Michael W.
Yelp
Living in Manhattan means you're paying a higher price for everything. Sure we can go to Fresh Direct, Whole Foods, Food Emporium, etc and get our groceries, but it really isn't that cheap. At Whole Foods, you can easily spend $100 on 10 items, granted that the quality is amazing, but it just breaks my bank every week. So what do I do to help bring down my food costs? Go down to Chinatown and head to New York Mart to buy my fruit! You can literally get the same quality of fruit as Whole Foods for a third of the price.
For example, I bought white peaches at whole foods for $3.99 a pound, and at New York Mart, it's $1 each. Now that some huge savings there, considering each peach is about half a pound! When you go to Chinatown, you have to mentally prepare yourself. You'll get at least 10 different smells while walking down one block, and the ground is pretty nasty. Don't wear them white shoes unless you want them to be camo brown by the end of the day. Nonetheless, this is a no frills place. You're coming here for a purpose, and then will leave immediately.
New York Mart is one of the cleaner supermarkets in Chinatown. There is actually a place to enter, and things are on shelves. Granted, you're walking into a grimy spot and will have to fight with a bunch of people to get your food, but the food and price is what makes this place shine. Ever since, I've been coming down to Chinatown to find fruit and other groceries, I've only gone to New York Mart. This place actually takes credit card, so that all my cash won't disappear.
There have been times where I haven't gotten the best quality of food, but it's so damn cheap that it doesn't matter. There was an instance in which they were selling 2 pounds of cherries for $1. Now obviously half these cherries are pretty nasty already, but you can't knock the price. New York Mart is all about getting what you want, and getting the hell out of there. Snag your groceries, save a bunch of money, and you can use that money saved on more alcohol in the West Village. Problem solved.