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An Upper West Side grocery store that has kept the neighborhood stocked with produce, obscure cheeses and late-night snacks for more than four decades is officially checking out.
Barzini’s, the independent market on Broadway between West 90th and 91st Streets, will permanently close on August 31, an employee confirmed to West Side Rag on Monday. The store has operated at the location since 1983, making this the end of a 43-year run.
The reason for the closure remains unclear. When the Rag asked an unnamed employee why Barzini’s was shutting down, he replied, “I don’t know, sir.” Manager Parviz Abde declined to comment.
Still, the news won’t come as a complete surprise to anyone who has walked past the store lately. “Every Thing Must Go!” signs appeared in its windows at the beginning of August, advertising 30 percent off groceries, though beer, beverages, produce, dairy and ice cream were initially excluded.
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At the time, two employees insisted Barzini’s wasn’t going anywhere, telling West Side Rag that the store simply had “too much inventory.” One employee also said the discounts were intended in part to help shoppers prepare for the Jewish holidays in September.
But the liquidation sale soon got even more liquidation-y: the discount increased to 40 percent, while the list of exclusions disappeared. Several neighborhood residents also told the publication that the owner or employees had confirmed the store’s impending closure. “Barzini’s is closing August 31,” customer Michael Bernard wrote after speaking with the owner.
For much of its life, Barzini’s stayed open 24 hours a day, seven days a week—an "only-in-New-York convenience" that made it equally useful for sensible grocery runs and emergency midnight noshing. The single-location store built its reputation on an unusually broad selection that included more than 200 international cheeses, fresh produce, baked goods, prepared foods, meats, fish, specialty treats and roughly 200 beers.
“We opened Barzini’s in 1983 to offer this neighborhood a wider selection of foods: an eclectic range of gourmet items and glorious produce,” reads a description of the store attributed to its founders, brothers Parviz and Massoud Abde. “My brother Parviz and I saw the need for more food choices around 91st Street, so we started up our business on the Upper West Side.”
Barzini’s final day will be Monday, August 31. Consider this your last call for cheese, chocolate and one more stroll through a true Upper West Side original.