By Amy Zimmer
DNAinfo.com News Editor
UPPER EAST SIDE — The late broadcaster Alistair Cooke would buy his Chesterfield cigarettes at Lane Farms Market, and like many customers, the famed "Letter from America" journalist would make his purchases at the Upper East Side shop on "house credit."
The practice of letting customers pay at the end of the month started well before Von Kahil’s father bought the Madison Avenue store 35 years ago. Kahil, who started as a delivery boy in 1980 and then took over the shop in 2001, has kept the credit tradition. But now he’s struggling to keep his store.
Like many mom-and-pops, Lane Farms and its old-fashioned ways are being threatened by rising rents. Kahil has been negotiating with his landlord, Mount Sinai Medical Center, since his lease expired last December and the hospital wanted to more than double its rent. Residents have rallied around the store, led by the Carnegie Hill Neighbors group, which had collected scores of letters in support of the market.
"We’re the only ones around here who provide free delivery, and the delivery boys even put food in seniors’ cabinets for them. They trust them to do that," Kahil said. "They even help install air conditioners for people. These are intangibles."
Kahil said the store, located at 1391 Madison Ave., also cashes senior citizens’ Social Security checks and provides a "safe haven" for students from nearby schools, who use the store's phone during emergencies.
"It’s a nice neighborhood grocery store, owned by people I know, run by people I know. It’s been here for donkey’s years," said Gerard Allen, 68, an architect who has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years. "We’ve lost a butcher, a green grocer, a fish market and a good hardware store, all replaced by chain stores in the last five years or so as north of 96th has gotten gentrified."
Kahil doesn’t know when the shop originally opened, but has a photo of it, then called, the Atlantic & Pacific Market, from 1955. He and the residents around him are worried about encroaching chain stores. On Lane Farms’ block between East 96th and 97th streets there are two banks, a Subway, Dunkin’ Donuts, Verizon store and Famiglia Pizza.
Lo van der Valk, a board member of the Carnegie Hill Neighbors, feared a vacant store in this tough economy would bring a McDonalds or other chain.
"There are so many small stores leaving. We haven’t been able to do anything about it," he said. But this case was different because many residents, especially the elderly, would be losing something important, van der Valk said. "It’s more than a store. ... We felt what would come in its place would not be suitable and not servicing the neighborhood."
Kahil was touched by the outpouring of support.
"You come in here and everyone knows everyone’s name, like in 'Cheers,'" he said. "In Subway or Dunkin’ Donuts no one knows anyone. People like to be called Mr. or Mrs."
Kahil said he would like to invest in his store by replacing floors, lighting and refrigeration, but is hesitant to do so as negotiations continue. Though Mount Sinai has agreed to lower its asking rent — instead of a 100 percent increase, it’s asking for nearly 70 percent more — Kahil remains concerned about some of the proposals’ clauses regarding what would happen to his store if the building is sold or demolished.
Mount Sinai, however, was more optimistic.
"We believe we have reached agreement and expect an executed lease shortly," a spokeswoman said. "Lane Farms has provided an important community service to the residents of East Harlem and the Upper East side."
