Key Food Back in Coney Island

Key Food Stores Co-operative Inc., a chain of independently owned and operated grocery stores, is reopening its store in the famous Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood of Coney Island on Friday, June 21 at 2 p.m. The store, located at 505 Neptune Avenue, had been closed since Hurricane Sandy barreled into the area, causing extensive damage.

In attendance at the reopening are Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, as well as Key Food executives including CEO Dean Janeway, COO George Knobloch, VP of Strategic Planning Chet Koby, and VP of Business Development Gino Palummo.

“Almost seven months has passed since Superstorm Sandy, and we are still on the road to recovery,” noted Palummo. “The people of Coney Island were hit hard and have greatly missed this store.”

During the time that the store was closed, the owners worked to rebuild and make improvements. The location’s layout was redesigned to allow for expanded dairy, meat, deli and produce departments providing a greater variety of products. Additionally, all refrigerators and freezers are now more energy-efficient.

“The residents of Coney Island are incredibly strong,” said store owner Jeff Linsenbaum. “We have been working side by side as the neighborhood rebuilds. The community has missed us and we have missed them. Our customers mean the world to us. We have been working very hard to return to the community and wanted to ensure we returned better than before.”

Staten Island, N.Y.-based Key Food consists of more than 135 independently owned and operated grocery stores. In addition to Key Food, these stores operate under the Key Food Marketplace, Key Fresh & Natural, Food Dynasty, Food World, Holiday Farms, Locust Valley and Milford Farms banners in all five boroughs, Long Island, upstate New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.