Flatiron Market’s Lifestyle Director Positions Mid-Shopping Champagne as Amenity for the Everyday New Yorker
Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
The Grocery Store Has Evolved Beyond Its Original Premise
NEW YORK — A grocery store in Manhattan’s Flatiron District has installed a champagne bar adjacent to its cheese counter, offering fourteen selections by the glass beginning at $28. The store’s lifestyle director — a position that did not exist in grocery retail in 2018 and now exists because someone needs to be in charge of the curated provisions section, the artisanal cheese cave, the natural wine station, and the champagne bar — describes it as “an accessible luxury for the everyday New Yorker who deserves a moment of pleasure amid the demands of urban life.” The everyday New Yorker in the Flatiron District shops at a store where a container of pre-made grain bowl costs $18 and an organic rotisserie chicken runs $38. The champagne bar is continuous with this experience.
The Cheese Counter Positioning
The champagne bar’s placement adjacent to the cheese counter reflects both commercial and sensory logic: champagne pairs well with cheese, the cheese counter attracts customers already predisposed to premium dairy spending, and the proximity of a wine glass to an affineur’s selection creates an environment in which $28 feels continuous with $24 for a wedge of Comt, which is how purchasing decisions are made in environments designed by people who understand that decision-making is contextual. The lifestyle director knows exactly what she is doing. The lifestyle director also should not, in any structural sense, exist as a job title in a grocery store. Both things are true. The champagne is cold.
Who Is the Everyday New Yorker
The everyday New Yorker for whom $28 champagne is “accessible” is implicitly defined by everything else in the store: $11 organic crackers (twelve pieces), $14 cold-pressed juice, $22 prepared salmon, $38 chicken. This is not the everyday New Yorker at the city’s median household income. Per City and State, median household income in New York City runs approximately $70,000 per year. At $70,000, after taxes and after median rent of $3,500-plus, the champagne-at-the-grocery-store calculus is approximately: no. The everyday New Yorker at $70,000 passes the champagne bar. The everyday New Yorker at $70,000 knows what it is. They’ve been in the store. They’ve seen it. They think something they don’t say out loud, grab the grain bowl, and head to checkout. The grain bowl is excellent. This is not a critique of the grain bowl.
The Natural Wine Bar, Three Aisles Away
Adjacent to the supplement section, three aisles from the champagne bar, the store also operates a natural wine station offering orange wine, pet-nat, and skin-contact whites at $22 per glass. The lifestyle director describes the positioning near the supplement section as “intuitive” on the grounds that “someone considering spending $60 on adaptogens is already in a mindset receptive to complexity and intentional consumption.” This is marketing language for: people who spend a lot on things that might not do what the label implies are also good candidates for wine that tastes interesting and unusual. The natural wine bar has a regular who arrives at 4 p.m. on Thursdays, orders the same pet-nat, sits near the olive bar, reads something on his phone, finishes after forty minutes, tips generously, and leaves. He has been doing this for four months. The staff knows his order. They do not know his name. He knows all of theirs. He is, by every measure, living correctly.
The Economist’s View
From a strictly economic perspective, the champagne bar is a rational investment in a competitive premium grocery market. Experiential features differentiate stores in a sector where product differentiation is difficult. Hospitality items carry margins far above grocery staples. Dwell time increases basket size. The NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has no specific position on champagne bars in grocery stores. The market has spoken. The market’s answer was: yes, champagne, $28, adjacent to the cheese, “accessible.” The market is correct that someone is buying it. The market’s definition of accessible is the market’s definition. It is not everyone’s definition. It does not need to be. The store is private. The wine is expensive. The Comt is excellent.
Mother’s Day at the Champagne Bar
Today is Mother’s Day. The champagne bar is at capacity by 11 a.m. Several people have brought their mothers to the grocery store, which is a New York innovation: converting every venue into a destination so that even the act of shopping becomes an occasion. The mothers are having champagne next to the cheese counter. Some are delighted. Some are slightly confused about why they are in a grocery store on Mother’s Day, because in the places they grew up, grocery stores did not have champagne bars, because in the places they grew up, grocery stores were for groceries. Their children live in New York now. Their children pay what New York costs. The champagne is cold. The Comt is good. The brunch reservation was full. The grocery store was available. The lifestyle director considers this a success. Happy Mother’s Day, Manhattan. The grain bowls are in the prepared foods section. The champagne is twenty-eight dollars. Both are exactly what they are.
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SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/