Amish Markets Spread As Owners Plan 13 More Stores
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The city will soon be awash in Amish Markets if a plan by the grocery chain’s three owners comes to fruition.
The Amish Fine Foods company has seen strong growth over the last three years and is aiming to open 13 more stores in the metropolitan region within three to four years, bringing the number of locations to 30, a co-owner, Sean Eren, said yesterday.
The latest addition will be a 20,000-square-foot market at the East Coast building in the Long Island City section of Queens.
“Thank God, we are doing well,” Mr. Eren, who is from Turkey, said. “We plan to expand throughout the region.”
Only six of the chain’s stores are called Amish Market, but Amish Fine Foods also owns several other higher end grocery stores, including Zeytuna and Zeytinia, that will soon be renamed to include the Amish Market moniker. Mr. Eren, who said he wants people to be able to connect with the brand on a wider level, said the company took in about $10 million in sales last year.
Like Mr. Eren, the other two owners are from Turkey. The chain’s name comes from the original store, Amish Farmers Market, which bought all of its produce from Amish farms in Pennsylvania, Mr. Eren said. Eventually the store, which was founded in 1991, expanded and began offering different products, but the name stuck. The stores still carry many products from Amish sellers in Lancaster, Pa., Mr. Eren said.
The growth of Amish Fine Foods comes at a time when traditional supermarkets like Gristedes are losing market share to big name chains such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.
“The lower-end grocery stores are old, even unappealing,” an executive vice president at Robert K. Futterman & Associates, David Rosenberg, said. “Meanwhile, the consumer expectation level is greater and broader from the scope of products. These specialty and higher end stores have a fresh look, a fresh appeal.”
And with rents rising for commercial property and competition intense not only from stores like Amish Market but also Rite Aid and Duane Reade, the traditional grocery store is being pushed out, Mr. Rosenberg said.
Another co-owner of Amish Fine Foods, David Selek, said the company is paying more attention to marketing and appearance to stay competitive.
“We are presenting the merchandise in a different way, focusing on our Mediterranean background,” he said. “I think the customers’ standards are getting higher.”
The company also has expanded into New Jersey and upstate New York, though the owners say they want to expand more into the boroughs outside Manhattan. No store has yet opened in Brooklyn, but the company is actively looking for opportunities.
The chain also is trying to build up customers by offering products that cater to smaller niches within the city. For example, all the stores will soon have a gluten- and wheat-free aisle.
“A lot of people are allergic,” Mr. Eren said. “Those people add up.”