BY SCOTT STIFFLER | From the warm weather to the flowering plants to the sense of fresh possibilities, spring guarantees certain rites of renewal — but it took four of those seasons for Stile’s Farmers Market to sprout back up and reclaim its presence on a familiar patch of Hell’s Kitchen.
“I’m here to serve the community again,” said owner Steve Stile, as he wielded an oversized pair of scissors for the Sun., May 7 ribbon-cutting ceremony outside his new storefront at 476 Ninth Ave. (btw. W. 36th & 37th Sts.) — just a few blocks from where the family-owned business was displaced by development on the final day of 2013.
“We went to the old Stile’s almost every other day,” recalled Aleta LaFargue, who has lived in nearby Manhattan Plaza for almost 40 years. LaFargue, whose family moved into the federally subsidized building when she was just seven months old, currently serves as president of the Tenants’ Association, which advocates on behalf of nearly 3,500 residents in 1,689 units (W. 42nd to 43rd Sts., btw. Ninth & 10th Aves.; visit mptenants.com).
Shortly after Stile’s exited the neighborhood, over 600 Manhattan Plaza residents signed a petition urging Port Authority to “rent, at an affordable rate, the space at 551 Ninth Avenue” to the Stile family. Their effort was unsuccessful, but drew the attention and ongoing support of local elected officials as well as Community Board 4 — and, ultimately, a landlord who Stile told Chelsea Now, “heard I was looking for a store, and called me.”
At Sunday’s grand opening, LaFargue recalled that Stile’s 35-year presence on Ninth Ave. and W. 41st St. was something Manhattan Plaza tenants “never took for granted. It was fresh, affordable, and convenient. The people who work there have always been so lovely and it really lends to the vibe of the community. You don’t find that at a chain supermarket.”
There is, LaFargue noted, a large supermarket connected to her building. “But they’re overpriced.” So expensive, in fact, she said the Food Emporium had become known around the neighborhood as the “Food Extortium.”
“Some other company took them over recently,” LaFargue said, “and it’s improved a little bit, but I never buy my produce there. My whole argument has been that you can scream about affordable housing, and you get it — but the people who live there can’t afford to eat. You have to get on a bus to search out other markets. We do have a nice little fresh farm stand that comes during the spring and summer months, but they’re also very expensive.”
Since the 2013 closing of Stile’s on Ninth Ave., LaFargue said that she, like many others in the area, have done their shopping at Trader Joe’s W. 14th St. Union Square or Sixth Ave. and W. 21st St. stores. “It’s a schlep,” she deadpanned. “Of course, we did frequent the West 52nd Street Stile’s,” LaFargue noted, referring to the store between Eighth and Ninth Aves. that Stile told Chelsea Now has been there for three decades and is currently in the first year of a 10-year lease, adding that the Ninth Ave. Stile’s also has a 10-year lease.
Nowadays, Stile is back to shopping for two stores — but his routine remains as it has for decades. “Stuff comes from the Bronx Hunts Point Market,” he said. “I go there like, eight at night, and I stay until about 12. They put it on a truck and deliver it in the morning. So we get it fresh every day. They’re closed on Saturdays, so for that, I have another purveyor.”
Fair resale prices on wholesale product from that routine schlep to the Bronx is what drew Leslie Johnson, a 51-year Hell’s Kitchen resident, back to the Ninth Ave. store. “It’s one of the best things in this neighborhood,” she said. “Stile’s has the best produce and the best prices.”
The hand-written signs lining the store’s two long aisles back her up. Among the $1 per pound items were baby peeled carrots, yellow squash, and green bell peppers. For $1.50, one could walk out of the store with a pound of leeks, kale, bok choy, ginger root, or chayote squash.
“I like this. It’s reasonable,” said Elliott-Chelsea Houses residents Miriam James — referring not just to the prices, but the distance from her home. “I can walk here. It’s better than the big stores where you pay more.” Darlene Waters, who joined James in the walk from Elliott-Chelsea, agreed, noting that her shopping cart makes the difference when setting out for the return portion of their 20-block round trip.
Chelsea residents Larry Littman and Italo Medelius, members of a Hudson Guild Neighborhood Advisory Committee task force committed to helping Chelsea residents access affordable groceries, were also at the May 7 opening. Early conversations with Stile for a location closer to home, they said, were encouraging — a sentiment Stile confirmed. “I’m looking to go down to Chelsea,” he vowed. “As soon as this one starts to do well, we’re going to start looking. I’ll go wherever we can get a reasonable spot; 23rd Street, 24th Street, Eighth or Ninth Avenue.”
For the time being, Stile said, the Hell’s Kitchen customers of old “have been happy as a lark, so happy that we’re back. People want to pay the right price, and that’s what I’m here for.”
—Additional reporting by Tequila Minsky
