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No Longer a Market Like No Other, Fairway Fades
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/nyregion/no-longer-a-market-like-no-other-fairway-fades.html?_r=0This past week, in a move that was long expected, if no less mourned among those who nervously keep record of the disappearing New York of Woody Allen and Nora Ephron, Fairway’s parent company, Fairway Group Holdings, filed for bankruptcy. This shouldn’t necessarily occasion a eulogy; the grocery chain will continue its operations as it restructures and reduces its debt load. At the same time, it is hard to feel optimistic about the future of the endearingly chaotic, unpolished New York retail style that Fairway has embodied.
As business reporters have duly noted, Fairway’s difficulties have stemmed in large part from the greed of private-equity investment, which has fueled an aggressive and miscalculated expansion. Despite its image of urbanity, Fairway now includes among its 15 locations a branch set a few paces from a Sears in a mall in Rockland County. A few years ago, another outpost opened in Chelsea, one block from a Whole Foods that had been in operation for more than a decade. Simultaneously, of course, came the guerrilla incursions from FreshDirect and Blue Apron and the countless other three-steps-to-vegetarian-cassoulet meal-delivery services that the Internet economy has facilitated.
As business reporters have duly noted, Fairway’s difficulties have stemmed in large part from the greed of private-equity investment, which has fueled an aggressive and miscalculated expansion. Despite its image of urbanity, Fairway now includes among its 15 locations a branch set a few paces from a Sears in a mall in Rockland County. A few years ago, another outpost opened in Chelsea, one block from a Whole Foods that had been in operation for more than a decade. Simultaneously, of course, came the guerrilla incursions from FreshDirect and Blue Apron and the countless other three-steps-to-vegetarian-cassoulet meal-delivery services that the Internet economy has facilitated.