Attention all Pelham Parkway South butchers, stockers, meat wrappers and cashiers. Attention shoppers. Met Foods will open a 5,000-square foot supermarket on White Plains Road very soon.
Located at 2080 White Plains Road, just north of Brady Avenue, the supermarket will feature porcelain floor tiles, chandelier fixtures, organic produce and a gourmet deli. Met Foods is a New Jersey-based chain boasting four Bronx franchises – one on White Plains Road in Williamsbridge and three in the south Bronx.
Met Foods franchisee Steve Zahrieh will distribute job applications next month. Zahrieh expects the supermarket to open in May.
“I’m going to need a lot of workers,” he said. “At least ten.”
Catch the Party, a party supplies store, left 2080 White Plains Road last fall. Zahrieh and his five brothers inked a new lease with property owner Laura Shahinian last December. The Zahrieh brothers, from Brooklyn, own a smallish Save Rite supermarket on Lydig Avenue, off White Plains Road.
“I thought Met Foods would be a good fit,” she said. “Right now, people venture down White Plains Road to Lydig. A gorgeous supermarket will bring them two blocks further.”
Larry Prospect, executive director of the White Plains Road BID, is pleased.
“We have enough drug stores and cell phone stores,” Prospect said. “We need the basics.”
Edith Blitzer, president of the Pelham Parkway South Neighborhood Association, is of the same mind. Currently, Pelham Parkway South has only one full-size supermarket – Key Foods on Lydig Avenue.
“I’m happy we’re getting a supermarket instead of another 99 cents store or nail salon,” Blitzer said. “People on that stretch of White Plains Road will have a new place to shop.”
Zahrieh is counting on customers from White Plains Road, Cruger Avenue, Holland Avenue and Bronx Park East.
“The neighborhood could certainly use another supermarket,” Wallace Avenue resident Anne Levinson said. “Key Foods gets very busy because it’s the only game in town.”
Levison lives a block from Key Foods; if Met Foods is cheaper, she’ll “make the walk.”
“I care about cleanliness and a pleasant environment,” Levinson said. “People who wait on you and speak English.”
The Zahrieh brothers are renovating the space to the tune of $1 million – new checkout kiosks, scanners and refrigerators. The supermarket will offer Carvel ice cream cakes and fresh bread delivered daily.
