NYC Supermarkets Hit with Thousands in Fines

These supermarkets are more like little shops of horror. The city handed out nearly $400,000 in fines to grocery stores around the city last year for a slew of consumer violations, including overcharging, faulty scales and failing to properly mark merchandise.

Responding to a Freedom of Information filing by The Post, the Department of Consumer Affairs released a list of the 25 offenders that racked up the highest fines in the 2010 fiscal year — including the wildly popular Whole Foods at Columbus Circle and the Fairway in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

In a statistic more frightening than a cleanup in aisle 9, 370 of 650 stores visited by inspectors received at least one summons in last year’s sweep, authorities said.

While it’s not clear if the markets are deliberately cheating their customers or are simply careless when it comes to following regulations, Consumer Affairs Commissioner Jonathan Mintz said the problem is widespread and is not being taken seriously.

“I do know that the industry is not taking the incredibly low compliance rate seriously,” he said. “Whether they’re enjoying the rewards or simply have a high tolerance for error, you’d have to ask them.”

Topping the list of bad apples was a Pioneer market in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn that was hammered with more than $11,000 in summonses after just two visits by city inspectors.

Officials said the store received five violations, some for multiple infractions of overcharging, improper labeling of store-packed products and for not placing price stickers on all its products.

“They do that a lot — charge full price when it should be on sale,” said Fort Greene resident Barbara Taylor, 71.

“When I come back, they yell at me. They treat me like dirt. I’m on a fixed income so I have to come back and complain.”

Store manager Alfredo Lagunas conceded that items on sale had been scanned for regular prices in the past.

“Sometimes there was a problem with computers on sales,” he said. “Like if you bought Vitaminwater five-for-$5, some flavors wouldn’t ring up as a sale.”

Gripes were similar at the Trade Wise market on Truxton Street in Brownsville, which ranked third on the list with more than $9,000 in violations, including overcharging and mislabeling.

“I rarely buy anything here because it’s all expired,” said shopper Jessica Rodriguez. “I’ve seen expired cereal and things like that.” Store workers declined comment.

Seventeen of the top 25 stores cited from July 2009 to June 2010 were in Brooklyn. Not one was in Queens, even though nearly as many stores were inspected in that borough, 255, as in Brooklyn, 298.

Branches of the two of the city’s most highly regarded food shops — Whole Foods at Columbus Circle and the Fairway in Red Hook — were among the top 25 violators.

Fairway earned more than $3,100 in fines for overcharging and item pricing, but at least one customer wasn’t too concerned.

“I’ve been overcharged two or three times,” said Rebecca Newton, 35, a librarian. “It always happens with produce. But it’s still my favorite supermarket. And once I forgot to pay for beer that was under my cart. So, sometimes the consumer wins, sometimes the merchant.”

One gripe heard over and over at the Whole Foods, which was hit with more than $2,900 in fines, was that there’s no scale at the buffet.

“You’re not sure how much you’re going to pay — the problem is you don’t know how much the food weighs,” said Joseph Lorenzi, 19, a college student.

On that front, however, Whole Foods is not guilty. While scales have to be placed within 30 feet of pre-packaged foods, there’s no requirement that they be mounted near buffet counters, said Consumer Affairs spokeswoman Kay Sarlin.

Michael Sinatra, public-relations manager for Whole Foods in the northeast, said all stores regularly conduct in-house testing to ensure pricing accuracy.

“As customer satisfaction is of utmost importance to us, it is our policy to fully refund any items that customers find to have been rung up incorrectly,” he said.

Pat Brodhagen, a spokesman for the Food Industry Alliance, which represents major supermarkets, insisted there’s nothing sinister going on. “When you have the customer counts we have, the volume of business we have and human beings behind the counter, there will be mistakes,” she said.

As an example of an unintentional error, she explained that a customer at a deli counter might be overcharged if a clerk mistakenly used heavy paper on a scale programmed to subtract the weight of lighter paper.

Brodhagen had a different interpretation of the numbers than Mintz, arguing that only a handful of markets received fines that should raise red flags.

She charged that inspectors are combing the code books and “are looking for anything. You can get to $1,000 [in fines] pretty easily.”

But Mintz said: “Any way you cut it, it’s bad news.”

The price is NOT right

The city’s Department of Consumer Affairs inspected 650 grocery stores and found that hundreds did not display prices, overcharged and used faulty scales, among other violations. These 25 stores were hit with the highest total fines last year:

370 Supermarkets cited for violations

$380,000 Total fines

1. Pioneer, 325 Lafayette Ave., Fort Greene, Brooklyn, $11,460
2. Associated Supermarket, 1380 Pennsylvania Ave., East New York, Brooklyn, $9,220
3. Trade Wise Supermarket, 33 Truxton St., Brownsville, Brooklyn, $9,015
4. Trade Wise Supermarket, 455 Sutter Ave., Brownsville, Brooklyn, $8,405
5. Stop & Shop, 2754 Hylan Blvd., Oakwood, Staten Island, $7,170
6. The Kosher Garden, 1507 Coney Island Ave., Midwood, Brooklyn, $6,408
7. Pathmark, 17 12th St., Gowanus, Brooklyn, $4,850
8. Key Food, 592 Lenox Ave., Harlem, $4,450
9. Key Food, 3485 Neptune Ave., Coney Island, Brooklyn, $4,425
10. Key Food, 169-175 Atlantic Ave., Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, $4,200
11. Food Town Super Market, 382 McDonald Ave., Kensington, Brooklyn, $4,175
12. Foodtown, 1420 Fulton St., Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, $3,850
13. Associated Supermarket, 1291 Broadway, Bushwick, Brooklyn, $3,798
14. Pathmark, 2136 Bartow Ave., Co-op City, Bronx, $3,750
15. Food City, 7414 3rd Ave., Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, $3,725
16. Pathmark, 2875 Richmond Ave., Heartland Village, Staten Island, $3,350
17. Pioneer Supermarket, 256 St. Ann’s Avenue, Mott Haven, Bronx, $3,325
18. C-Town, 7907 13th Ave., Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, $3,300
19. Fairway Supermarket, 480 Van Brunt St., Red Hook, Brooklyn, $3,120
20. Food Bazaar, 21 Manhattan Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn, $3,095
21. Pathmark, 3785 Nostrand Ave., Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, $3,060
22. Morton Williams, 2465 Jerome Ave., University Heights, Bronx, $3,000
23. Whole Foods, 10 Columbus Circle, Midtown, $2,975
24. Waldbaum’s, 6400 Amboy Road, Pleasant Plains, Staten Island, $2,960
25. Golden Mango, 1871 Rockaway Parkway, Canarsie, Brooklyn, $2,860