New York City grocery store owners are slamming city officials for allowing licensed fruit and vegetable sellers to operate on the same block (in some cases within 30 feet) as their stores, eating into their profits.
In Forest Hills, Queens, there’s a fruit and vegetable stand just 25 feet from a Key Food supermarket on the north side of Queens Boulevard between 71st Avenue and 71st Road.
“They know they can target our customers,” fumed Nelson Eusebio, political director for the National Association of Supermarkets, which represents 600 grocers in the city, including Key Food, C-Town, Associated and Bravo.
A display window next to Key Foods is adorned with promotional photos of blueberries and asparagus, and vendors hawk the same fruits and vegetables within eyeshot.
This is just one example of vendors and grocery stores operating almost side by side.
There are about 500 licensed fruit and vegetable sellers in the city, according to the city health department, which regulates them, and they aim to provide fresh produce to hard-to-reach areas.
Grocery store owners say it’s unfair to allow such street competition in fashionable Forest Hills, an area not known for limited access to healthy fruits and vegetables, and they point out they have union, real estate, utility and other overhead to pay.
“This is a very urgent issue,” Eusebio said. “We’re not against kiosks making a living, but don’t put them next to shops. The situation is getting out of hand.”
Gristedes owner John Catsimatidis said allowing food vendors to set up shop so close to his store would “destroy the produce department.”
He said this is just another example of New York being anti-business.
“Business is down and shoplifting is up,” Catsimatidis said. “Many drug stores have closed. Grocery stores may close as well.”
Catsimatidis echoed Eusebio, lamenting the failure of Mayor Eric Adams’ administration and the City Council to address the grievances.
Shoppers in Forest Hills are divided over the grocery store-retailer battle.
Paula, a 75-year-old retiree who shops at both stores, sided with the stores, saying she has a limited income and needs to watch her spending.
“Forest Hills is very expensive,” Paul said. “Key Foods has everything, but it’s expensive. At the fruit store, lemons are cheap, broccoli is cheap, tomatoes are cheap, grapes are cheap.”
“Don’t blame the traders, they just want to survive,” she said. “These supermarkets are making a lot of money. They’re selling a lot of products. They’re making money on everything.”
But Sean, an office worker from Forest Hill, said he doesn’t shop at fruit shops and agreed with the grocers that having multiple vendors on the same block is unfair competition.
“They’re taking business away from the supermarkets. They should give a percentage of their sales back to the supermarkets,” he said.
Fruit and vegetable vendors pay $200 a year for a license and another $300 to $500 to store their carts, though some set up tables on the sidewalk and are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“It’s definitely a competition, but it’s not an unfair competition,” said Matthew Shapiro, legal director of the Food Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center, an advocacy group.
“It’s true that grocery stores have a lot of expenses, a lot of overhead, but the grocer gets a lot in return. The vendors get only a small part of what they get in return. You have vendors, you have farmers’ markets, you have grocery stores. There’s something for everybody,” he said.
The city’s health department defended the food vending program and ignored complaints from grocers about its location.
“It’s important that communities have a balanced mix of supermarkets, general stores, farmers markets and green carts. Having easy access to healthy, affordable food makes it easier to make healthy choices,” a health department spokesperson said.
