LIDL
The grocery aisles feel somewhere between the way LIDL has done it in the past and a more mainstream supermarket. With this store (and possibly all stores now?) LIDL is now putting prices above, not below, the items, which explains the additional trim at the top of the shelves.
This LIDL is a new-build store (that goes for the building it's in, of course, too) but it replaces a longtime supermarket on the same property. More on that soon.
Lots of other supermarkets are within a couple blocks, including local names like Gristedes and Ideal Food Basket and big chains like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.
LIDL has brought back the backlit panel over the personal care items, which they were doing in some of the stores that opened around 2023 but not others since. Here, Cien (the health and beauty brand) is advertised liberally despite most of the things here being, well, not Cien products.
A little dairy alcove in the back corner, along with a spot for beer coming soon...
...and freezer cases in the last aisle. The registers are set up in a very space-efficient way in this back corner, with a row of self checkouts on one side and staffed registers on the other.
The supermarket here dates back at least to the 1970s, possibly farther back. It looks like it was originally a Co-op, which at some point may have become a Food Emporium (roughly the 90s, I'd estimate), but by 1999 it was an Associated owned by Morton Williams. It appears to have become a Gristedes in the early 00s or so, closing in 2022. It looks like the previous supermarket here was much larger than the current LIDL, probably a little over 20,000 square feet. The building also has quite the history, as Gristedes shared the space with a theater that was recently the home of the Upright Citizens Brigade, a well-known improv comedy group, as well as a tennis club on the roof -- hence the bubble above the Gristedes.
Inside, we can see some very familiar-looking decor -- until the day Gristedes closed, its deli and bakery departments were home to circa-1990s Food Emporium decor. Given the rest of the store, I think it's likely this was home to a Food Emporium at that time, but I don't know that for sure -- it's possible the decor was secondhand. So this alcove with the deli and a small seating area was in the front-right corner, with bakery and seafood coutners around the corner to the left facing the produce department in the first aisle. (The Corner Bakery, as you can see in these pictures, had been moved out of this section.)
Beer was in the back-right corner, with meat on the back wall and dairy/frozen on the left side of the store. As we'll see in these pictures, this Gristedes was well on its way to closure when I visited. My guess is that, in part, it was simply too large for Gristedes which has been in decline for years.
Relocated service bakery, now over on the left side of the deli counter. The rest of the decor in this store is Gristedes' own, except for perhaps this seafood sign. It appears to be roughly trying to imitate the Food Emporium decor around the corner, but it's definitely not part of the same decor. Here, too, you can see the greatly-reduced seafood department mostly stocked with bottled drinks when I visited. The deli, bakery, and seafood counters wrapped around the corner in the front-right part of the store.
The panels above the refrigeration and grocery aisles make me think this was likely a Food Emporium (rather than just reusing secondhand signage), since they closely match what A&P was doing in the 90s.
As we head over to the left side of the store, we can start to get a clear sense that this space was just too large for Gristedes. Big parts of the store were used for nonfoods and what appears to have been just storage on the sales floor.
I'm not sure what was previously in this area, or if Gristedes ever had something here. (It's possible Morton Williams did, but Gristedes never put anything back here.) Dairy was in a weirdly-spacious alcove up front, too. It's not too unusual to see stores with all this open space, but in New York City it's sure a rarity.
And we're going to wrap up with a couple pictures following Gristedes' closure...
They removed all of the fixtures here, maybe to sell or send to another location. The windows were papered over, but I got a glimpse inside nonetheless...
And that's all for this Gristedes-turned-LIDL! Check out the rest of this weekend's posts here.
Opened: October 7, 2026
Fast-growing discounter LIDL now has 16 locations across New York City, so let's check out the latest! (Its primary competitor, ALDI, had 14 but has just opened two more.) This Chelsea store, which opened on Wednesday, comes one week after LIDL opened a location on Staten Island. It's around 12,000 square feet -- LIDL stores have been getting smaller over time, but their New York City locations are understandably on the smaller size, too.
I visited on Wednesday, so it was packed with people browsing the new store. I wouldn't expect the levels of crowds you see here to continue once the novelty wears off, but my impression is that generally the LIDL stores here in NYC do pretty well. You enter to the bakery in a hallway-type setup on the right side of the store. Produce is up next on the front wall, with meat on the right side in the first aisle and deli/cold cuts on the back wall. Dairy is in the back-left corner with frozen in the last aisle on the left side, and the checkouts are kind of in a cluster in the front-left corner.
The store feels somewhat awkward to navigate, but heck, that's just how it is in these New York City supermarkets -- not LIDL's fault. We're seeing the new decor package here, though honestly there's not all that much decor to see.
Owner: Schwarz Group
Previous Tenants: Co-op Supermarket (1970s) > The Food Emporium > Morton Williams Associated (open by 1999) > Gristedes (ca. 2000s - 2022)
Cooperative: none
Location: 335 8th Ave, Manhattan, NY
Photographed: October 7, 2026
It's nice to see a fresh new supermarket here, especially since a supermarket has been on this spot for decades. Speaking of that, let's see what used to be here!
Gristedes
Opened: ca. 2000s
Owner: Red Apple Group
Previous Tenants: Co-op Supermarket (1970s) > The Food Emporium > Morton Williams Associated (open by 1999)
Cooperative: Allegiance Retail Services
Location: 307 W 26th St, Manhattan, NY
Photographed: June 10, 2021 and December 21, 2022
Saturday
- LIDL and ALDI each open New York City stores
- A Bronx independent moves next door and rebrands
- A former Harlem Rite Aid becomes a shiny new supermarket
Sunday
Interesting that LIDL has Cien so prominently displayed, as the brand has been getting gutted over the last few years. LIDL's HABA sections have been shrinking and so many interesting Cien products have vanished. I loved their coconut shampoo soap bar for 2 bucks. I still have one yet long gone from my LIDL. Interesting to see the Gristedes so incredibly dead. I remember the days their stores in the city drew decent crowds but that was back in the days before Whole Foods and Trader Joe's arrived. Also to note this LIDL took FOREVER to open. Not sure what the hold up was but it seemed they may have had challenges beyond just setting the place up.
ReplyDelete