Second Avenue 57th Street Whole Foods Becoming Local Neighborhood Supermarket For Roosevelt Island, They Deliver Here Too - Gristedes To Start Renovation Soon, Will Move Gloomy Entrance To Brighter Main Street

You Tube Video Of Whole Foods 57th Street Store Opening

The Whole Foods at Second Avenue and 57th Street, just a couple of minutes from the Roosevelt Island Tram Station, has been open since August 23. Have you been there yet? Every time I go there, I see several Roosevelt Islanders and we marvel at how great the store is with wonderful products, reasonable prices and so very clean.

Whole Foods also delivers to Roosevelt Island

Image of Whole Foods Delivery Van On Roosevelt Island

tweeting:

@rooseveltisland we do deliver to Roosevelt Island from our E57th Street location. It is a $10.95 charge with a 6-hour window. Thanks!
— Whole Foods NYC (@wholefoodsnyc) September 7, 2012

What about our local Roosevelt Island Gristedes Supermarket?

A representative of Main Street Master Leaseholder Hudson Related informed me recently that Gristedes will soon be undergoing their promised and long awaited complete store renovation. Included in the renovation will be moving the gloomy and depressing store entrance from beneath the Motorgate Ramp

to the light and brightness of Main Street next to the Post Office.

Interestingly, the suggestion to move the Gristedes entrance came from Roosevelt Island resident Deborah Beck during March 12 Town Hall Meeting with Gristedes owner John Catsimatidis:

... I thought a great idea was suggested by resident Deborah Beck who recommended that the new store design include moving the store entrance from the dark tunnel like side entrance to better lit Main Street directly across from Manhattan Park....

More on the Gristedes Town Hall Meeting from previous post.

Whole Foods Second Avenue 57th Street Store Opening Near Roosevelt Island Tram On August 23 - Will You Shop There?

Image From Whole Foods Facebook Page

Reported in February 2010:

... Whole Foods signed on as the anchor retail tenant for a new mixed use development project to be located only minutes from the Roosevelt Island Tram Manhattan Station on 2nd Avenue and 57th Street....

 Image of Second Avenue 57 Street Whole Foods Opening on August 23

A reader tipped me off to Whole Foods announcing on its Facebook page that it will be opening its Second Avenue and 57th street store later this month. According to Whole Foods:

Excited to be joining the Midtown East community - opening our new E57th St store on August 23!

Being so close to the Roosevelt Island Manhattan Tram Station, will that make it more likely for you to shop at the 2nd Avenue 57th Street Whole Foods rather than using current grocery options such as Fresh Direct, Gristedes, M&D Deli, Food Emporium or stores in Queens? There will also be a new organic grocer (Wholesome Direct) opening on Roosevelt Island's Main Street - how will the new Fresh Direct impact that business?

Among the many great items sold by Whole Foods will be Sigmunds Pretzels

 Image From Facebook Whole Foods

Hope that includes the sandwich pretzel rolls.

UPDATE 12 PM - Whole Foods answers:

@rooseveltisland Yes, the sandwich pretzel rolls are in the plan. :)
— Whole Foods NYC (@wholefoodsnyc) August 10, 2012

Initial response by Roosevelt Island residents:

Damn Straight I will... I would rather shop there, pay higher prices and buy higher quality products compared to Gristedes. and shooping at a cleaner store will be nice..

and:

see you there!!!

and:

For Sure!!

and:

I was so thrilled to see that a new Whole Foods was opening at that location...but then saw it was opening after I was supposed to move out of New York altogether. If I still lived on R.I., I would be making a weekly trip there for sure!  

I think Roosevelt Islanders will be making plenty of trips to the Second Avenue 57th Street Whole Foods.

Whole Foods Market Coming Close To Roosevelt Island On 57th Street & Second Avenue - Just 2 Blocks From New Roosevelt Island Tram Station

Image From 250 E 57th

This post from August 2008 reported via NY Observer that Whole Foods signed on as the anchor retail tenant for a new mixed use development project to be located only minutes from the Roosevelt Island Tram Manhattan Station on 2nd Avenue and 57th Street. A Fine Blog via Curbed reports that demolition has recently begun on the project.

... It has begun, finally! The public/private venture of RFK (Robert K. Futterman) at 57th Street and Second Avenue is underway in earnest!

... As for Whole Foods? It looks pretty solid at this point, at least if you take the 250 East 57th Street website at face value.

Image Of Future 2nd Avenue 57th Street Whole Foods From A Fine Blog

According to Crains New York, the Second Avenue & 57 Street Whole Foods will open in in 2012.

... Whole Foods is planning to open in two years at the corner of East 57th Street and Second Avenue, a location considered too far south to impact the neighborhood....

Whole Foods close to Roosevelt Island in 2012 - just about the time that the Roosevelt Island Tram resumes service following the completion of the Modernization Program. (Just kidding about the Tram - It is supposed to be ready for service in six months, late August/early September 2010).

Now, if we can get a Trader Joe's close by - that would be heaven!

Second Gristedes Supermarket For Roosevelt Island? Maybe, But Definitely a Whole Foods For Nearby Second Avenue and 57th Street Before Next Olympics!

Vacant Riverwalk Retail Store adjacent to Duane Reade

Long Island City and Roosevelt Island have several things in common including close proximity to Manhattan, beautiful waterfront views, new residential developments and residents salivating for more and better retail amenities than are currently available. Long Island City bloggers Liqcity and A Fine Blog report how happy the neighborhood is with the opening of a new area supermarket, Foodcellar (formerly the Amish market) and the soon to be open Duane Reade.

Fortunately, a Duane Reade opened on Roosevelt Island earlier this year to the delight of retail service starved Roosevelt Islanders. Many Roosevelt Island residents have eagerly waited to see what retailer will occupy the vacant space adjacent to Duane Reade in the Hudson/Related Riverwalk development at 425 Main Street. Though not definite, the long held speculation of Gristedes taking over that space may be close at hand. If true, will Roosevelt Island residents be as happy at this news of a second Gristedes on the Island as their LIC neighbors were with their new supermarket? Not if this opinion by an Octagon resident about shopping at the Roosevelt Island Gristedes is common among other Roosevelt Islanders.

The Gristedes is DISGUSTING. I really mean it... you should go there and check it out... my favorite place is near the dairy, it actually smells like shit so they put an air freshener there to make it smell a little better. Not to mention in the summer or maybe early fall when I was in there I heard the manager say right in front of me and other customers "Wow, I really can't believe we passed that health inspection!" Since that day I have not shopped there.

And these excerpts of comments from 2007 Roosevelt Island grocery shopping post do not shed a positive light on the Roosevelt Island Gristedes:

• Gristedes has always been a major disappointment long before I moved to Roosevelt Island. Their stores are by far the most disgusting, confusing and over priced grocery stores in NYC.
• The only time I set foot into our Gristedes is when I really need something that I don't have at home or ran out of.
• Does Gristede's deliberately try to stock the worst possible produce that it can get? There's a reason why Fresh Direct chose Roosevelt Island as its pilot. If that store didn't get a fantastic break on the rent, it would have been out of business long ago.
  

A contrary view from our Italian correspondent Alain:

All I care about a Grocery store is the quality and the variety of the products it sells.
That clarified, I must say that Gristedes fully satisfies my standards.

Image of Roosevelt Island Gristedes from Roosevelt Island 360

And fellow blogger Roosevelt Island 360 asks if Roosevelt Island residents would mourn Gristedes Departure? The answer?

Thank heavens for Fresh Direct.

Happily, Fresh Direct, the 59th Street 1st Avenue Food Emporium and Saturday's Farmers Market will not be the only options Roosevelt Islanders have for good quality grocery shopping in the future. However, according to the NY Observer we will have to wait until the next Olympics rolls around in 2012.

Whole Foods has signed as the anchor tenant for a new development at 57th Street and Second Avenue, making it the sixth outlet for the Austin-based food retailer in foodie-laden New York City.

The World-Wide Group announced this evening that Whole Foods would, starting in 2012, occupy 47,000 square feet in its mixed-use development.

Image of Whole Foods Columbus Circle Store at Time Warner Building from SF Bart

Hopefully, by that time the Roosevelt Island Tram Modernization program will have been completed so that a trip to Whole Foods will be very easy and convenient. (Just kidding - I know the tram modernization is scheduled to start in 2009 and last for 6-9 months).