A cashier waved to us as we went up the escalator one last time, taking photos of another Upper East Side fixture, as the minutes tick down to it becoming just another vacant retail space in the neighborhood. The Food Emporium supermarket located at 1175 Third Avenue, between East 68th and 69th Streets, permanently closed on Friday night.
The supermarket’s long rows of metal shelves were picked clean over the last five weeks. Inside the now-defunct grocery store, the refrigerated display had already been decommissioned and were covered in plastic tarps.
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A small selection of fresh vegetables, apparently restocked within the grocery store’s final days, as well as cases of heavy bottled drinks were among the few products still on display hours before The Food Emporium would leave the Upper East Side forever.
Upper East Site was first to report that the longtime UES supermarket would be closing permanently at the end of March, which proceeded on schedule.
At the store on Saturday, a single sign taped to the now-locked front doors signed by management and staff alerted customers to the closure ,and left a final message for Upper East Side residents, stating “We thank all our customers past and present, it has been a pleasure to serve you!! [sic]”
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Supermarket employees explained to Upper East Site in February that they were told that store’s lease had not been renewed by The Food Emporium’s parent company, Dan’s Supreme Supermarkets.
The 25,350 square-foot space located on the ground and cellar levels of the Trump Palace condominium is still up for lease, however, earlier this year the broker told Upper East Site they expected to have an announcement in the “near future.”
