Update on Foodtown! A Good Thing

Well, we're really surprised and honestly, very pleased. We received two things on Weds. evening... one a phone call from longtime Kensington resident and 25 year Albemarle Neighborhood Assoc. president, Larry J., and the other an email from an owner at our local Foodtown. First off, Larry heard about the Foodtown post and wanted to let us know that he shops at Foodtown 3 times a week and has never had an issue. He also gave us the extensive history of Foodtown in the neighborhood and their support of the community. Lastly, he explained a major renovation Foodtown had been planning to make until the current MTA construction got them off track. The email from the Foodtown owner was an invitation to call and discuss the issues with the store. We tried to call but probably because it was after hours only got to leave a message. He later responded with an email and we plan on getting in touch with him tomorrow. His email also extended an invitation to meet him so we're aware of what the plan is for the store and address concerns we have.

It became very apparent to us after our conversation with Larry that Foodtown is a supporter of the community and would like to see residents happy. Personally we like having a big store in the neighborhood and would love to see improvements and renovations done at this location. Since representatives from Foodtown are obviously listening to our concerns we think it is very important we voice clear constructive suggestions. Although at the time of this post we didn't get to speak with the Foodtown owner we did receive another very extensive email from him where he mentioned going through the entire store to verify the freshness of all products on the shelves. He also detailed their continued work with many people in the community supporting local functions and organizations. Here is another bit from his email "we hire associates from the neighborhoods that we operate in and teach them entrepreneurship and the importance of customer service. Many of our associates go on to higher positions in the company and to other companies as well". (From his email we also found out Foodtown's are independently operated and this is one of two stores they own).

Here is your chance tell them what you'd like! Okay, we'll start with some of our suggestions....
1. expired merchandise to be promptly removed from the shelves
2. more registers open at key times (like after 5pm when many people exit the train and run to Foodtown for the evenings groceries)
3. a cleaner Foodtown
4. more availability of organic merchandise especially baby food
5. more soy products like Morningstar, Ives etc. (in fairness they use to carry many more of these items so maybe they didn't sell and had to be discontinued)
6. some outside beautification - a mural on the wall that overlooks PS230 and cleaner front sidewalks
Now it's your turn, post in the comments section. We'll be logging in a call to the owner late afternoon on Thurs.