Yesterday afternoon my email was filled with the news. The emails were coming every 15 minutes. Some were from people I knew, but most were from Bed-Stuy residents I’ve never met in person. I’m certain that you’ve heard it by now: As of today, March 26th, Fresh Direct has expanded their delivery zone to include more sections of Bed-Stuy. They still aren’t serving all of Bed-Stuy–Alexa 11221 told me that she’s still not in the delivery zone–but my section of the north Stuy has now been deemed worthy of FD deliveries.
I couldn’t believe the news when I received it yesterday. I logged into the Fresh Direct website to confirm, and my address popped up in the delivery zone. I called Fresh Direct to confirm, and the woman on the other end of the line said yes, you are now in the zone.
And now the moral dilemma begins. Should I order from Fresh Direct?
Can you list the bed-stuy zip codes that are covered by FD? They still won’t go east of Classon in 11216.
I know that 11206 is now included. Someone from Atlantic and Bedford (is that 11216?) confirmed that he’s in the zone.
i checked yesterday and they still don’t deliver to 11216. yeah, that makes sense. NOT.
Oh, the moral dilemma. I honestly think that we as a community need to demand more of the current (large and small) grocery stores we already have. Of course, not all will comply, but I’ve started to see big and small changes (appearance to the selection of food) from smaller grocery stores throughout the neighborhood. And it’s a pretty big deal that investments are being made for us to spend our money locally. And 2-3 larger grocery stores in prime (northern) locations couldn’t hurt either.
So, I say we should seek, demand and honor the stores that are willing to meet our expectations, and for the items that they cannot, use Fresh Direct. But, go easy. Think of Fresh Direct like a dessert.
They are still not delivering to 11216 (that’s east of Franklin to Marcus Garvey) and 11233 (Not sure the borders, but includes most of Stuyvesant Heights).
The full list of zip codes (in no particular order, as far as I can tell) is here.
i’m actually quite happy with the food town at restoration plaza and can get all other necessities (butcher cuts, seafood, specialty items) elsewhere. provisions and l’epicerie in fort greene are lovely and a good excuse for a nice walk. the way i see it is this: the longer FD waits to deliver to my area the quicker i am rendering their services obsolete.
really though, i think it’s lame that they don’t deliver to 11216 simply on principle but i probably wouldn’t use their services anyway at this point.
i’d love to see a specialty market open in our area, though.
and has anybody noticed the new cafe that looks like it’s going to open soon on nostrand b/w macon and halsey? i think it’s called aida’s cafe de java?
While I appreciate Fresh Direct delivering to Bed-Stuy, there are other options to fresh produce and still be able to support our communities. I plan on joining the Bed Stuy CSA for a fraction of the cost for my produce. Has anyone tried it before? Check out the website
http://www.bedstuycsa.wetpaint.com
I called after receiving the e-mail notification delivery will start in my neighborhood — the woman on the other end stated the 11216 deliveries will begin as early as next week – I live by Concord Baptist Church. Yes, I enjoy shopping at Foodtown, therefore I am not sure if FreshDirect will see any of my business. Happy Food Shopping!
I’m in the 11233 zipcode and am still not on the FreshDirect route. I went to Hibiscus Day Spa (558 Halsey at Stuyvesant Ave) and discovered that the small market beside the spa was owned by the same person – Hollis. It’s a specialty market, but the offerings are somewhat slim right now. I’m sure she’d stock more if she believed there was a demand. Right now she has mostly vegan/organic dried and canned goods – because of their shelf life. Thought I’d note this as it is a “specialty market” that could use some business.
Nope still not coming to 11221 but Restoration Plaza Foodtown delivers so we are SCRAIT
I will drive to Fairway for an outing when I need certain things…
LOL @ Brooklynisis–you’re set! I hope that everyone in the neighborhood has food delivery options, whether it is FD or Foodtown.
@star 9: That’s the Jamal and Prince Market, right? I visited them some months ago soon after they opened. I thought that they would be doing some serious business in that area. Hopefully people will drop by and let them know what products they’d like for them to stock.
@Bed-Stuy Shopper: Don’t think that FD will replace our wonderful CSA!
I’m going to join the CSA again this year, and I’ve encouraged everyone I know to join, but the CSA doesn’t run year round and if you eat veggies/fruit that they aren’t offering, you’d have to get them from some other source. Finally, FD can be our other source.
I sent an email to The Changeling and then realized there was a post about this already, so here is my email:
I just wanted to let you know that Fresh Direct now serves zip code 11216, but only on Wednesdays from 6:30am to 2pm. I called FD to see what was up- I had actually thought momentarily that so many people in the neighborhood were signing up for FD that all of the time slots had already been filled up! But, sadly, no. The receptionist at FD told me that because we are a new area they are expanding to, they are only offering the 8 hour time slot to “test out” the area to see how many customers order from them.
Not only to they dangle the FD service in front of us for over a year, delivering to condo buildings in the midst of broken down buildings (for example, on Spencer St. in zip code 11205, FD delivers to the huge condo building and not to the addresses surrounding it), but through graciously expanding their services, Fresh Direct is barely throwing us a bone here and is exploiting the neighborhood by not offering the full extent of their services.
I asked if this “testing out” policy is applied to all new neighborhoods that FD expands to, and the FD rep told me “no.”
I was also promised an announcement email from FD when they would expand to 11216, and never received an email. I actually had to just log in to see if my zip code was on the list of zips they deliver. Lucky me, 11216 was magically there. No announcement, no coupons, nothing.
The rep had even defensively reported that FD had made the decision to expand to 11216 because of the many, many people in the neighborhood sending in email requests for FD to come to the area. So, if so many people showed interest in the FD service, why the limited delivery times?
Basically, this is an outrage, and I sent a very long email to FD describing each way they are being discriminatory against low income neighborhoods. I’m editing the email and will send it out to the Brooklyn Rail and other community minded pubs.
Please take into consideration that just because Fresh Direct is seemingly providing their services to our neighborhood, they are not offering an equal opportunity for lower income households to take advantage of the benefits of Fresh Direct. I am now boycotting Fresh Direct, and hope others in the neighborhood will too, in favor of researching other possibilities for obtaining fresh food. There is the Bed Stuy CSA, the green market in Fort Greene, and perhaps even other opportunities available that I don’t know about. I would love to know if there is a Bed-Stuy food coop or if there are plans or interest in starting one. It is time to really take an interest in the health of our community, and I’m prepared to educate myself as much as possible.
exactly how is one to judge the amount of people who will take them up on their services with only an 8-hour window?
marketing geniuses, clearly.
I live in 11221 and have been receiving Fresh Direct since last February.
Personally, I like them, I’m busy (lazy) and LOVE having my groceries delivered. I even ordered their Thanksgiving meal last year because I was too busy (lazy) to cook.
I live across the st. from the aforementioned condos on Spencer st. in bed-stuy (yes…it is bed-stuy) and I’m appalled to read that FD doesn’t deliver to the “surrounding buildings.” I see the FD truck all the time and was like, “Hey, we can order from FD now!” IF they ever do deliver to bed-stuy, I won’t be supporting them…thankyou VERY much.
Classie83- I wonder if you live in my old building (206 Spencer).. it was always incredible to me that the people living in the condo building (many own cars!!) were able to order from FD and we weren’t.
Artsylady – Back in the day, when i lived in manhattan, i was in a “new neighborhood” and freshdirect absolutely started out small and then scaled up over time. So, i doubt the receptionist (or customer service agents) really have a good handle on our their plan for our little old Bed stuy…and i don’t think its terrible that they start small and expand. People have been complaining forever that they aren’t in the neighborhood and now they are finally starting to cover it. Lets see what happens before we condemn everything.
Fresh Direct is now offering deliveries on Thursdays as well as Wednesdays (or, at least, they’re offering deliveries on Wednesday and Thursday of next week).