Streetlevel: Organic Boom on Cortelyou
The changing demographics in Victorian Flatbush are having a big impact on the neighborhood’s food market scene. On the heels of a new organic market opening on the cornering Cortelyou and Stratford a couple of weeks ago (and the Green Market opening this past weekend) comes the news, via a neighborhood tipster, that the Food…
The changing demographics in Victorian Flatbush are having a big impact on the neighborhood’s food market scene. On the heels of a new organic market opening on the cornering Cortelyou and Stratford a couple of weeks ago (and the Green Market opening this past weekend) comes the news, via a neighborhood tipster, that the Food Co-op will be buying out the Associated on Cortelyou and Marlborough. According to our source, Associated owner Leon Boyer is selling because of all the “damned yuppies.” What’s the impact of this on the folks in the area who can’t afford organic fare? Do they still have other options?
Photo by Kate Leonova for Property Shark
Anon 11:41… actually the C-Town is not brand new. They’ve been there forever and they just keep those banners and signs there. I once thought the same until a longtime resident told me otherwise.
Slope to Cortelyou –
Kensington and Ditmas Park are 2 different neighborhoods (remember the uproar when Connecticut Muffin started setting up shop?). They both need their own supermarkets, nail salons, etc…
11:35
Anon 11:35: How neighborly of you.
Agree 100% with Slope to Cortelyou. I have lived in the neighborhood two years, but have been a 25 year resident of Brooklyn. So… Am I a damned yuppie or an old timer? Demographics for the many apartment buildings have not changed due to new influx of residents. The Co-op expansion underservers everyone.
I don’t have a car to get to stop-n-shop or Pathmark frequently. The other options are not great, Even the brand new C-Town on Coney Island Avenue reeks with that down-market soggy cardboard box whiff.
I wish the Co-op had taken half the space and the other space for a store with solid staples, like potato chips that don’t cost $3.99 a bag.
Fat chance we’ll see a bar in the Cornerstone space, not with a landlord charging $6k a month for a place that’s falling apart. This is the problem when a strip gets “hot”–owners get ridiculous ideas about what their stores are worth, and then the only business that can move in are chains or other places that sell crap at high volume.
If I wanted to schlep to Kensington, I would have bought in Kensington.
Leela, your first comment is spot on.
Industrial organic is a dicey thing. Sure, it’s great that some acres are not being flooded with pesticides and nitrates, but the offset of shipping across the country, burning fossil fuels all the way, is disheartening.
You’d think smaller places not in the Whole Foods model would try and support the locally grown organic goodies.
By the way, a fine example is DNY Natural Land on Flatbush, just above the 7th Ave Q. They have a small sushi area, decent seafood selections, ready-made sushi, lots of fruits and veggies that always look fresh, and a fine mixed selection of both organic and non organic groceries. Also, a great flower selection. The prices aren’t dirt cheap, but they are reasonable and offer a lot in a small space. I still go there to do my one-stop shopping if I can.
Just ONE of those in Ditmas Park would be more than enough. And I can bet they’d take the bulk of the business from BOTH organic markets! Any green grocers want to make a killing in a changing neighborhood? Go to DNY Natural Land on Flatbush in Park Slope/Prospect Heights, take a look, and open a place in Ditmas Park or Kensington.
Oh, and I feel DP development iis overshooting the “gentrification” of that neighborhood with these 2 organic stores. Let’s first work on getting the basics right! A bank would be nice instead of going to the stupid Chase machine in Duane Reade.
Blaming his business problems on “damned yuppies,” if the guy really said that, is weak. It’s just entitled whinging to complain that your customer base has changed, expects different things and expects you to satisfy its needs. It’s the same thing I’ve seen too often from old Brooklyn businesses–not all, just the bad ones–who think their customers have a moral obligation to put up with their crap and accept substandard service.