A Plea For Compassion And Better Prices To Gristedes Owner John Catsimatidis From A Roosevelt Island Resident - Mr. C Says We Will Like The New Renovated Supermarket When Finished In A Few Weeks

Roosevelt Island Gristedes Supermarket Renovations

Roosevelt Island resident Nina Lubin shares this plea she sent to Roosevelt Island Gristedes

 owner John Catsimatidis earlier today regarding ongoing renovations

Roosevelt Island Gristedes Supermarket Renovations

and pricing at our local supermarket. From Ms. Lubin:

Good Morning Mr. C.

Or perhaps not.

I came to your construction site -- oops, I mean the Roosevelt Island Gristedes -- at 5 pm last night. The store remains one big, hot mess.

At the front, near the pharmacy, was an open, unsecured construction area with no barricades, tape, or any markings to prevent someone from walking or tripping. The floor at the pharmacy remains uneven and bumpy, and someone could easily trip or fall -- please remember we are an Island of people with many motor disabilities and challenges.

The relocated meat and poultry area could only be reached by walking past open ladders with no protections, and again, active construction with dust and debris unprotected by any plastic or vinyl sheeting. The temperature in the relocated poultry case was not cold enough to safely store anything perishable (and was reported to one of the managers).

We are now in the 3rd or 4th month of being held captive by your senior staff and disorganized demolition and construction crew and it is unfair and not safe for the staff and your customers.

Really, Mr. C, have a little compassion for us on Roosevelt Island. Because this morning, it sure seems like you have more compassion for the folks in Kips Bay and on the Upper East Side than for us Islanders who have few choices. With your big full page ad in today's New York Post, declaring WAR ON INFLATION, it is clear that you are really declaring war on the new Fairway store on East 30th Street and 2nd Avenue, conveniently located in between two of your stores, in the midst of a big residential neighborhood and 3 major hospitals, as well as the Fairway on E.86th Street. Some of those prices in that ad are the same prices we on Roosevelt Island have been hoping for for many years and are still waiting:

Corn Flakes - $ 1.49 for 18 oz
Cheerios - $2.99
Bumble Bee Solid White Tuna - $ 5 for 4 cans
Chicken Cutlets - $ 1.99 / lb

A start -- with a $ 5 off coupon -- but only for the 3 stores in in Manhattan in direct competition with Fairway. Unfair to us, who should be getting some price breaks while our store is a construction site and for many the only place we can shop.

If you really are the businessman you claim to be, if you are thinking about running for Mayor, if you really want to declare war on inflation, if you really want to not further alienate or aggravate the Roosevelt Island residents, show us a little concern and favoritism and get the work done already, lower some prices, and work to get us back in the store.

Mr. Catsimatidis replied:

You will Have a New store in a Few weeks that we will all be Proud of

A corporate Gristedes official told me that the renovations should be completed by middle of February.