By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
EAST HARLEM — Hot on the heels of the groundbreaking for Fairway's Upper East Side store, a new high-end supermarket is coming to East Harlem.
Goris Grocers has signed a lease for the entire ground floor of 1660 Madison Ave., which is part of the Schomburg Plaza development The Heritage.
The supermarket, between 110th and 111th Streets, is scheduled to open in 2011 as the flagship store of a new chain, after Goris lost the lease for a space they originally planned to open in downtown Brooklyn.
Goris Grocers, who own the Compare Foods brand of supermarkets, owns several stores around New York State, Crains New York Business reported.
"They're planning a new, modern supermarket — with prepared food, a sushi corner and better produce," said Jonathan Gordon, of Admiral Real Estate Services, who brokered the deal.
"They saw that the area was in flux, and that there were already other supermarkets in the area, but they weren't the newer kind with better produce," he added.
Nicole, 21, who lives in the Heritage building and declined to give her last name, said the ground floor was originally home to the lower-end Pioneer supermarket.
"They had old food, old everything," she said. "I never shopped there."
Nicole said her mom does most of the family shopping at big-box retailers like BJ's Wholesale Club and Costco, and even drives out to New Jersey for the Walmart there.
Cheaper fresh produce closer to home would be welcome, she said.
"Sure, I'll go there if I can get fruit," Nicole said. "But if it's expensive, I can just go apple picking," she added.
The new supermarket will join other notable openings in the area, including a Starbucks branch on 96th Street and Madison Avenue, and the East River Plaza.
The building is also a block away from the planned home of the Museum for African Art, which will open in the Fall of 2011 at Fifth Avenue and 110th Street.
