I do think this is indicative of a larger rat problem on the UWS or in the city as a whole. I have seen so may just on my block alone after dark. I have no problem with stores having cats to combat this issue. I rarely shop at Firway, but this being the second time you have posted on this, it will be a while until I shop there.

This is awful. Unfortunately Super Market health inspections are under the department of agriculture not the health department. The public ratings system is a good thing. If you are curious to see how upper west side restaurants are doing, check out this page. http://www.nychealthratings.com/nycrestapp/browse/1/Upper%20West%20Side Its my site. I’ve been adding more of a neighborhood focus to the site. Future improvements include improving the aggregate statistics per restaurant, neighborhood and borough over time as well as an iphone app. There are lots of other tools there to help you dine out.

Cheers,

Aaron

This is absolutely absurd. My family has been shopping at Fairway for 20 years 5x per week, and we have now completely switched to Trader Joe’s and Citarella. Yes, the UWS and city as a whole battles these problems, and we know they are not only in Fairway, but this series of events is unbelievable.

First the video footage of a huge rat running across the aisles was here on My Upper West, and many people (myself included) contacted Fairway about this. Customer service/PR seems to be severely lacking there. At the very least, wouldn’t they try to be friendly and professional? The message we got back said that the rat was “unconscionable” and blamed it on the construction three blocks north and subway station two blocks south (and was full of typos). This is then followed by last night’s rat in the olive bar and yet MORE unprofessional communication! The fact that NO ONE AT FAIRWAY SEEMS TO CARE enough to write a coherent, substantive response is just sad.

I am sadden& discussted to see vermin on the open olives.The olives is the main reason i go to fairway.They are fresh&100% better than the stuff in jars that are from a assembly line.I was at the same fairway sat & purchased the garlic stuffed olives’it looks like the same olives the mouse was on that i purchased.I’m taking them back to get my money & won’t purchase any more until this issue is resolved.from I’m sick to my stomach now.

I shop at Fairway and continued to do so after the last video. This one is more disturbing. I agree that most stores in NYC are probably similarly afflicted, but Fairway’s nonchalance is unacceptable. I suppose it would take the NY Times or a local TV station to make the management pay attention.

I think cats in stores would be an excellent idea. Some folks (like myself) are allergic to cats but unless one comes in contact with one that should not be a problem. And I’d rather have a cat staring at me at Fairway than a rat!

The rats running around on the floor were gross and gave me pause, but ultimately I tried to make my peace with it as best as I could. Rats (or mice or whatever that was) in the food? This is something I cannot chalk up to “You like in a city, it’s dirty, get over it.” Honestly, I’m kind of shocked by some of the posts from the previous video telling people to suck it up and get over it or move to the suburbs. Yes, I think everyone understands that cities have rodent problems. Here’s some news – so does everywhere else in the world. Saying, “Well, it’s New York, get over it,” is just the height of ignorance and stupidity. You can accept that rats and mice will always be around; you don’t have to accept that they will be swimming in your olives.

To your questions, I wasn’t sure that the first video was indicative of a bigger problem, but this video changes my mind. I’ve seen lots of questionable stuff at Fairway, but (like most folks) I realize no store like that can be perfectly clean and free of dirty old ladies sticking their hands into the food bins. Still, if mice or rats are actually hanging out in the food bins, there is clearly a bigger cleanliness issue going on than the occasional man-handled bagel.

I think it would be great if stores could keep cats around to deter rodents, but that’s not really a solution since cats can carry their own nasty diseases. It would also be great if the City did a better job inspecting, but, in a competitive market like this, I think that the desire to attract and keep customers is going to be more effective than bureaucratic oversight. That said, from the response I received today when I returned the olives I purchased on Monday, Fairway doesn’t seem too concerned about their potential customers. Maybe they’ve just been around so long that they have gotten fat and lazy when it comes to keeping their customers satisfied, but I hope they wake up soon.

Before all of this happened, I would have unequivocally said that I really liked Fairway. It’s crowded and crazy, but that’s New York. They have a good product selection, decent prices, and it’s incredibly convenient for me. After all of this? I’m seriously considering not shopping there again until I see real evidence of a change, as inconvenient and expensive as that choice may be. I just can’t get the image of a mouse dancing across my olives out of my head.

Why don’t you go to the Whole Foods?? I thing the price is the same. I’m very desapoint as well!

Wow!!!

Fairway sent me this response when I wrote them to ask what they were doing about the problem:

“We believe the incident was caused by the massive construction that is happening throughout the immediate vicinity of the store, and which has been well documented in the press. Indeed, we have done an exhaustive top to bottom review of our store and determined that the problem is definitely an external one. Moreover, we are firmly committed to having the highest standards in the industry for cleanliness and sanitation. We want to assure you that we are taking comprehensive measures and sparing no expense to fully remedy the situation.”

So they say it’s an “external” problem. I think that once a rat walks through the front door it becomes an internal Fairway problem. I’d like to know what these “comprehensive measures” are — and finger-pointing at the nearby construction site isn’t a solution.

I couldn’t care less whether this rat came from underneath Fairway, across the street, or another borough. All I care about is that when it arrived at Fairway, it started dancing in my olives.