Dean & DeLuca is a New York institution, but reports indicate it’s on the brink of collapse. Photo: James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images I always made a beeline to the back-left corner of the store, past the espresso bar and the pastry counter full of glistening entremets and a multicolored galaxy of macarons, past the cheese counter and the charcuterie case and the terraced display of olives.
This little section was always, for me, the essence of Dean & DeLuca because it held the highest density of wow-factor stuff, an almost vulgar display of authority that let shoppers know they were in a Very Serious Store. This was stuff most people never bought on regular grocery runs, but it hammered home what Dean & DeLuca was all about.
I worked on the corporate side at Dean & DeLuca for almost three years, and I was not shocked when reports emerged last week that the company was closing numerous stores and owed its vendors hundreds of thousands of dollars. By all accounts the grocery chain, which has been owned by a Thai real-estate company named Pace Development, is struggling to survive at all, and even its flagship Soho location now features bare shelves, indifferent service, and an eerie sense of emptiness.
The store always featured a “food museum” vibe, but it also felt like an accessible indulgence. Walk into a caviar boutique on the Upper West Side and you might as well be shopping at Tiffany’s. But even though the stuff for sale at Dean & DeLuca seemed designed to appeal in equal parts to fans of Escoffier and American Psycho , all the standard grocery tropes were alive in a way that made customers feel welcome.
Madison Ave/84th store 🏬 is closed! 🥵
Noooooo I love Dean & DeLuca😩I can barely afford to go in there but I love it 🥰
Feels like a ghost town in there these days. Almost uncomfortable. It’s too bad.
Where’s Felicity going to work?
A pity!
No!!!!
Ugh first I hear about Barneys and now Dean & DeLuca, what a bummer
That’s what happens when you r overpriced 😏
😥
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