THE QUEENS
APRIL 2019
Photo courtesy of Michelle Mendoza
Met Fresh opens at former site of Strawberry Farms in Whitestone
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Met Fresh Supermarket is offi cially
open for business in Whitestone and residents
are excited.
Dozens of shoppers fl ooded the grand
opening of the supermarket chain — the
fi rst location in Queens — early Friday
morning aft er eagerly waiting in line with
carts in hand ready to shop special deals.
“It’s a special day today for everyone
in this neighborhood,” said Joe, a lifelong
Whitestone resident and community
activist. “Th e opening of this supermarket
gives relief to people, especially the
elderly, who have been unable to shop at
this location aft er Strawberry Farms was
destroyed in a fi re.”
Met Fresh Supermarket is located at the
reconstructed former site of 24-11 150th
St., which was previously occupied by
Strawberry Farms Supermarket for over
30 years in the neighborhood.
Th e food market was destroyed aft er
a three-alarm fi re started on the ground
fl oor destroying M&M Dry Cleaners and
Laundromat, where more than 100 fi refi
ghters had worked overnight to extinguish
the fl ames.
With three Met Fresh Supermarket
locations in Brooklyn, the family-owned
business is looking forward to becoming
a part of the Whitestone neighborhood.
Danny Hamdan, owner and operator,
said he grew up working in supermarkets
with family members in Bay Ridge.
“I’ve seen the trends shift in the last
eight years from mainstream traditional
snacks to trending ‘good-for-you’ and
‘better-for-you’ snack selection from
manufactures and requests from consumers,”
said Hamdan. “I am carrying more
healthy snacks and low-sodium chips in
my store.”
Known for its walk-in beer cave, Met
Fresh Supermarket encompasses a huge
produce section, a butcher with a meat
department, a seafood department with
fresh fi sh, and an American grocery
supermarket with a circular, along with
imports and speciality foods.
Th rough the year of preparation to open
the store in Whitestone, Hamdan learned
that there were many demographics in the
area that he needed to serve, as the number
of Greek and Italian residents make
up 60 percent of the population.
“Seeing the shift in market and consumer
preferences, ASG Associated
Supermarket Group set the store to carry
traditional mainstream product assortment
through the 28K authorized items
available through its wholesale partner,
C&S in addition to the 10K specialty
and organic selection through ASG’s suppliers,
Kehe and UNFI,” said Michelle
Mendoza, Director of Marketing at ASG,
which serves independently owned supermarkets
in the New York tri-state area
and other cities along the U.S. Eastern
Seaboard.
According to Mendoza, the store is merchandised
to meet the large increase in
organic and natural snack products.
“We sell a healthy and delicious store
made guacamole that does very well for
us and we have a natural peanut butter
machine that also is a success,” said
Mendoza.
Additionally, the full-service supermarket
also has a free delivery service for its
customers.
“We’re a family business. We’re here to
support the families. Th is store is their
pantry; whatever they need, we’re here for
them,” said Omar Hamdan. “Th e quality
here in the past wasn’t good and we’re
going to be giving a better quality for a
cheaper price for the community. You’ll
always get decent quality here.”
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