Fire at Henry Street Gristedes

By on April 1, 2008 5:48 pm in Brooklyn Heights

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Fire broke out late this afternoon at the Henry Street Gristedes in Brooklyn Heights. Store workers tell BHB that the blaze was caused by an electrical malfunction in the deli department. According to NYPD on scene there were no injuries but the store is "trashed".  Workers add that most of the damage to the store was from smoke.  As of this writing store employees were waiting to re-access the building to get their belongings (photo below).

 

 

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  • beth

    maybe now we’ll get a good grocery store

  • DoesntMatter

    Yeah, before that happens Keyfood is gonna increase prices by 20%.

  • miky

    Stop the hating, people. Arranging a fire that big isn’t cheap.

  • ray

    i would venture the folks who live above the place do not share your feelings about “getting a good grocery store”.

    that we need a better store is true but just walk to eden or perlandra if you are offended by gristedes.

  • Nancy

    Neither Eden nor Perelandra sell Edy’s ice cream. Even if they did, I get home too late at night to walk that far. I wasn’t fond of Gristede’s, but it was a lot better than nothing. :-(

  • garon

    omg i can`t believe it acualy went up in flames,it`s suprising i bet the store will re-open in like a month or 2

  • No One Of Consequence

    Gristede’s will be open on April 2nd and no one will know the difference.

  • DoesntMatter

    And the inventory will stay and be sold as hickory smoked.

  • Heightsmom

    Forget Atlantic Avenue…. Wouldn’t it be cool if by some miracle “Gri-Shitties” would never come back and Trader Joe’s could move in here instead?

  • Ace

    Comment from ray
    Time: April 1, 2008, 7:59 pm

    i would venture the folks who live above the place do not share your feelings about “getting a good grocery store”.

    that we need a better store is true but just walk to eden or perlandra if you are offended by gristedes.

    As someone who lives above what I call “Grishitties”, I’m thrilled to see that store is gone. In fact, I was shopping there last night and could not believe how ludicrous the prices were. I’m not sure if anyone shopped there this past week, but grishitties tried to get rid of bad meat and produce at staggeringly low prices. I don’t even touch the bakery goods.

    On the other hand, I do feel bad for them because they just finished making a few renovations and I had hopes that one day it wouldn’t be as nasty and overpriced in that store.

  • clarknt67

    ah, you beat me to it Doesntmatter, I was going to mention their half-off sale on all smoked items!

  • clarknt67

    and what IS taking so long with that darn Trader Joe’s?

  • No One Of Consequence

    Gotta say, that while Trader Joe’s has some interesting stuff, the ones that I have been to don’t cut it as a general supplies type of grocery store. For all its faults, Gristede’s did carry a wide variety of items.
    Be careful what you wish for.

  • Joe

    Trader Joes is opening sometime in 09. I heard it was some kind of paperwork delay.

    That Gristede’s was on the gross side. Baked goods and produce looked disgusting and the place had a weird smell. I went there maybe 2x in the years I’ve been living here. I much rather go to the key foods. That said its still better than nothing if you live around there.

  • clarknt67

    I figured it had to be a paperwork delay, the building was emptied out a year ago. How long does it take to install some coolers and shelves? I wish TJs would get on the ball. You’re right, it’s not a staples type grocery store, but I’m not much for cooking and TJs has a lot of prepackaged food that’s not usually expensive and very tasty.

  • AliG

    I stopped going to Gristedes b/c the people who work at the check out counters are ghastly. Not to mention the disgusting smell…it was like something straight out of Silence of the Lambs. You had to wonder what was going on in the back room.

  • Devyn

    While an unfortunate loss for the neighborhood, Gross-tedes is/was disgusting. It is a shame that there is no real place in BH to shop for groceries that is both clean and affordable.

    Off topic of this post but… TJ’s isn’t a substitute for your regular grocery shopping (I used to do more than half my shopping there when I lived near one in Chicago), but they do offer a lot of the same/similar food items as substantially lower prices. In fact it can be shocking just how low their prices are when you realize how much the local places mark their stuff up.

    As for TJs opening date… It will happen before the end of the year, they got bogged down in local permitting and process. They already have the Atlantic Avenue Store info on their website with “Coming Soon”.

    The real unfortunate thing is that they (thanks to absurdly silly local liquor laws) won’t have their dirt cheap wine selection in Brooklyn (which is half the reason to shop there).

  • N

    What do you mean they can’t have their wines for sale??? What liquor law….don’t they sell in Manhattan?
    Re: Grissly’s burnout…well the Key food by twice as jammed now and more expensive??

  • Ingrid

    I actually wrote to Trader Joe’s, last month, about the Brooklyn-store-opening rumors, and received the following response:

    Thank you for contacting us with your location request. At this time, we do not have any immediate plans of opening a store in Brooklyn, NY. We do, however, keep a working log of each request we receive, which is compiled monthly and sent on to our Real Estate Department for consideration. Thanks for your input!

    Sincerely,

    Ana
    Trader Joe’s
    Customer Relations
    Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 8:55 PM

  • guest

    Brooklyn is on the list of “Coming Soon” locations on their website: http://www.traderjoes.com/locations.asp

  • clarknt67

    No wine? bummer, my wine rack is empty & I figured I’d refill it there. I don’t drink, but keep it in the house for guests and figured TJs was low-investment way to keep an inventory.

    Arnold, have you not seen the Garden of Eden on Montague? It’s very classy and home to the $15/lb green beans.

    Looks like Ana’s not on top of her position.

  • hildabooze

    Lets hope the Gristede employees don’t go to Key Food to work I stopped going to Gristedes ages ago Last thing I want after paying their prices was a dose of attitude from the employees. At lKey Food you get smiles and helpful attitudes from those working there

  • Cranky

    hildabooze are you KIDDING me! Key Food employees are horrible…extremely rude. The Gristedes employees were a lot more polite in my experience.

  • http://franceskuffel.net frances

    Grosstidies had Fage yogurt, which Key Food can’t seem to get a grasp on. It even had it in big containers.

    & it had the best dog treats.

    That, I’m afraid, is that. They are, however, staples in my house…

  • chioggia

    Last year, my husband saw a person smoking crack at three o’clock in the afternoon in one of the cut-outs in the ridged concrete wall of Gristedes. But they were the only purveyors of Natural Light beer in the neighborhood. What shall we do?

  • bornhere

    Frances: I am almost positive Key carries Fage — upper left at yogurt case. And if that fails, GOE carries it.

  • since47

    Homer, please get the links all in one circle, as it were. Fire at Gristede’s and Additional Images From Gristede’s Blaze is all the same, and yet it’s generated two separate discussions. Thank you.

  • Jen

    chioggia, was the person your husband saw smoking crack the same guy who stocks the dairy cases? That guy is really scary and curses at customers.

  • HDEB

    The three towers with frontage on Cadman Plaza all had been Mitchell Lama’s. Only one of them still is.

    I believe economic diversity within a neighborhood is a good thing.

  • Andrew Porter

    The diner at the corner of Pineapple Walk and Cadman Plaza used to be a Pioneer Supermarket until Gristede’s bought out their lease and closed them down. Earlier, that site was used in the film “Taxi Driver” when it was a dirt lot. Look at the scene filmed from up in 101 Clark looking down at the political rally, when DeNiro is circling on the edges, thinking about assassinating the guy running for office. His political office was in the space where Cadman Travel and the Red Cross office were, with big political posters covering the fact that the interior was raw, unfinished space. Yeah, I’ve lived here too long…

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