Balducci's Food Lover's Market is a mid-Atlantic specialty gourmet food retailer in the United States with eight

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

s, owned by

Albertsons Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho. With 2,253 stores as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and 270,000 employees as of fiscal year 2019, the company is the second-large ...

since 2020.

History

The Balducci family patriarch, Louis, an immigrant from

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

, Italy, began his family's career in the New York City food trade by selling fruits and vegetables from a pushcart in

Greenpoint, Brooklyn Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at Bushwick Inlet Park and McCarren Park; on the southeast by the Brooklyn� ...

between 1914 and 1925. The family returned to Italy in 1925, returned to the United States in 1939 and in 1946 Louis and his wife Maria opened a fruit stand at the corner of

Christopher Street Christopher Street is a street in the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the continuation of 9th Street west of Sixth Avenue. It is most notable for the Stonewall Inn, which is located on Christopher St ...

and

Greenwich Avenue Greenwich Avenue, formerly Greenwich Lane, is a southeast-northwest avenue located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It extends from the intersection of 6th Avenue and 8th Street at its southeast end to it ...

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. In 1972, they moved across

Sixth Avenue Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...

into a storefront at Sixth and West 9th St. From that site on Sixth Avenue, Balducci's is considered to have been the first grocer in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to sell premium quality foods with a

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesal ...

fishmonger A fishmonger (historically fishwife for female practitioners) is someone who sells raw fish and seafood. Fishmongers can be wholesalers or retailers and are trained at selecting and purchasing, handling, gutting, boning, filleting, displaying, me ...

delicatessen Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessen originated in Germany (original: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the m ...

and

greengrocer A greengrocer is a person who owns or operates a shop selling primarily fruit and vegetables. The term may also be used to refer to a shop selling primarily produce. It is used predominantly in the United Kingdom and Australia. In the United ...

all in the same store. It became a model for specialty markets all over the city. When the store moved to Sixth Avenue it was owned by two of Louis and Maria's children, Andy (and his wife Nina) and Grace (and her husband, Joe Doria). (A third child, Charles, was a physician; his son, Louis B., was active in managing the store.) News accounts describe disputes between the three siblings and their father Louis. In 1985 Grace and Joe left the company to start Grace's Marketplace on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

. Louis B. left in the late 1980s and became partner at Agata & Valentina, another specialty grocer on Upper East Side. With their daughters uninterested in taking over the store, Andy and Nina sold in 1999 for $26.5 million to Sutton Place Gourmet, a Maryland-based company. Sales for the combined company were more than $130 million per year. The flagship store in on Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village closed in January 2003 but a branch store, on West 66th Street, remained open. In November 2003, the company was purchased by an investment group led by

Bear Stearns Merchant Banking Irving Place Capital, formerly known as Bear Stearns Merchant Banking (BSMB), is an American private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in middle-market companies in the industrial, packaging, consumer and reta ...

. (Separate from the history of the store, but part of the family's history in food, Andy and Nina's daughter Ria's husband Kevin Murphy left Balducci's and started Baldor Specialty Foods, an East-Coast produce distributor. The name Baldor is said to be a combination of the names Balducci and Doria.)

Balducci's after 2005

The new

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

store on Eighth Avenue at 14th Street in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

opened in December 2005. Following its opening, Local 1500 of the

United Food and Commercial Workers Union The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufacturing; hosp ...

began protesting outside the store against the non-unionized status of employees. In April 2006 the company closed its two New York City locations, the new flagship at Eighth Avenue and 14th Street and the West 66th Street store. "Right now we are restructuring our company," said Jennifer Barton, Marketing Director with Balducci's LLC. "We had to close some of our under-performing stores." There are currently eight full-service retail stores in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, and New York ( Scarsdale). In 2012, Balducci's returned to New York with Balducci's Gourmet on the Go Café in Hearst Tower, which serves prepared meals and soups as well as a gourmet salad and coffee bar. There are four Balducci's Express locations: three in

JFK Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...

in New York and one at the Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets in Virginia. There is also a Balducci's Gourmet on the Go Café located in the Bloomberg Children's Center at the

Johns Hopkins Hospital The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 mo ...

. In April 2009 Balducci's was sold to

Kings Food Markets Kings Food Markets is an American food market chain headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, Parsippany, New Jersey, with stores in northern New Jersey, New York (state), New York, and Connecticut. From 1988 to 2006, it was owned by British reta ...

, a portfolio company of Angelo, Gordon and Co. In 2016, Kings and Balducci's were sold to

GSSG Glutathione disulfide (GSSG) is a disulfide derived from two glutathione molecules. In living cells, glutathione disulfide is reduced into two molecules of glutathione with reducing equivalents from the coenzyme NADPH. This reaction is catalyzed ...

Capital. In 2020, Balducci's was sold to

In fiction

In the

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

, ''

Will and Grace Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

'', the character

Will Truman William Truman is a fictional character and one of the two titular protagonists on the American sitcom ''Will & Grace'', portrayed by Eric McCormack. He is a lawyer who lives in the Upper West Side of New York City with his best friend, Grace ...

regularly visited the original Greenwich Village store in New York before it was closed in 2003. In a scene from the

movie A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

'' Fatso'', the character Dominick Anthony "Dom" DiNapoli, played by

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Dom DeLuise Dominick DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) was an American actor, comedian, director, producer, chef, and author. Known primarily for his comedic performances, he rose to fame in the 1970s as a frequent guest on television variety shows ...

, visits a weight-loss clinic with a bag of groceries from Balducci's. In a scene of the

25th Hour ''25th Hour'' is a 2002 American drama film directed by Spike Lee and starring Edward Norton. Adapted by David Benioff from his own 2001 debut novel ''The 25th Hour'', it tells the story of a man's last 24 hours of freedom as he prepares to go t ...

'', the character Montgomery "Monty" Brogan, played by

Edward Norton Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received numerous awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award and three Academy Award nominations. Born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised ...

, mentions Balducci's in his soliloquy in front of the mirror. In

Larry Kramer Laurence David Kramer (June 25, 1935May 27, 2020) was an American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and gay rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to Lo ...

's play ''

The Normal Heart ''The Normal Heart'' is a largely autobiographical play by Larry Kramer. It focuses on the rise of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the gay founder of a promi ...

'', set in the 1980s, characters Ned and Felix eat Balducci's Gourmet Ice Cream, which they say cost $18 per pint. In a scene from the 2006

'' Just My Luck'', the character Ashley Albright, played by

Lindsay Lohan Lindsay Dee Lohan ( ; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress and singer. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lohan was signed to Ford Models at the age of three. Having appeared as a regular on the television soap opera '' An ...

, brings a bag of Balducci's pastries to work for her friends. In a scene from the 1998 romantic comedy film ''

The Object of My Affection ''The Object of My Affection'' is a 1998 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd. The film was adapted from the novel of the same name by Stephen McCauley and the screenplay wa ...

'', characters Sidney Miller (Alan Alda), George Hanson, (Paul Rudd), Nina Borowski (Jennifer Aniston), Constance Miller (Allison Janney), and Vince McBride (John Pankow) gather in the kitchen enjoying gourmet foods from Balducci's at a kitchen table, apparent from the Balducci's paper grocery bags Vince McBride brings to Nina and George's apartment in Brooklyn for dinner. In the 1991 movie

The Prince of Tides ''The Prince of Tides'' is a 1991 American romantic drama film directed and co-produced by Barbra Streisand, from a screenplay written by Pat Conroy and Becky Johnston, based on Conroy's 1986 novel ''The Prince of Tides''. It stars Streisand a ...

starring

Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tides''. He received ...

and

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...

, comedian

George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercul ...

walks into Nolte's apartment with a Balducci's bag and places it on the counter. The 2000 song "I Got Cash" by Brooklyn Funk Essentials includes the lines, "Choke to death on your damn designer bagel from Balducci's / Low cholesterol, naturally."

References

External links

balduccis.com
Balducci's Food Lovers Market official website {{authority control Greenwich Village Shops in New York City Companies based in Germantown, Maryland Economy of the Eastern United States Supermarkets of the United States Commercial buildings in Manhattan American companies established in 1946 Retail companies established in 1946 Food and drink companies established in 1946 1946 establishments in New York City Food and drink companies based in Maryland Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020