Friday, January 16, 2015

Met Food On Henry Street Becomes A Key Food

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This week, the Met Food supermarket at 486 Henry Street  here in Carroll Gardens is transitioning into a Key Food.  Though the awning in front of the store has not yet been changed, the store receipt already indicates that it is officially a Key Food.
It will probably not make much of a difference, except for the sales items and the store brands stocked on the shelves. I think most neighborhood residents will just be glad that this will remain a supermarket.

Carroll Gardeners have been complaining about a lack of reasonably priced food shopping options in the neighborhood.  In the past few years, the neighborhood has lost two supermarkets.
First, the old  Key Food supermarket on Court Street between First Place and Second Place closed and became a CVS.  Then this past summer, the Met Food on Smith Street closed its doors to make way for a new building.

Below is a bit of history about the building housing the current supermarket at 486 Henry Street.  It was once the home of the Pilgrim Chapel and later became the Oriole Theatre.
-4 by you.
Architectural drawings of Pilgrim Chapel
A photo of the 1930's
-5 by you.


This is from the New York Chapter of the American Guild of Organists

The Pilgrim Chapel began as the Columbia Mission, established in 1845 or 1846, when a few active Christians began a Mission in Freeman's Hall at the corner of Amity and Columbia streets in South Brooklyn. The neighborhood was inhabited mostly by foreigners, many of whom were Irish Catholics. As the Sunday-school was established and prospered, a few benevolent gentlemen purchased three lots of ground on Warren Street, between Hicks and Columbia streets. On this ground, a chapel was erected that could accommodate 400 to 500 persons, and it was completed in November 1852, free of debt. The cost of the land and chapel was about $9,000. Over the next few years membership increased and on March 20, 1854, a church was formed. Financial support for the Warren Street Church was provided by Plymouth Congregational Church and the Church of the Pilgrims, in addition to contributions from members. In 1876, the Church of the Pilgrims assumed charge of the mission, and it was renamed Pilgrim Chapel.

On July 10, 1878, the cornerstone was laid for a new building on Henry Street at the corner of Degraw Street. The site consisted of four lots and measured 100 feet square. J. Cleveland Cady (1837-1919), the prominent architect, designed an Italianate-style building with a tall tower that had an exterior of Philadelphia pressed brick trimmed with Belleville stone and terra cotta. The auditorium had a high ceiling with open timbers, and was lighted by a continuous clear-story in which were windows filled with rolled cathedral glass of beautiful designs. There were 15 rooms grouped around the auditorium, all having direct light, ventilation and heat. When the Sunday-school rooms were opened into the auditorium, there was a capacity of 1,200 people. The new Pilgrim Chapel was formally opened on December 15, 1878.

The Church of the Pilgrims merged into Plymouth Congregational Church in 1934, but it has not yet been determined when the Pilgrim Chapel was disbanded.


A while back, Reader Carol commented on PMFA that she had spoken to her mother who told her that when she got married in 1947, this supermarket "was known as the C-Town Market. Then it became G & G, which was owned by the Gallatto Brothers."
According to Carol, Mr Park's, who also owned the Met Food on Smith Street, opened this Met Food in the 1980's.


20 comments:

Jack Ravio said...

Every so often I log onto the MET FOODS website to see the deals in store. For the past week or so- it said that store did exist.I know people hate on this store. But I find it pretty easy to get in and out of and get the basics at a good price. And the lady at the register closest to the door always wants to talk NY Sports. Don't lose her!

Anonymous said...

Why would anyone hate on this store? especially with all of the over-priced markets on Court St. It's nearly perfect. I live in Red Hook and would love an alternative to the giant maze that is Fairway. The deli is great and they have the best fresh mozzarella.

chance bliss said...

i'm curious about how this change will affect their pricing, as well as who is behind the management - as there seems to be some overlap between this market and park natural on court street.

that said, comparing prices between park natural and met foods (sorry, key foods), it wasn't always this place that was cheaper. in fact, i found that park natural had better prices when it came to produce and dairy. true, met/key foods on henry had far better options in the cheese and deli department.

anyway, that's neither here nor there.

Anonymous said...

No one will be losing there jobs, particularly the above-mentioned register lady or the deli staff. The staff help make this a great supermarket but the new Key Food management is disconcerting. Their Atlantic Ave store often charges more for weekly sale items and their meat/deli expire fast. Also wondering if all the Italian foods prepared in-house will disappear.

Louise said...

Met Food had the best cold cuts. I hope it stays the same. One day I was in the Key Food on Atlantic Ave and bought cold cuts..if I tell you the Salami was horrible..I said never again and now our Met Food is changing tgo Key Food BUT as the story said Thank God wed still have the store!!!!

Anonymous said...

My family has lived across from this store for more than 85 years. My mom used to work for G&G back in the day. While my sister worked for Met and the old Mr. Kim in the early 2000's. Can't believe it's becoming a key food. Met has been a BIG part of my life.

Anonymous said...

There are people out there who have a need to find something to hate no matter what it is. I can never figure this out, except that it shows a lack of critical thinking. Granted, this supermarket is small and rather cramped, but it has just about everything I need on a regular basis. The prices are competitive and certainly less than upscale Union Market. Met also has a good selection of "ethnic" food products -- fresh or packaged -- Italian, Asian, Hispanic. It's a good thing to have a variety of shopping choices like Union Market and Trader Joe's which I patronize, as well, but I also hope this market doesn't eventually close because there is a need for it in our neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

There was, indeed, an overlap in the management of Met/Henry and Park Food. Park Food was opened by the then-manager of Met at that time. I don't know if that's still the case, but I do remember seeing the manager working at both locations back then.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Park Food's did overlap with the Met on Henry Street. The owner of the Met on Henry had his son operate and run the Park Food's on Court and Union. However, I don't know if his son still runs and operates the store currently.

onemorefoldedsunset said...

I just hope it's not a Jo, Brian & Joseph Key Food. They operate(d) one near us in the South Slope. It had high prices, awful produce, and closed under mysterious circumstances in September, quite probably due to non-payment of rent. They run another Key Food on Flatbush. Still, there are plenty of well-run KFs. Good luck!

lindab said...

The Met Food on Henry is a great source for all the basics. But, the thing that makes it special are the workers, especially the delivery people. Couldn't do without them. Hopefully, it will be managed by the same group. I found the Key Food on Atlantic Ave to be less than desirable for as long as I can remember (as far back as 1983).

Rob said...

Glad to hear they're not losing this store over there. Since Met closed on Smith I feel like I'm stuck trekking it all the way up to Trader Joes and then back down to C Town on Bond st just to do regular grocery shopping now.

Anonymous said...

Both Met Food and Key Food are buying and advertizing cooperatives, in this case sort of like a Franchise. each one is individually owned. Food town is the same. Not like Pathmark I am unsure about ShopRite.

Anonymous said...

I moved from the neighborhood a year ago, but I shopped at that Met for 10 years and I still go back there when I'm in the neighborhood. I like the fresh rolls and babels, fresh mozzarella and cold cuts and their produce is better than most supermarkets. The owner personally inspects everything coming off the truck in the morning so they never have anything old, bruised or going bad like other stores. The cashiers are super fast and if you know what you want you can be in and out in 5 minutes. Try that at Traders Joe's or Fairway! Their prices seem pretty fair to me unlike at Union Market where I walk out and feel like my wallet just got raped.

Unknown said...

Katia, thanks for the history on the building. I always thought it odd that the market was in what looked like a former church.

Katia said...

And you were not wrong, Gary.

Anonymous said...

I'm sad to hear this news... The Key Food on both Montague and Atlantic are not very good. They carry the same basic brands, but very little choices on healthy options like organic food. I also find their vegetables wilt or are dry looking. Cobble Hill and Carroll Garden have very conscientious and educated shoppers who care what they eat. I'm nervous Key Food won't get that based on their two other stores. Met Food carries a very good balance of affordable, basic and higher priced, organic food options. If Key Food doesn't follow the Met Food guide, they won't do well and end up closing. We can't lose another grocery store that everyone can shop at.

C.G. Family since before ST. Agnes was built said...

Ti Indab -

Just so you know, for the past 2 weeks I've tried to "Call" for groceries. The MET used to take an order and deliver about 30 minutes later.
This NEW Key Food (so far) will NOT take phone orders. They seem to (so far) deliver if you shop in person - but I can't get out like I used to. So...
"Hello Fresh Direct."

Katia said...

That's too bad. Is the owner still the same? Perhaps if more people ask for call ordered to be re-instated they will do it.

Anonymous said...

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