Department of City Planning (DCP) Director Dan Garodnick announced on February 1, 2023, that 30 supermarkets have opened under the City’s Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (“FRESH”) program, which is now serving 1.2 million New Yorkers that live within a half-mile of a store and previously had few greengrocer options. This citywide program, which launched in 2009, already has an additional 21 FRESH stores in the pipeline, which will serve an additional 300,000 people who currently do not have easy access to fresh food.
FRESH lessens health disparities across NYC by creating opportunities for accessible healthy food in underserved neighborhoods through zoning and tax benefits. The report shows that:
- FRESH has incentivized the development of 51 supermarkets, 30 of which have already opened, in neighborhoods from Crown Heights in Brooklyn, to Harlem in Manhattan, to Morrisania in the Bronx. (Full list in report.)
- 21 stores are in development following a successful expansion of the program in 2021, but are not yet open.
FRESH gives property owners the right to construct slightly larger buildings in mixed residential and commercial districts, and in light manufacturing districts, if they include a FRESH supermarket.
To reach more New Yorkers, the City, with strong support from the City Council, expanded the FRESH zoning incentive to 11 additional underserved communities, from the 20 Community Districts it originally served. Since the program’s expansion, five applications for FRESH supermarkets have been submitted in the newly expanded areas, part of the 21 stores in development. This expansion was a key step to reducing health inequities that were further heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
FRESH was created in response to the citywide study Going to Market, which highlighted the widespread shortage of neighborhood grocery stores providing fresh food options in many New York City communities. The FRESH expansion grew out of a 2018 DCP analysis emphasizing the need to grow the program to more areas.
In 2019, DCP also launched the interactive Supermarket Needs Index to inform communities of nearby grocery stores and supermarkets and show which neighborhoods remain underserved.
Supermarket that have opened as a result of the “Fresh” program are in the following neighborhoods across the city:
The Bronx
Big Farm Wholesale, 515 Bryant Ave.
Food Bazaar, 238 E161st St.
Food Universe, 3470 Third Ave.
Food Bazaar, 445 East 163rd St.
New Era Foods, 345 St. Ann’s Ave.
ShopRite Associates, 1994 Bruckner Blvd.
SuperFresh, 459, East 149th St.
Western Beef, 1851-1859 Bruckner Blvd.
Western Beef, 2044 Webster Ave.
Western Beef, 3629 White Plains Road
Brooklyn
Bogopa BTM, 221-251 McKibbin St.
Moisha’s Kosher Discount Supermarket,
305-325 Avenue M
Food Bazaar, 17-59 Ridgewood Place
Food Bazaar, 417 Junius St.
Food Bazaar, 21 Manhattan Ave.
ShopRite Associates, 590 Gateway Drive
Union Market, 1535 Bedford Ave.
Lincoln Market, 33 Lincoln Road
Met Fresh, 410 Tompkins Ave.
Associated Marketplace, 605 Hart St.
Hatzlacha Supermarket, 744 Bedford Ave.
Western Beef Retail, 814 Jamaica Ave.
Manhattan
Ideal Food Basket, 1635 Lexington Ave.
FoodTown, 2211 Third Ave.
Ctown Supermarkets, 2395 Frederick
Douglass Blvd.
Key Food, 2630 Frederick Douglass Blvd.
Queens
Food Bazaar, 34-20 Junction Blvd.
Food Bazaar, 42-02 Northern Blvd.
Brooklyn Harvest 26-01, 1st St.
Staten Island
Key Food, 300 Sand Lane
