After 34 Years, Carroll Gardens' Good Food Closing

After three decades of offering prepared foods, produce and meats to Carroll Gardens residents, Good Food supermarket is closing.

In a phone call early Wednesday morning, co-owner Mike Sale told Patch that the store has been made an offer by Investors Bank and that April 30 will be its last day of operation.

"It's been 34 years of business," he said, voice shaking. "But we're ok."

A rare find, offering affordable produce and a full butcher's counter, Good Food was taken over by brothers Mike and his brother Allegrino Sale after a Key Food in the area that Al operated for many years closed down. Previously the store was run by the Bruno brothers.

The store thrived, selling all of the staples local Italian families relied upon: fresh steaks, vegetables, pasta, mozzarella and prosciutto di Parma, among other items.

Then, in 2008, Gourmet Fresh opened up two doors down from Good Food—a newer, larger, shinier option—illustrating the slow shift in local businesses from old school mom-and-pops to modern upstarts and hip chains. 

At the time, Sale was quoted in The New York Times as being concerned that the new competitor might eclipse his own profits.

“My thing is, he put it right next to me,” said Mr. Sale, who was born in Italy and has the sort of watery, expressive eyes that would make him look uneasy in the best of times. He has been so concerned over the matter that he only recently broke the news to his wife, who said out loud what he had been wondering privately: “How are we going to compete?”

By 2011, in a profile by Carroll Gardens Patch, Allegrino Sale—who hails from the tiny fishing village of Mola di Bari and is a member of the Van Westerhout Cittadini Molesi Social Club—was singing a different tune: "No, no, no—Gourmet Fresh is good for business," he said. "They have pre-packed meat. We have fresh meat. When people realize this, they come to us.”

But unfortunately not enough people did.

Late Tuesday night, local resident Ryan Paonessa tweeted to Patch that his girlfriend, Morgan Noel, came home in tears after learning from store employees that they will be closing their doors.

"It's very sad for the neighborhood," Noel chimed in online.

The store will be sorely missed by many others. Be sure to stop by before the end of the month.