Tribeca's Best Market Shutters Due To Lease Woes, Competitors

TRIBECA, NY — Tribeca's Best Market has shuttered after nearly three years in the neighborhood.

The outpost of the family-owned grocery chain closed its doors on Oct. 30. The market initially struggled to land a long-term lease for the 316 Greenwich Street location in Independence Plaza, and after the "economics didn't make sense" to remain in Lower Manhattan, management decided to close up shop, said an owner with Best Market.

"[The landlord] was able to give us temporary extensions of a year, six months but it didn't make sense for us to run a store temporarily," Or Raitses, co-owner of the 28-store chain, told Patch.

"The crux of the matter is it didn’t make sense for us to operate temporarily and we hadn’t had the store make sense financially. It just wasn’t working out."

The closure comes less than a month after news broke that the plaza's landlord, Vornado Realty Trust and Stellar Management, decided not to renew P.S. 150's lease at the property — sending the city's Department of Education scrambling to find an alternative for the next school year.

Raitses emphasized that there is no ill will harbored toward Vornado and Stellar for the supermarket's closure. In fact, the owners recently "seemed more amiable" to negotiating a long-term lease for the store, but it just no longer made sense for Best Market to remain in the saturated Lower Manhattan market, said Raises.

"Real estate is a tough game in Manhattan and grocery retail in Manhattan is just getting tougher and tougher," he said.

"Everybody is selling groceries these days from dollar stores to farmers markets. There are just so many people taking bites out of the apple, no pun intended."

Independence Plaza's owners were sorry to see Best Market go and said they are searching for a new tenant, a spokesman for the landlord said.

"Vornado and Stellar Management are disappointed Best Market has declined ownership’s offer to extend their lease at Independence Plaza," said a spokeswoman.

"Stellar and Vornado are actively pursuing tenants for the space that will be a benefit to the residents and the surrounding community."

The grocery chain originally took over the Tribeca space from Food Emporium in a bankruptcy auction.

Best Market began with fruit and vegetable stores in Brooklyn in 1994 and gradually added other selections including deli meats, sushi and catering services. The company has since flourished to nearly 30 locations in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, and moved its base of operations to Long Island.

The supermarket aims to open two new locations in Long Island, and has no plans to shutter its other Manhattan outpost in Harlem, but the Tribeca Whole Food's "very powerful presence" combined with the opening of a nearby Target was the nail in the coffin for the Tribeca outpost, said Raitses.

"For the health of the rest of the portfolio, it made sense to close," he said. "We’re just as heartbroken as our customers that it didn’t work out."

Photo courtesy of Best Market