FOOD BAZAAR — Attraction in New York

Very she she. I'll say this much the building is brand new and the design of the store is beautiful. The variety in the store is the best in Harlem for the prices offered that's for sure. Their cheese counter is impressive and so is their sea food section the fish is so fresh there that you can't smell it. They even have two locations to buy hot food in the store, one of them is a Korean fried chicken place. They have a disproportionately large number of security members on staff there which is hard to ignore particularly when there are more security people roaming the floors than there are customers, or staff as there was on the day I visited. All but one of them I noticed is of African descent. What I find very interesting about grocery stores in Harlem is that they almost exclusively are staffed by Dominicans with the exception of Foodtown on 145th Street, Associated on 142nd (they are managed by a Mexican man and have one other employee who isn't Dominican) and Whole Foods on 125th. Whole Foods noticeably hires people of all backgrounds, which I applaud. The only Staff in Food Bazaar that I noticed that weren't Dominican were the security staff and the gentleman who worked at the Korean fried chicken place. I'm not going to lie, it kind bothers me that grocery stores seem to have a hard time hiring people that reflect the cultural background of the neighborhood. This isn't the case in Chinatown, K-Town, the Heights or Williamsburg. I can understand having a solely Dominican staff in Inwood or Washington Heights but Central and Spanish Harlem are more ethnically diverse. So why does this matter? Some of the latent and cultural biases against people of darker hues are reflected in the 1 and 2 star ratings this grocery store is getting. When you hire people that have implicit biases against certain communities that's reflected in the way that they interact with customers. The comments to the Black women about using EBT because they're Black or telling a woman that she should wait for as long as someone that looks like her should have to wait. This is why who you're hiring matters. You all should be ashamed. I don't think I'll shop here again. I'm not paying another cent to support this type...

The food is fresh. There is a great selection of vegetables and fresh fruit to choose from. The staff was very helpful and friendly. I didn’t feel like I was being discriminated against. It was a pleasant atmosphere. I hope it stays that way.

I was happy until a few days ago April 7, 2024. Your employee that handles the basket harassed me at the elevator, instead of explaining to me that all customers had to check in their shopping carts and bags. That’s understandable. But he was very rude and aggressive. And tried to force me to check everything in my possession. I told him I needed the bags to later pack up the groceries. I didn’t feel that well this evening, so didn’t feel like walking all the way to the other side to retrieve my cart. He even lied to the security guard and had him follow me and my daughter around the store. I felt very uncomfortable. I felt like I wasn’t wanted there at the store. I did nothing wrong but purchase groceries for my family and myself. I never enter a store without paying for my items. I have the money to spend and have no reason to do anything wrong to jeopardize my freedom. I’m a hard worker woman that provides for my household and family. For once can I have a piece of mind without being harassed. This is ridiculous how the staff behaves. I asked a young lady for help she screamed at me for no reason. The store is great but the attitude of some of the staff members are horrible. Lack of respect, poor communicational skills and bias to some of the customers that enter the store.

It makes them feel like a target. If you are going to follow the customers around be willing to help them when they ask questions. Be kind, respectful and courteous. That’s good business skills to bring in customers when the atmosphere is pleasant and not hostile. This is inappropriate behavior. I’m planning on returning and I will check in my shopping cart next time. I hope to have a pleasant 15 minutes shopping for my household. Great job to the managers in charge of the supermarket. I look forward to continuing being a customer at your...

I had the most horrible experience ever and the lady who scanned my items her name was Lubna and she didn’t understand the difference between food stamps and paper cash. She put in that I gave her 18.45 in cash and I didn’t I was using my card for transactions so I don’t know how she got cash. Then the other checker that came up is Franchesca and she kept telling me that the lady made a mistake and I’m just over it so I asked for manager and this unprofessional ladies told me that they were the supervisor and I said I don’t care I want the manager then she proceeded to call over a guy who yet again is not a manager but she told me he was and when I asked him he said no so now I’m getting loud cause now y’all lying in my face and started talking about me in a different language and I wasn’t playing with these workers. Finally a manager come down and Ms. Franchesca has an attitude because I want a refund and said that they are unprofessional if you cannot understand the difference when someone say food stamps which starts with an F and not a C then you shouldn’t be on the register ringing up stuff you should be placing items on the shelf. I didn’t have to be rude but those two ladies took it out of me first you make a mistake cool then you lie in my face about who is the manager then you start speaking in different languages. Like let’s be for real does this not scream out unprofessional and from the start they flag me down in the juic isle before I finished shopping and gonna see if I need help finding Wic products but my baby was literally walking right next to me so it was clear enough that I shouldn’t have needed help, it seemed like they thought I was gonna steal and that’s not the case at all no one should feel targeted or watched while...