole Foods CEO John Mackey's "anti-health care reform" op-ed (here's his unedited version)?
Nice Try, Trader Darwin: Gristedes Sued for TJs Ripoff
It's not uncommon to hear New Yorkers complaining about how overwhelmed they are by the lines at the Union Square Trader Joe's that most hours of the day tend to snake through the store—often leading to a journey just to find where the end of it is. So passers-by on 14th Street must be feeling relieved now that they've spotted a "Trader John's" moving in just down the street in the space that a regular old Gristedes had been, right? Not so fast.
Trader Joe's Brooklyn Opens Next Week
It seems like just yesterday that Marty Markowitz was standing there in his Hawaiian shirt, announcing the borough's first Trader Joe's. Now, the Brooklyn Paper reports it will be opening in the landmark Independence Bank building as soon as next week! September 26th, to be exact. "The supermarket will open at 9 am and the festivities will feature giveaways, live music," and of course, more Markowitz. But be warned winos, this location at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Court Street will not have Two-Buck Chuck, or any wine at all.
Historic Properties Get a Reprieve, Local Legislators Disappointed
The series of residential structures lining Flushing Ave. in Brooklyn are historic treasures, but they are a little the worse for wear and some legislators can't wait to tear them down. Officers' Row, or Admirals' Row, is a feature at the Brooklyn Navy Yard that has admittedly fallen into sad disrepair, but nonetheless has a rich history linking New York harbor to the naval industry that was a cornerstone of building the United States as an international power.

