The Times' Jennifer Steinhauer looks at the pros and cons of upstart online grocer Freshdirect versus venerable Upper West Side ubermarket Fairway. After outlining the bickering between the two, her experiences boil down to this:
FreshDirect
Pros: Convenient; items were high quality; accessed via new high-speed Internet; plus first $50 of purchases was free
Cons: Limited depth of selection; still some bugs with ordering
Fairway
Pros: Unparalleled variety of products (like McCann's oatmeal, "beloved" Steinhauer's household)
Cons: Traumatizing ("once again assaulted by someone ramming her cart into my ankles, and forced to dodge giant rolling carts of goods about to be stocked") and suspect ("fly-infested stack of corn")
Gothamist also looked at the Fairway-FreshDirect beef and as the uptown office is on the Upper West Side, we're very familiar with the insane crowds at Fairway. In fact, we carefully map out our purchases in order to make most efficient use of time there. And we steer clear of old people. Call us ageist, but they are mean at Fairway, vicious even. But we go because we like to browse, and sometimes, when the nectarines are looking really good, we'll realize we want nectarines. Or ice cream ("Ooh, a new flavor of Ben & Jerry's that incorporates peanut butter!").
Gothamist is also starting to think we'd really like Jennifer Steinhauer. Not only do we share an affection for McCann's oatmeal, she admits to going to Stew Leonard's in Connecticut because she and her family were "oddly obsessed with the promise of a free ice cream cone with $100 purchase." Talk about oddly obsessed: Gothamist went there just to see the dairy/milk assembly line thing a few years ago.
