Upper East Side Dean & Deluca Closes

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Upscale grocery chain Dean & Deluca closed its Upper East Side location on Madison Avenue this month.

The store shut its doors on June 30, two days after a notice was filed with the State Department of Labor, according to state records. The reason for the closure was listed as a loss of the business' lease, according to the records.

A Dean & Deluca awning remains at the business, but the inside has been emptied out and the lights remain off. Rental listings for the newly-vacant space have not hit the internet yet.

Sixty-one employees worked at the Madison Avenue and East 85th Street grocery store. It's unclear whether those workers were assigned to other Dean & Deluca stores. The grocery chain has locations on West 56th Street and Eighth Avenue in Midtown, Ninth Avenue in Greenwich Village and its flagship location in SoHo.

Shoppers in the area still have plenty of options for groceries including the Third Avenue Whole Foods and East 86th Street Fairway. Other stores like Morton Williams, D'Agostino and Gristedes are also located in the area, so the loss of Dean & Deluca may not hit the neighborhood too hard.

In a 2018 poll conducted by Patch, readers named Dean & Deluca the worst "pricey" grocery store chain in New York City.