Associated Market

I actually find this grocery store of better quality than other places around — yes, if you want fancy cheese or fresher (more expensive) produce, go up the street to Union Market, but I find Associated a ton better than the Key Foods a couple of blocks away. There are large aisles, decent produce, a decent selection of regular cheeses, and there seem to be decent deals there (cereal, pasta, cleaning products, ice creams, etc).
I’ve never had an issue with anything going bad (but I also tend to only get perishable items right when I’m going to use them), and their non-​perishables haven’t seem to be a problem.
There are very few checkouts, but honestly, I have never had to wait more than a couple people before getting to the front.
I recently moved further from the Key Foods, so now Associated and Key Foods are about the same distance from me, and I’d pick Associated over Key Foods any day.

Having lived near near Zabar’s and Fairway I’m a bit spoiled, but the Associated at Union and 5^th Ave in Park Slope gets the job done. I’ve been shopping there for 2 years, and I’ve only had one experience similar to the first reviewer’s, and the manager was appropriately apologetic and gave me a refund on the spot. In my case, the expiration date was 2 months in the future, so it wasn’t their fault at all.
Indeed it’s not a specialty food market, so don’t expect to find fancy cheeses, etc. – go up the block to the overpriced Union Market for that – but the produce is decent (not the farmer’s market, obviously), the place is very clean, and they often have good specials on things I buy often, like orange juice.