Jackson Heights Life

Agree with Chingwa. We're not lamenting that there is a newly expanded grocery store. We are lamenting that it replaced something unique and very valuable to the neighborhood, whereas there already are multiple grocery stores that all offer the same products. It's the same complaint that is made about the many chain pharmacies that are everywhere, offering the same products. I haven't seen the new lighting yet but it sounds dreadful.

hard agree.

add to this litany of meh places  multiple identical cellphone stores, banks, and nail salons.

It is very unfortunate that a popular business that offered quality products in a welcoming environment has been transformed into a mess of a "supermarket" with bags on onions and other produce now lining our streets.  This is an important "gateway" corner that visitors and residents alike pass on their way to public transportation. Now we have the opportunity to gaze upon its outdoor produce displays and glaring lights.  I know that councilmember Dromm is aware of this situation since his community office is just down the block.  The property owner and merchant need to maintain some semblance of standards.  That is not asking too much.  And please remember to vote with your dollars.  Patronize local businesses that respect our community.

How exactly does the fact that the supermarket is busy with a certain clientele relate to the eyesore it has become, which posters are describing here? Is the suggestion that for a certain clientele the appearance of the store is fine, and we who are not that clientele (ie, according to the post, residents of the historic district) have no right to complain? How do you know that the store is only patronized by non-residents of the historic district? How do you know that the patrons of the store are not also bothered by its appearance?

Interestingly, Farine's attracted a very wide swath of neighborhood people, with customers of all ethnic backgrounds, dressed in all sorts of garb, lining up and filling its tables. The owner created special halal and holiday menus, I believe. Which was so great, and seemed so unusual for a place like that. I think it's a false contrast to portray it as a gentrification issue, where Farine's was the gentrifier, and now the supermarket is giving the spot back to its rightful owner, the immigrant community. I think a lot of immigrants were in fact patronizing Farine's, and I'm sure there are non-immigrants who shop at the supermarket.

Thank you LJR, well said and my sentiments precisely.  And I believe many residents - whether they have been here for six months or sixty years - and from anywhere on this earth - would hope for higher standards in ALL the shops that derive business in our community.  There are really no excuses. 

When I first moved to JH from the fancy gentrified part of Brooklyn, I also thought that the stores needed to improve their design etc.

But now, I have learned to appreciate that the immigrant aesthetic IS the aesthetic of Jackson Heights. It sets us apart. And with time, I have begun to appreciate this chaotic, colorful and often weird but original immigrant aesthetic.

The piles of onions are fun. The loud, clashing colors striking. And the strange unknown (to me) produce has become fascinating.

Go figure.

PS In my opinion, concerning aesthetics, Jackson Heights is closest to the Chinatowns in Manhattan/Brooklyn/Queens

(Only, of course, Latino/Desi and not Asian)...