'Food Desert' No More: Red Apple Supermarket Opens In Fort Greene

For the residents of Fort Greene Houses, it was all treats and no tricks this Halloween morning.

Red Apple Supermarket officially opened its doors with a ribbon cutting ceremony at The Andrea on Myrtle Avenue in Fort Greene.

District Leader Lincoln Restler, who attended today's unveiling, praised the new grocer as an example of what can be accomplished when the community teams up with the private sector.

"What we've got now is a supermarket that belongs to everyone," Restler said.

Today's opening capped years of waiting on the part of thousands of mostly low-income residents who saw their neighborhood Associated supermaket torn down in 2006 by developer and Gristedes owner John Castimatidis.

The years since have been marked by public debate over in securing the torn-down market's replacement, for local residents and Red Apple's .

On at least one front—lower prices—neighborhood activists vowed to keep up the fight.

In the coming weeks, volunteers from Families United for Racial and Economic Equality will be comparing prices for basic household goods at Red Apple with those sold at similar supermarkets.