Heaven on earth? Fifth Avenue on Broadway

BY ALEXIS SWERDLOFF

Gourmet Heaven sells 23 different kinds of olive oils, ranging from basil-flavored to virgin to extravirgin. The store also sells 14 varieties of hummus, such as (but not limited to) hummus with cracked chili peppers, hummus with chives, and hummus with dill. But Gourmet Heaven only sells three kinds of Snackwell's and four kinds of Pringles. Gourmet Heaven doesn't sell any Tostitos.

The much-anticipated food store meant to replace Krauszer's, Gourmet Heaven opened this week on Broadway and has received excellent reviews from many. According to a Yale Daily News editorial, Gourmet Heaven is "University Property's biggest retail bull's eye since its comprehensive plan for the strip was released more than two years ago." But when Krauszer's doors close, will Gourmet Heaven be able to provide what many students really want? According to Shibani Mukerji, MC '01, "College students need somewhere we can go late at night when we're hungry to get cheap snack food."

REBECCA ROSENTHAL/YH

Mukerji and others may be out of luck. At Krauszer's, where the prices are already relatively steep, one Dannon yogurt costs $0.99. However, at Gourmet Heaven, the same yogurt costs $1.50. A box of Froot Loops costs $3.79 at Krauszer's, compared to $5.79 at Gourmet Heaven. And a bag of pretzels at Gourmet Heaven is a dollar more than the same bag will run you at Krauszer's.

While Gourmet Heaven's prices may seem ridiculous, Andrea Pizziconi, PC '01, a student recruiter who works for University Properties and helped bring Gourmet Heaven to New Haven, said, "Right now, we're still working with the prices. We really need to give Gourmet Heaven a few weeks to settle in."

John Maturo, TC '76, director of University Properties, seated next to Pizziconi at Starbuck's, echoed her sentiment. "Gourmet Heaven is a small family business—we need to treat them with a little more patience. It's a work in progress."

The store's lease with Yale actually includes a provision that forbids charging more than the regional norm. And Maturo told the Herald that "Gourmet Heaven's lease limits its prices to being `at or below' the levels of Krauszer's" [YH 2/2/01].

So far, Gourmet Heaven isn't keeping its promise. But, he said, "We promise that the prices will soon be competitive." And Maturo and Pizziconi, both nodding their heads furiously, said in unison, "The prices will certainly go down."

Keith Jung, the owner of Gourmet Heaven, also said that the prices will change. "We need some time to experiment with prices. We are listening to the students. They won't have to worry about high prices. I won't take advantage of the students. These are not the final prices; they won't be higher than Krauszer's."

But the comments of Gourmet Heaven Manager Jae Kim may indicate otherwise. "Our general grocery prices are okay," Kim said. "I only carry a couple convenience items. Unlike a supermarket, I only order a box (12 units) of each cereal every other month. Supermarkets get it for half the price because they order it in bulk. I can't compete with that. Our gourmet products are the most expensive because they are imported. And our salad bar products are of the best quality. We only use Perdue chicken."

But it remains to be seen whether the prices will actually change, despite the promises of Jung, Pizziconi, and Maturo. How will a non-supermarket like Gourmet Heaven, which specializes in goods such as imported Italian sausage, organic potato chips, and dried ginger, be able to offer inexpensive convenience items?

"I am not a supermarket," Kim said. "Some things will be costly, but there's a reason for that." And the reason may be that Gourmet Heaven is a store that Pizziconi discovered while walking along the streets of Manhattan. It is located on Second Avenue between 73rd and 74th streets, the heart of the Upper East Side. And, of course, that is a store not geared towards college students but towards Manhattan's wealthiest.

"A lot of our products have to be brought up from New York City. As a result, we get charged extra. And there's nothing that we can do about it," Kim said. "But I know where the kids are coming from. I was once a student, and I know how they feel. We'll be having sales for the students and we're planning on having promotions every week. For example, for a week I'll sell them cereal at wholesale prices."

REBECCA ROSENTHAL/YH

"Rather than make more money, I want to help the students," Jung said. "It's not about the money. It's about making the students happy. This is not going to be another Krauszer's. I'm honored to be serving the future presidents of the United States. I'll do anything to help them out." And, he joked, "maybe I'll be invited to the White House."

While no one can deny that the wood paneling is majestic, that the salad bar is drool-inducing, and the fresh fruit is tantalizing, at the same time. There will be no 24-hour store where students can purchase cheap convenience items where Krauszer's closes. "What we need is another Store 24," Mukerji said, in reference to the business that was located on Broadway but relocated in 1999 to York Street near the Medical School.

Kim, when asked whether he thinks that Gourmet Heaven will last, was not completely sure. "I don't know if this will work out or not. Business is okay. Compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars that were involved, we're not doing great. But Yale did ask us to come here."

So, is Gourmet Heaven what Yale needs? Answers to this question vary. Venkat Lakshminarayanan, TC '04, thinks not. "Our cravings, far from the `gourmet' fancies of the bourgeoisie chattering class, do not demand a variety of imported oils, exotic spices, or high-society glutens," he said. "Both Krauszer's and Gourmet Heaven are unjustifiably expensive, but at least Krauszer's commits its high-handed price gouging without high-class pretensions."

But others disagreed. "I like the ambience a lot—and that's what you're paying for," Laura Periscope, TC '04, said.

Pizziconi feels this Gourmet Heaven is just what Yale—and New Haven—has been craving. With a huge smile on her face, she said, "Gourmet Heaven doesn't only cater towards Yale students; it's also for the young professionals of New Haven. In addition, Broadway merchants love it. Gourmet Heaven is able to capture a really broad market." Maturo added, "I see construction workers in here every day. Personally, I love it, because the food is healthy."

Others, such as Eric Eagan, TD '04, are indifferent. "I haven't ever purchased anything from Gourmet Heaven," he said. "It's almost more of a campus spectacle than anything else. Everyone seems to be galvanized behind it, but I am not on the bandwagon. I mean, come on, it's just a grocery store." Anna Arkin-Gallagher contributed to this article.

Index

1. Amount more, in cents, that Spam costs at

Gourmet Heaven than at Krauszer's: 10

2. Amount more that a box of Froot Loops costs at

Gourmet Heaven than at Krauszer's: 1.90

3. Number of Krauser's workers who gave me dirty

looks while I "comparison" shopped: 4

4. Number of workers at Krauszer's: 4

5. Number of times a certain Krauszer's worker

asked what I was doing: 3

6. Number of times I said, "Just wondering": 3

7. Number of times I can ever go back to Gourmet

Heaven or Krauszer's without a face mask: 0

—Compiled by Alexis Swerdloff

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