#western beef

[iamdangerace]

Mala Vista - Western Beef from kafadan kontak

I'm pescatarian, but I do occasionally have some cowboy punk.

[notesonnewyork]

Now and Then New York: 401-403 West 14th Street

Now: 2013

Then: 1985

Previously, photographer Brian Rose gave us a "before and after" glimpse of his old neighborhood in the fascinating 2012 book Time and Space on the Lower East Side: 1980 + 2010. Now, thanks to some help from kickstarter.com, he'll be back this summer with a comparative look at another part of the city in Metamorphosis Meatpacking District: 1985 + 2013. A total boon for a follower like me, he released some forthcoming shots that included the ones above.

You're standing at 401-403 West 14th Street or, more generally, on the northwest corner of 9th Avenue and 14th Street looking west. You might know this address today as that of the Apple store. You can also see the High Line in the upper left hand corner of both angles. 

Rose took the top photo in 2013, but it's already out-of-date. Today you'll find the space that once held Moschino sadly vacant and waiting for The Kooples to fill its void this summer. He captured the bottom image back in 1985 when a discount grocery/meat wholesale business called Western Beef was there. Still based in College Point, Queens with over a dozen locations across the city today, its outpost in the Meatpacking District lasted from 1985 to 2005. Before Western Beef's occupancy, a variety of meat and produce purveyors had used both the space and the rest of the building since its construction in 1923.

But when the building's owner sold the property to Taconic Investment Partners for $37 million in 2005, Western Beef was forced to relocate. After completing a gut renovation of the entire 65,000 square foot structure, Taconic rented the lower, ground, second, and third floors to Apple in April 2007. It even put a 9,000 square foot penthouse with three terraces on top. Earlier this year, the New York Post noted that the former meat market building is now valued at a stupefying $186 million.

[ribosnaps]

[dietforanambivalentamerica]

One American Pint Glass = 470mL (part seven): May 29th.

[dietforanambivalentamerica]

One American Pint Glass = 470mL (part four): May 26th.

[dietforanambivalentamerica]

One American Pint Glass = 470mL (part three): May 25th.

[dietforanambivalentamerica]

König Pilsener Beer Price Comparison: Park Slope Food Coop vs. Western Beef®

Following my adventures in price gauging at the register, I began to wonder how expensive (or possibly cheaper) certain items were at the local Western Beef® as compared to the Park Slope Food Coop.

The item that most piqued my interest was a cheap beer I’d recently been buying from both stores: the König Pilsener beer 4-pack.  The price at Western Beef®, prior to my “white entitlement” hissy fit, was originally $5.49 for the 4-pack.  Following the price check incident, Western Beef® simply raised the shelf label price to $5.99 to match the register (this, I believe, is often what happens there: the price goes up system wide and the store management is simply so horrid that they don’t change shelf labels—that is until I come through and whine about them).

In the weeks prior to this price change, it was cheaper to buy the beer from Western Beef® than from the Coop, which charges $1.41 per can or $5.64 for four (the Coop has a great policy where they sell virtually all their beer as single items, so if you want, for instance, two bottles of Brooklyn Lager, three cans of Sixpoint Sweet Action, and one each of whatever Abita beers they have on the shelf, just drop into your cart).  This seems about right to me, as the Coop is much cheaper for most items than virtually all other grocery stores I’ve frequented—except for beer.  My theory, and I should just ask this of them, is that there is virtually no way to get the price of beer down below what a large grocery store can sell it for and, thus, beer costs more or less the same, whether you are at the Coop, a small neighborhood grocery, or the local bodega.  I ought to research this theory and see if I’m close to the truth.

As for König, the Coop is now just a bit cheaper than the giant grocery store, so maybe I’m way off.

[dietforanambivalentamerica]

Register Ripoff

Today February 23rd, 2011, I used what my friend Hsieh refers to as my "white entitlement card."  It was a pretty small ordeal but represents one of my biggest peeves about shopping--especially in grocery stores serving impoverished communities.  I typically keep a running tally in my head of the cost of the items I am purchasing and,  at checkout at the Western Beef® today on February 23rd, 2011, I caught the register overcharging me on two items: 50¢ for the Alpine Lace® Reduced Fat Swiss Cheese ($3.99 instead of the clearly marked $3.49) and another 50¢ for the König Pilsener 4-pack (displayed as $5.49 on the shelf but priced at $5.99 at the register). 

I have two policies when this happens: 1. If I discover it after I leave, I keep a running tally of the stores' overcharges and eventually steal something of equal or greater value at a later date** or 2. I make a stink about it and get some poor schlub to go check the prices.  Today, I did the latter, though Western Beef® has been running quite a deficit in register overcharges this year.  The quality and consistency of their registers, much like their customer service, their shopping environment, and their "food," is horrendous.

**When I used to shop at the Whole Foods® in Union Square once a month or so, I'd keep a running tally of what the store around the corner had "stolen" from me via the register (often anywhere from 50¢ to a dollar a week) and steal that amount in nice cheeses from ol' Whole Paycheck.  Now I just don't shop there at all because CEO John Mackey is a fucking asshole.