I've gotta say, groceries in NYC seem uniquely awful. We stayed with friends in Greenpoint for a week and it was grim. The supermarket that was around was dire, the bodegas were fine, but really expensive for not great quality or range, and then you could walk half an hour to Whole Foods in Willamsburg, which was eye-wateringly expensive and rammed.
Compare this to where I live in a London, which is a similar PT distance to central London as Greenpoint. We do all our shopping at a brilliant greengrocer just the round the corner, there's specialty delis and such in walking distance. There's also a number of Sainsbury's and Tesco locals. Then, about 25 min walk away, there's two major supermarkets (a Waitrose and a Morrisons). I guess people in NY don't cook?
Amazon Fresh does really well in NYC, has been a positive experience except that their baked goods are frequently sold out. Wal-mart wants you to go out to one of their stores to pick things up - great strategy in a city where nobody drives. Target’s master strategy wavers between being out of everything and not telling you they can’t deliver something until you try to check out. So I’ve mostly used peapod to purchase items from Aldi - that has been the most reliable way to get groceries delivered.
> I've gotta say, groceries in NYC seem uniquely awful. We stayed with friends in Greenpoint for a week and it was grim.
What you experienced are the fruits of gentrification in NYC. Greenpoint is an overpriced neighborhood which used to be a Polish enclave (still is to a degree but on life support from what I see). People down there shopped at local ethnic markets, many of which are gone due to gentrification which drove real estate prices through the roof.
Young people and/or "up&coming" neighborhoods in NYC in small apartments (ie - Greenpoint, Bushwick, E Village, etc).
Go to UWS/UES/Greenwich Village and you will find very nice, very expensive, very overcrowded groceries.
Compare this to where I live in a London, which is a similar PT distance to central London as Greenpoint. We do all our shopping at a brilliant greengrocer just the round the corner, there's specialty delis and such in walking distance. There's also a number of Sainsbury's and Tesco locals. Then, about 25 min walk away, there's two major supermarkets (a Waitrose and a Morrisons). I guess people in NY don't cook?