New West Side Grocery Delivery Spot Met With Skepticism

CHELSEA, NY — A first-of-its-kind grocery delivery center recently opened in Chelsea by the company DoorDash faced skeptical questions from a neighborhood community board this week, as members raised issues about worker treatment and impact on local streets.

The so-called "DashMart" opened in December at 152 West 25th St., a ground-floor storefront between Sixth and Seventh avenues. Many similar delivery warehouses have popped up around the city in recent months, sparking fears that they will eliminate street commerce and put traditional corner shops out of business.

DoorDash's entry into that crowded field was notable, since the company already operates a widely-used food delivery service. The DashMart promises deliveries within 10 to 15 minutes, sending couriers on e-bikes to drop off food within a roughly one-mile radius of the storefront.

On Wednesday, a DoorDash representative visited Community Board 4 to discuss the facility, which has already been joined by two more DashMarts since it opened a month ago.

Offering more than 2,000 products, the facility sells local products like Roberta's frozen pizza and pasta sauces from Carbone in addition to basic staples, representative Toney Anaya told the board. Anticipating some criticisms, Anaya said that DoorDash has begun working with bodegas to pilot their own 15-minute delivery service to be staffed by DoorDash workers.

He also stressed that the Chelsea DashMart is not a so-called "dark store," inaccessible to the public — instead, it offers in-store pickup and is "pretty well-lit," he said.

Still, board members expressed concerns about the effect that an influx of bicycle delivery workers would have on neighborhood streets — and the millions of venture capital dollars that are fueling the 15-minute delivery boom.

"We are going to risk safety at the pedestrian and street level, and not only that, we’re going to go into a shark-feeding frenzy of venture capital-funded competing businesses vying for dominance in the same space," member Dale Corvino said.

Neighbors also worried whether DoorDash's tipping model encourages workers to make quicker deliveries — and ride recklessly in the process. Others asked whether a bathroom would be available for delivery workers: a major point of contention as the city's "deliveristas" have fought for better labor protections.

"Frankly, I don’t like this business model and neither do the deliveristas," said neighbor Melodie Bryant, a member of the traffic-safety group Families for Safe Streets. "To ask someone to risk their life to deliver an apple is deeply unfair and exploitative."

Anaya, from DoorDash, said that a restroom was indeed available for workers to use, adding that DoorDash does not impose penalties for late deliveries as some of its competitors do. The DashMart is staffed by full-time employees making $15 per hour, he said, rather than by independent contractors who perform most DoorDash deliveries elsewhere.

Neighbors appeared somewhat swayed by the presentation; one member, Christine Berthet, said she felt "much better" about the business afterward. Still, the board voted to send letters to the company and to local officials, laying out concerns about the proliferation of delivery centers.

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