The New York Times reports on the devastating flooding from Hurricane Sandy of Red Hook’s Fairway Market—a favorite of many Brooklyn Heights’ shoppers—and its impact on so many other smaller shops in the neighborhood. The 52,000sf waterfront grocery at the base of Van Brunt took on 5 feet of water and is closed indefinitely. The Times says: “Fairway was a destination after it opened in a striking, sprawling, brick-and-wrought-iron Civil War-era building six and a half years ago.”

Fairway Market suffered ruined floors and ovens, display cases tipped and shattered, a $50,000 coffee roaster is trashed, wooden cash registers were scattered everywhere… There’s also potential structural damage. Cheeses, breads, vegetables & canned goods blanketed the puddled floor. Workers threw out everything, filling 70 dumpsters.

UPDATE: More in The Brooklyn Paper, including photos, here.

Meanwhile, neighboring Italian wine shop Botta di Vino, which opened two and a half years ago, is also seeing the effects of the store closing. Co-owner Triciann Botta says, “It is the lifeblood of this neighborhood. I’m a wine seller. Food goes with wine. When we lost Fairway, we lost a big part of our customer base.” Others impacted: cafe & bar Fort Defiance, wine shop Dry Dock, gift shop Foxy & Winston, and restaurants Home/Made and the Good Fork (which took on 2 feet of water in its dining room).

Read more in the Times here. (Photo: Brooklyn Paper)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/51729