Greene-Ville Gardens
373 Myrtle Avenue
11205
As anyone who lives in Fort Greene can tell you, it is not easy to shop for food around here. Considering how residential this neighborhood its kind of shocking that there are only 2 real supermarkets within walking distance.
When I don’t feel like dealing with the crowds at Associated, I go to Fresh Fanatic even though they’re not stocked as well as the chain supermarket and they are definitely not cheap. When I am on Myrtle Ave and need to buy fresh vegetables for less than 40 dollars a pound but want slightly fancier fare than Bravo offers (if it is not on the WIC program you will have a hard time finding it) I go to Mr.Coco’s.
But Bozzio, our beautiful 70 lb Pitbull has not been very tolerant of stranger affection lately and it started to be risky to leave him tied up outside Mr. Coco’s. A certain Mr. Coco’s employee with a mischievous nature likes to come out and visit with Bozzio while I’m inside. So even though Mr.Coco’s has the lowest prices for produce, I decided to patronize the newly opened Greene-Ville Gardens for a while – because sometimes you just want to be able to leave your dog unattended while you buy some food without having to worry that someone’s going to get growled at or worse.
I’m not always shopping for just vegetables so I appreciated being able to purchase a few staples in one store without getting cleaned out at the register. One thing that pleased me the most about Greene-Ville Gardens was finding Eli’s Bread for less than 4 dollars a loaf even if my cynical tendencies told me that this would not last. And it hasn’t.
Greene-Ville Gardens has raised its prices. A day ago in Greene-Ville Gardens, I was kind of shocked to see that loaves of Eli’s Bread are now 4.79 when they used to be 3.79. Looking around the rest of the items in the store, I noticed everything seemed to have gone up 1 or 2 dollars. They’ve also decided to go exclusively organic in the produce aisle which of course means 1 head of humble Iceburg lettuce costs almost 4 dollars. Applegate Farms items such as 7 oz packs of cold cuts are 5.79, no matter what kind of meat. Even Fresh Direct (bargain hunters beware) charges less. Greene-Ville Gardens charges almost 15 dollars for a 10 oz can of Lavazza Premium Drip Coffee, other shops show a little more restraint, charging only 5 to 6 dollars for the same.
Shopping for healthy food on a budget is a challenge and with prices of food at a 3 decade high, looks like it will continue to be. If you can buy nutritionally devoid Wonder Bread, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and cans of Chef Boyardee for the price of one head of broccoli, which do you think people earning minimum wage will be buying?