Ermina's Market
Opened: June 25, 2025
Opened: June 25, 2025
Owner: John Zoitas
From the owners of Westside Market, a chain of beautiful and well-run gourmet markets in Manhattan, comes Ermina's Market. This store, a block west of the UN and two east of the Chrysler Building, was assembled from a collection of smaller storefronts that have now been joined into an exceptional gourmet market.
The Zoitas family, who also own an equally spectacular gourmet grocer in New Jersey called Maywood's Marketplace (Garden Gourmet in the Bronx is also owned by a Zoitas, but I don't know for sure that they're related), have gone all-out for this brand-new supermarket that opened at the end of last month. I don't know the exact size, but I would estimate around 10,000 square feet. The amount of premium selections packed into that footprint is incredible.
And premium is a good word to describe this store. As you'll see as we tour the store, it's a premium grocer with premium products -- and premium pricing, for sure. Still, the execution here is as good as you'd expect for a store with this pricing and positioning.
There's an entrance on either side of the storefront, which faces 2nd Ave, and an exit in the middle. On the left side, you enter to deli/bakery, with bakery, salad, deli, prepared foods, and sushi lining the back wall of this narrow section. A coffee shop and cafe are on the front wall along with grab-and-go prepared foods. Cheese, meat, and seafood are in an alcove behind deli/bakery, with dairy on the back wall. Frozen is in the grocery aisles on the left side, and produce is in the aisle on the right side.
Significant attention here has clearly been put towards the high-end finishes, including the fixtures and decor.
And as I mentioned recently, it's pretty uncommon for a New York City supermarket to have a full in-store bakery. This one does, with a large selection of fresh breads.
As you can see in all of these pictures, the store is refined and upscale without feeling too stuffy. You get a sense of fresh foods being the centerpiece, and the design and decor are minimal enough to recede into the background but strong enough to direct your attention to the premium offerings.
The Westside Market stores are certainly upscale as well, but this one feels like a half-step up from them. A big part of that is design, but there are also some items that are brought in specifically for Ermina's.
Here you can see the small seating area next to the coffee shop.
And service deli and prepared foods are opposite that.
The deli display case here is a perfect example of this store's elegant design. A quick glance at the deli counter and you won't even notice that there is a glass display case there, but if you do happen to look more carefully at the fixture itself, it's modern and sleek.
Sushi up next in the deli/bakery room. You might notice some empty spaces in the service counters, but that's only because I was here in the morning, well before the lunch rush I'm sure this store gets.
A sprawling Cheese Boutique is located just off of the first aisle, in an alcove behind the deli/bakery departments. More cheeses are opposite this counter, and the seafood service counter is also on this side of the store.
This store competes most directly with an Amish Market just around the block. That store definitely has an upscale lean, but isn't nearly as gourmet-focused as Ermina's. A Gristedes that's not terrible but not particularly inviting is a couple blocks south, and a seriously dated but decent Morton Williams is just north.
Westside, Ermina's, Maywood's, and Garden Gourmet don't really use storebrands (although of course they have their own line of baked goods, prepared foods, and so on that's really the focus). They're supplied in part by Krasdale, but don't really use the Krasdale brand for much other than a few isolated nonfoods. Ermina's has their own products in certain categories, such as spices and oils. As you can see, these are definitely not value-centered storebrands but premium private labels for a few select, mostly imported items.
I like the orange branding, which is very easy to spot and very well-done throughout the store.
Service seafood is in the corner behind the cheese department.
Packaged meat and beer line the rest of the first grocery aisle behind seafood and cheese.
Dairy lines the back wall, and as you can see there was a lot being stocked and organized when I visited. Throughout the store, every department was really in immaculate condition.
That's especially true in the grocery aisles, where nearly every item was in the proper place.
Although Ermina's is definitely a gourmet market, it's still a full supermarket and has all the regular, everyday products alongside a very broad selection of specialty items.
How about these for well-stocked shelves? Clearly, that's a priority here. The entire store is spotless.
And now we've arrived at the produce department, in the first aisle on the right side of the store. As I mentioned, there's another entrance here, which is why we're seeing welcome signage again.
An incredible display of berries and cherries right inside the right-side entrance.
Other than the awkward columns, which are unavoidable in most New York City buildings, you'd hardly be able to tell this supermarket was amalgamated from a nail salon, a bank, a deli, a salon, and a health food store.
A close look at these shelves shows how they're able to pack the selection of a store double or triple this size into a diminutive space like this. That's an extreme sport here in New York City.
Like the Westside Market stores, clearly display and organization are priorities here.
And we wrap up with a look across the front-end (there's also another cafe seating area beyond the registers under the hanging wooden beams). I love these large circular light fixtures.
Previous Tenants: assorted non-grocery tenants
Cooperative: Krasdale Foods
Location: 825 2nd Ave, Manhattan, NY
Photographed: July 15, 2025
It's exciting to see what's happening in the gourmet food retail realm here in the city, where supermarkets are often an afterthought. Check out some more NYC news -- plus a trip to the Hudson Valley -- this weekend!
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