New Harlem Grocery Delivery Centers Raise Boro Prez's Eyebrows

HARLEM, NY — In recent months, some Harlemites may have been puzzled to notice that a pair of neighborhood storefronts had been taken over by an oddly-named company that papered over the windows with banners promising "Groceries delivered in 10 minutes."

The company, Gorillas, has moved into the long-empty storefront at 2280 Frederick Douglass Blvd., near West 122nd Street, as well as the former Payless ShoeSource space at 149 East 125th St., near Lexington Avenue.

Customers, however, are not welcome into the stores. Instead, they serve as fulfillment centers, where the company packages orders that come in through its app and hands them off to delivery workers, who zip off on e-bikes into the neighborhood. Gorillas is just one of many such companies that have expanded aggressively into New York in recent months.

But one notable resident is skeptical: Gale Brewer, the Manhattan Borough President, who argues that the fulfillment centers harm neighborhoods — and may even be illegal.

"I am concerned that these services compete with existing supermarkets, bodegas and other food and beverage establishments, and occupy spaces that are now no longer available to the public," Brewer wrote in a letter last week to city and state authorities.

"They deaden our streetscapes, as windows are sometimes papered over and there is no ability to actually enter and shop, thereby reducing foot traffic, which ultimately impacts adjacent small businesses."

Moreover, Brewer argues, the grocery centers may violate the city's zoning code. The category they fall into, which covers wholesale and industrial land uses, is not permitted in the residential areas where they operate, Brewer said, naming Gorillas' two Harlem locations as examples.

The borough president asked city and state agencies to check whether the delivery centers complied with zoning, and suggested that they be more heavily regulated.

Gorillas, whose slogan boasts it is "Faster than you," has expanded thanks to a recent $950 million funding round — boosted, like many of its competitors, by venture capital funds.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Have a Harlem news tip? Email reporter Nick Garber at [email protected].