Key Food on Flatbush

I like it...24 hours...nice beer selection (although I wish it was chilled)...

I know it's been said before, but I've never been in store more purposefully designed to make shopping as difficult as possible. It seems like they decided to see how much food they could get in one space from floor to ceiling, but they forgot people might actually want to buy said food.

I like the place - great beer selection, about as badly priced as every other grocery in the area for the things that I buy. Plus, well, it's around the corner from home. Hard to beat proximity.

pensodyssey wrote: I know it's been said before, but I've never been in store more purposefully designed to make shopping as difficult as possible. It seems like they decided to see how much food they could get in one space from floor to ceiling, but they forgot people might actually want to buy said food.

I replied to this post already, but I have to reply specifically to this reply.

Word. Preach on.

It seems that the most popular items/brands are put up on the very topmost shelves, almost without exception. Very, very, very frustrating. Then you have to find the stick-with-hook or the 1-2 stepstools in the isles, or try and make due with a different brand/item (which I almost never do, as I know that's likely what they want from me anyway.)

em wrote: I picked up a pint of ice cream from Key Food over the weekend and checked the expiration date out of curiosity. It expired in 2005. Two years ago.

That stuns me, honestly...

... don't their freezers break down way more often than once every 2 years?

em wrote:

That stuns me, honestly...

... don't their freezers break down way more often than once every 2 years?

Seriously! I didn't end up buying that one (thankfully), but rather picked a brand that doesn't print expiration dates. I'm sure it was just as old - as it had many different layers of consistency and quite impressive freezer burn. Gross.

On the rare occasion that I buy ice cream (though I do love it so), I usually frequent Natural Land across the street - I'm pretty darned sure their ice cream turnover is fairly frequent.

anybody else find a good deal on beer in the hood?

Indeed- Met Food Markets. $8.49 for a six-pack of Dogfish Head 60-minute IPA. That's $12-$13 (w/ tax) anywhere else. There's a good selection there of others as well.

meganlibrarian wrote: [quote=em]I picked up a pint of ice cream from Key Food over the weekend and checked the expiration date out of curiosity. It expired in 2005. Two years ago.

That stuns me, honestly...

... don't their freezers break down way more often than once every 2 years?

Probably. They just don't throw the ice cream away after it melts.

Let's face it, one of the advantages to living in PS is the Key Foods on 5th. Best meat in all the groceries, and far and away the best music in any store of any type around.

Although, nothing beats the down-home charm of having to climb over and around the management in order to get toothpaste, deodorant, or cigarettes at the Met on Vandy.

I'll admit that I try to use Freshdirect when possible. I moved from a suburb upstate and was completly spoiled by the grocery stores there (Wegmans!). But for local fruit I've used the Key Food on 5th the most... it's a good hike if you don't have a car, but worth it otherwise.

Anyone else use Freshdirect?

Better food at Steve's C Town on Ninth Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue in Park Slope. It's closer to Fifth Avenue down the block from the Y and CVS.

Oh my God I grew up practically in Wegman's!!!! I miss it! I try and do the Freshdirect thing when possible too - the grocery stores here really do suck... especially, I have to repeat it, when compared to the beloved Wegman's.

Subject: Food Shopping in Prospect Heights

The food coop is ok but...i haven't been able to work there in over a year and I used to work on Saturday AM but well, it just doesn't work anymore. I have to avoid the crowded times (dinner and Sat. afternoons) and the kiddie hour (2-4PM during the weekdays). There is a science to working there.

Has anyone noticed that a lot of food stuffs, esp. condiments, are not labeled and certain produce is not labeled and with the China thing going on -- buyer beware!!! Imagine buying tea that has been dried by driving over it with trucks!!! Ah, I digress.

On the other hand...do you check labels, do you keep your receipts, do you ask for receipts, do you go back and return things and bug the managers when signage is wrong or you were treated poorly?

The store owners know that people are in a hurry and aren't going to complain. They know that many of their customers are young and transplants from other areas and may not care or not know that they are being ripped off and/or treated poorly by their staff. The check out folks have no idea about customer service and are probably treated like crap and not only underpaid but may not even be hired legally. The owners will yes you to death or act as if you are the problem. The Key Food on Flatbush displays produce in the front of the store which is hit by the blazing sun. They placed the cheese cooler by the front door. I truly believe that the Met Food on Vanderbilt buys some of their produce and meats from the other neighborhood stores (when they are no longer perfectly "fresh).

I try to shop at the various stores and look for the best in each store.

Have a great Fourth!

Glad you brought up the "creepy" unsocilalized men who check you out at the store -- especially MET Food.

We usually get our food from Freshdirect also (time is a commodity in our household) and we usually go to the Flatbush Key if we don't get from Freshdirect or for supplementary items that Freshdirect doesn't have. It seems that the Key has more organic, more international and lactose free products, which we need a lot of. We don't do a lot of their meat products but their fruits and vegetables are infinitely better than the Met, which we only get canned stuff or milk products, although their meat seems okay.

Again, with the car...sometimes we make the long trek to Fairway (another place which has to figure out their layout).

katlou wrote: Glad you brought up the "creepy" unsocilalized men who check you out at the store -- especially MET Food.

I was actually refering specifically to the creepy Met Man... ick. You can't get past the entrance without feeling violated by him in some weird subliminal way.