Fairway Opens 1st Queens Site
By Ross Barkan
Their hands wrapped around the handlebars of the dark green shopping carts as a light rain dappled the parking lot. They could have come tomorrow when the lines were smaller, when Far East Movement's "Like a G6" wasn't drowning out conversation, and when a mass of politicians hadn't already gathered inside under the dry florescence to pay homage to a supermarket. But then they would have missed Fairway Market's grand opening. What is it they say about first impressions?
"I'm here representing the Hillcrest Jewish Center," said Joy Leffler, who was waiting in line for the Douglaston supermarket to open at last. "Fairway is putting their best foot forward."
The opening of a new Fairway location in Douglaston on Wednesday drew hundreds of shoppers and a Who's Who of local political elites, including a few "out-of-towners" like Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who quipped that when it comes to food, county lines don't exist.
Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens), State Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Flushing), State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Little Neck), and Community Board 11 chairman Jerry Iannece all spoke at the opening inside Fairway. They were joined by two generations of Fairway executives, CEO Howard Glickberg and his son, Vice President Danny Glickberg.
"This is what happens when labor and management come together for a common cause, and that cause is the consumer," Stavisky said, praising Fairway for their employment of union workers.
The Douglaston Fairway is Queens' first - at 56,000 square feet, it is also the largest Fairway location. It will create 400 jobs and provide a supermarket for a community that was previously without one. Howard Glickberg cited Weprin's particular efforts to bring a Fairway to Douglaston.
"I'm delighted for the people of Eastern Queens," Weprin said. "The mayor is not going to let you sleep in Fairway, no matter how much you want to eat," he joked, alluding to the mayor's forced eviction of protesters at Zuccotti Park in Manhattan just a day ago.
Bloomberg himself attracted a surge of cameras and curious eyes. He said that the country as a whole lost 6 percent of its private sector jobs during the recession but the City lost less than 1 percent, and this must mean New York is doing something right. In appreciation of the mayor's support of Fairway, Howard Glickberg presented Bloomberg with a Fairway brand of coffee called Gotham Blend that bore the mayor's face on its packaging.
Reach Reporter Ross Barkan at rbarkan@queenstribune.com or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 127.