The Food Emporium — Local services in New York

The star is only here so i can send this post.

Today 3/19/2017 @ 3pm I was assaulted and harrassed for sitting quietly in a corner of their food court closest to the door. I was awaiting the beginning of my shift which was set to start within the next 20min ACROSS THE STREET ( literally i was in suit and tie as a GSA for a hotel).

There is NO SIGNAGE stating non-paying customers cannot await a paying customer (my fiance was on her way to buy lunch at the time).

I was approached by a WHITE MALE, who did not identify himself, told me to get out. When i asked who he was he told me i didnt need to know. It was obvious this was a racial profiling issue and i refused to move unless he identified himself.

He walked away bringing back a Mexican immigrant with him. Neither men identified themselves again and they proceed to embarrass me about leaving. I explained i was waiting for someone because our shift hadnt started yet and they continued to patronize me as if i was doing something wrong.

As the conversation insued, another tall old(atleast 60) black gentleman stood up and approached me as if to physically throw me out. Again i refused i was not doing anything wrong.

As my back was turned and still seated, the Mexican pulled my chair back, attempting to drag me out of the establishment chair and all. After about 30 secs of me pleading to stop treating me like a criminal i done nothing wrong, I fell off the chair and now im writing this post in a wheelchair at Mount Sinai hospital awaiting x-rays.

I am a college graduate, single father of two beautiful daughters, and upstanding citizen with no prior criminal record. I did not deserve to be treated as i was!

I will continue to post on every social media outlet, yelp, uber-eats wheresoever this establishment publicates to have them investigated and prosecuted. I urge any minority who passes this place to continue walking. Racists should not be allowed to continue to do active business in NYC we should ban together to make sure they dont!! Thank you all...

Dear Sir/Madam,

I recently had the opportunity to visit your store on the evening of 29th August 2024. Let me start by commending the establishment on its aesthetically pleasing ambiance, extensive product range, and reasonably fair pricing. It was a promising beginning to what should have been a pleasant shopping experience.

However, the positives were unfortunately overshadowed by a rather distressing encounter with your store manager. Upon inquiring where I might find the restroom facilities, I was abruptly directed to "somewhere in the corner" by your voluminous store manager, whose manner was far from accommodating. When I politely asked for further clarification, I was curtly instructed to go "right," with no additional guidance provided. After some time, I eventually located the restroom door, only to discover that it required a code for access—something I had not been informed of.

Attempting to resolve this, I sought assistance from another employee, only to be referred back to the same store manager. Rather than addressing the situation, she chose to ignore my request and instead focused on stocking the ice cream shelves, which in itself might not have been an issue, had she not also placed her open beverage inside the refrigerator—something I found quite unhygienic.

Persisting in my efforts, I approached the cashier for assistance, who, to my dismay, directed me back to the very same manager. At this point, the store manager's demeanor became even more unpleasant, culminating in a sharp retort that I should leave the store and find a restaurant if I was in need of restroom facilities.

Such a level of unprofessionalism is not what I would expect from an establishment of your caliber. I hope you will take the necessary steps to address...

For over three years now, the 49th & 8th location just cannot be bothered to regularly stock staple groceries like coffee cream! For over three years, they are consistently running out of the same (frozen section) Rich's coffee cream that is the only item if it's kind that is 100% non-dairy and kosher. The people who handle the frozen groceries are amazingly lucky to have jobs because they could not care less about pleasing customers and doing their job by making sure shelves are stocked at all let alone within a timely manner. I return three times before they finally even bother to order more cream. It's insane. They just keep saying: "Oh, yeah, we forgot. Come back Monday." Then: "Oh, we forgot to order that again, come back after Labor Day." Then another employee says: "I remember you! You were here last week, too, right? We still don't have it?" No damage control, no customer service skills, whatsoever. One "employee" just suggested I buy soymilk instead. Two different people have written down the request in prior attempts to get this item stocked and every time I return, it's like the first time. I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. I have even given them my phone number to contact me when it actually arrives but, of course, I never hear a word. It's the frozen foods department. They're terrible at their "job." I was so upset after leaving empty-handed AGAIN last week that I said I would call corporate and one of the employees in a different department actually told me "good for you, you should" like she was frustrated with how things were run there, too. I have not had this problem at any other location other than 49th...