Sunnyside Fresh n Save Marketplace reflects the diverse population of its Queens, N.Y., neighborhood

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1 Cover Story Sunnyside reflects the diverse population of its Queens, N.Y., neighborhood By Joseph Tarnowski Up In April 2010, New York magazine let the cat out of the bag when it ranked the Queens, N.Y., Sunnyside neighborhood No. 3 on its list of the 50 Best Places to Live In New York City. Editors called Sunnyside a hidden gem, based on factors such as affordability, proximity to Manhattan, schools, safety and shopping venues. The area is a hidden gem no more; New York residents have been flocking to Sunnyside, particularly since other popular communities close to Manhattan, among them Brooklyn s Williamsburg and Greenpoint neighborhoods, are now saturated and rents have skyrocketed. Sunnyside, only 15 minutes from Times Square by train, is home to more than a dozen ethnic groups, including Armenians, Romanians, Indians, Bangladeshis, Chinese, Koreans Tibetans, Nepalis, Indians and Albanians, to name just a few. Indeed, the Hispanic community alone is made up of Columbians, Guatemalans, Puerto Ricans and Ecuadorians, each with its own unique culture and tastes. Right in the heart of all this literally, in the center of Sunnyside is the Fresh n Save Key Food grocery store, one of nine co-owned and operated by UNDER THE ARCH The Sunnyside Arch, the symbolic center of the neighborhood, spans 46th Street right next to the store. During the summer, the street is closed to auto traffic, to allow events such as concerts and fairs. 10 Progressive Grocer Independent October 2012

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3 Cover Story LOCAL COLOR Entering the store, shoppers find produce from around the world. Joe Zahriyeh and his uncle Mike, local residents who grew up in the business and the neighborhood. Zahriyeh s brother, Raied, is also involved in the business, overseeing produce buying for each of the stores. My father and uncle ran an Associated Market in Astoria in the late 70s, and when I was young, I worked in the store mopping the floors, bagging groceries, making deliveries, says Joe Zahriyeh. After I graduated college, me and my uncle started expanding the business. In 1993, we bought our first store, in Woodside. Since then, they ve steadily expanded to the nine stores they have today in Queens and New York s Staten Island, all under the Key Food co-op s Fresh n Save banner. Each store is unique and caters to the neighborhood it serves. Before we opened a store, we would spend a lot of time exploring the neighborhood, says Zahriyeh. We d talk to the residents, Before we opened a store, we would spend a lot of time exploring the neighborhood. We d talk to the residents, visit the restaurants and food stores to get a sense of the community s food preferences. Joe Zahriyeh, Fresh n Save visit the restaurants and food stores to get a sense of the community s food preferences. In Sunnyside, for example, we have several different Spanish cultures, each with different tastes and brand preferences. There is also a strong demand for organic offerings, so we carry a big selection of organic items. The Sunnyside Fresh n Save is a small but high-volume store. Zahriyeh bought the property in 2004, and then in 2009 expanded it from Queens Boulevard to Greenpoint Avenue, doubling its square footage to 12,000. The building also includes commercial space on the second floor and apartments on the third f loor. We own each property where we have a store through our real estate company, says Zahriyeh. Rents here are just too expensive for a small business like ours to lease, especially in a high-traffic area like our location. We secured it by pure luck. It was off the market for years, and several major retailers, like The Gap and Rite Aid, wanted it. We just happened to meet the realtor the day it went on the market, and snapped it up immediately. GLOBAL OFFERINGS Fresh n Save customers include people from more than a dozen countries, and the store s assortment aims to meet each of their needs. 12 Progressive Grocer Independent October 2012

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5 Cover Story Having a small high-volume store can pose several challenges, particularly in regard to merchandising, out-of-stocks and receiving products. Zahriyeh overcame these challenges, however, with creative merchandising and a staff that s always on the move. Most of our displays are custom, so we can squeeze them into every free space we have, he says. We also stack products high on the shelves. Plus our staff is always on the lookout for areas that need to be restocked, and is continually bringing products to the sales floor. The same goes for deliveries. The moment a truck arrives on Greenpoint Avenue, Store Manager Joseph Fara is outside coordinating receiving, as space is tight and trucks can get backed up if products aren t unloaded quickly. Commuter Crowds One of the key contributors to the store s high volume is the New York City subway; 46 th Street is one of the stops for the No. 7 train that runs along Queens Boulevard, bringing a constant flow of passengers directly across the street from the store. Zahriyeh says he ll take a subway station over a parking lot any day. We have so many people passing by throughout the day and night because of the train station, he says. Many of them WINDOW DRESSING Bakery Associate Ariane Hoffmeister carries fresh baked goods to the window display. THE BEST OF ECUADOR, AND MORE The international aisle features products from several Latin countries. Ecuadorians make up the largest percentage of its Hispanic shoppers. are coming from work and will stop by to pick up ingredients for their dinner, or skip cooking altogether and pick up a prepared meal. Late-night commuters have no problem noticing the store; its large, colorful LED signs are bright enough to be seen far down Queens Boulevard as well as from the train platform above. We installed LEDs throughout the store, inside and out, Zahriyeh notes. The quality of light from them is terrific, and while they may be a bit more expensive than traditional lights, they will pay off in the long run in energy savings and durability. As with most supermarkets, shoppers entering Fresh n Save are greeted with an array of colors from the produce department, which features both typical offerings as well as a wide variety of exotic fruits and greens sought by the store s multicultural customer base. For example, several varieties of bulk chilies are displayed in woven baskets along the front window, and huge aloe leaves are stacked high among a mix of vegetables. Along the rear wall are shelves with baskets of produce; to their right are greens merchandised in a custom wire display with a misting system that regularly sprays the product displayed in it. When the racks are full, it seems as if they aren t there, and that the greens are artfully balanced atop each other. The racks rarely stay full, however, due to the steady stream of shoppers that make this area among their first destinations in the store. Unlike traditional suburban stores, Fresh n Save s fresh departments don t follow the perimeter of the store. There s no perimeter, in the traditional sense; there s one aisle at the beginning of the store perpendicular to its length that serves to separate produce from the rest of the store, and then three aisles that span the store lengthwise (the store fills the entire block from Queens Boulevard to Greenpoint Avenue). These aisles end at the location s other fresh section, which fills the rear third of the store and includes its deli, bakery, cheese and meat departments, as well as the checkout lanes. It s All About Fresh This is where Fresh n Save makes its mark. It s all about the fresh departments, says Zahriyeh. Everyone around here has your basic grocery items, the bodegas on many of the corners, the drug stores; there are a few chain drug stores in the area, as well as some independents, and they each 14 Progressive Grocer Independent October 2012

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7 Cover Story have groceries. So we focus on having the best produce, the best deli, the best bakery. It s one-stop shopping here when it comes to fresh. The sushi guy does very well here, our produce does very well. The deli and bakery is all prepared from scratch, and we re the only scratch bakery in the area. The fresh area starts with the cheese The Key to Successful Food Retailing Fresh n Save is part of the Staten Island, N.Y.-based Key Food Co-op, which provides a wide range of services to its members, typically individually owned and operated stores that fulfill the role of the local neighborhood market with fresh, quality products at affordable prices. These services include procurement, private label products, circular creation, printing and distribution, marketing, social media and website management, customer loyalty programs, IT and financial services, and access to in-store execution teams. Additionally, all profit the co-op earns is rebated back to its members at the end of the fiscal year. Key Food truly is the store of the community, says Dean Janeway, CEO of Key Food. It gives its co-op members the benefit of 75 years of experience in the grocery business in New York, including brand recognition as well as size and scale, which translate to lower costs. This, combined with the wide array of services the co-op provides, gives Key Food a competitive advantage versus chain and big-box stores. section, which consists of an end cap of one aisle and a free-standing gondola directly opposite. Despite the store s size, it offers more than 100 cheeses from around the world and an assortment of crackers to complement them. Following the stack em high philosophy, the crackers can be found piled above the end cap where the cheese is displayed. The deli and adjacent meat department occupy a wedge-shaped area along the rear corner of the store, and offer cut-to-order meat, cold cuts and approximately 20 feet of prepared foods such as salads or casseroles. For those in a rush, there are also dinners to go, such as chicken parmigiana with pasta or rice and meat, all priced much lower than their equivalents at local restaurants. The sushi station is set up right in front of the deli, with a chef who prepares items to order. We re much cheaper than ordering takeout from a restaurant, says Zahriyeh, but the quality is the same, if not better, since it s all made from scratch. The combination of being located right across the street from the train and the lower-priced prepared meals is hard to match. Lunchtime shoppers looking for a fresh sandwich first choose their bread from among the dozens of varieties each freshly baked displayed in baskets along the Greenpoint Avenue window, and then bring it to the deli, where cold cuts are sliced to order and piled on along with fixings of their choice. In addition to bread, the bakery makes many varieties of pastries, including ethnic favorites like baklava. When it comes to groceries, Fresh n Save s offerings, while they include all of the basics, are selected specifically to meet the needs of Sunnyside s diverse population. FRESH GUYS Store Manager Joseph Fara (left) and Produce Buyer Raied Zahriyeh. Many ethnic offerings are displayed along with their non-ethnic counterparts, such as chorizos and Italian sausages along with packaged meat, but the store also has an international aisle merchandised by country. Because of the area s large Hispanic population and its subgroups each with its own cuisine Hispanic products are grouped by individual countries. For example, there are Rocoto Red Hot Peppers from Peru, nopales cactus from Mexico, and arroz de cebada from Ecuador, the country from which the largest group of Fresh n Save s Hispanic shoppers hail, according to Zahriyeh. The international aisle also includes Irish chocolates, which are in high demand from the local Irish residents. They just won t eat American chocolate, says Zahriyeh. This is common among many European shoppers. They only eat chocolate from Europe they won t touch anything else. Indeed, in a tight space, Zahriyeh manages to have something for everyone in the neighborhood almost. One of the sacrifices we had to make because of space is a full-service seafood department, he explains. We only offer packaged seafood. But he s fine with shoppers visiting one of the local fish markets just a couple of blocks away, because he knows they ll be in his store to round out the rest of their basket. PGI 16 Progressive Grocer Independent October 2012

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