Carib Food Market

Short version: Always ask for an itemized receipt, or you may be heavily overcharged on already-​overpriced items.
THE GOOD
They have absolutely excellent produce and are open 24hrs. They have a good selection of gourmet items.
THE BAD
1. For many things, they are overpriced. Examples:
a. Green Mountain Gringo Salsa
$ 6.99 here
$ 4.50-$ 5.00 at Foodtown, a 5 minute walk down the street.
b. Stonybrook organic milk is 50 cents more here than Bravo, which is next door.
c. Craft beer is $ 2.25 per bottle, which turns into $ 13.50 for a six-​pack. $ 11-​$ 12 at Bravo, Foodtown, Associated, all of which are nearby.
2. But the worst thing is that they don’t use bar codes, they type everything in by hand, and they constantly overcharge me. In the past 7 months I’ve been overcharged about 5 times, up to $ 24 per order. Sometimes they type things in twice, do the multiplier wrong, add your total to the prior customer’s total, etc. Always ask for an itemized receipt.

Definitely one of the better options in this particular stretch of Avenue. Their Bravo neighbor makes them look stellar by comparison but even on their own they provide a viable option for produce and items for a quick meal or snack.
Prices are reasonable for the neighborhood.
I usually stop by for my avocado cilantro tomato fix on the way home as its right next to the train station.

At first fell in love with it. All though it’s a 20 minute walk, it’s the only place where I can buy fresh veggies, organic food and healthy stuff in w clean & organized shop.
BUT — the more I shop there I feel like I’m spending more than what I would spend at whole foods…
Choosing to order fresh direct, save the walk and not feel like I’m spending more $.
Lack of an itemized receipt makes my feeling of overpaying hard to validate, who’s is the final piece of frustration.

Really good grocery store, very organized and fully stocked with fresh produce and a large variety of quality dry goods, dairy, etc. Great selection of health food options for vegans/​vegetarians as well as a wide array of international products, spices, etc. Awesome section of hot sauces, can’t beat that! They definitely had everything I needed and more, many interesting things that I want to buy and try next time! I don’t live super close, about a 15 – 20 minute walk, but it’s worth it to me since there are not a ton of great grocery stores in that area of Bed-​Stuy.

The worst kind of business is one where you call up, ask if they have something in stock, show up, and see that it is NOT in stock. This is what happened when sourcing for a food styling job. I called and asked, they said yes. I sent my colleague to pick it up, she said they didn’t have it. I called back, and asked if it was in stock, again, the shopkeeper said yes. I said would you help her find it? He then said, no, it wasn’t in stock. It makes no business sense to make people go out of their way, under a deadline, and come to your shop when you don’t have what you need. I don’t understand the reasoning of lying to your customers.

Not the place to go if SWB (Shopping While Black). Ownership and staff are flat out racist. My brother was racially profiled, physically assaulted, harassed and all around unjustly treated before being asked to leave. His crime, trying buy ice cream. It’s the winter time, a black man walks into Carib Food Market and has his hands in his pockets because he forgot his gloves at home. He walks around looking for this particular brand of ice cream that he likes. A Carib staff member approaches, roughly grabs him and asks him to take the stuff he’s taken out of his pocket. Needless to say the customer is shocked and enraged by this blatant act of racially motivated profiling. Despite being treated in this way, he speaks calmly and says he’s taken nothing and asks the Carib employee why he’s doing this. All the time the owner watches and approves of the actions of his staff. After realizing that they’ve made a mistake, no apology is forthcoming, Carib owner and staff demand that my brother leave their store immediately. If you want to keep shopping at this racist establishment, go right ahead. If you think this was unjust and you’d rather not continue to support this kind of establishment, please stand in solidarity with us against racism in our grocery stores, streets, cities and country and boycott Carib Food Market. Thanks.

If you haven’t been by lately, you’ll be shocked and delighted to find that they’ve doubled in size. This makes for a more pleasant checkout-​line experience. It also means that they’ve expanded their repertoire of fancy things.

Small yet neatly organized. I’m starting to feel like the OCD Nazi *blocks face*
This place was recommended to me and I’m so happy! Now I know where I can find my WI fruits, veg and products all so fresh and so clean clean.
The checkout guys here even operate like the checkout folks back home in these types of small, neighborhood green grocers.
I like it.
The End.

My favorite market in the area. Has everything I need and is always fresh and cheap.

Some people might think it strange to have a Trinidadian grocery run by chinese people… but trust me, that is totally straight up legit. I can relive my childhood in here if I wish… Crix, Milo, stacks of saltfish, the good trini cheese… tunnoks, Chief brand curry… fresh chadon beni… matouks pepper sauce… it’s all here. Cheap too. I’d do all my groceries here if I lived closer.

I like stopping by this place on my way home from the train for some fresh produce or unfamiliar sauce (can someone say kuchela?) to liven up my typical stir-​fry affair.
The prices for the produce are worth the trip! Post-​refusing to buy a pint of grape tomatoes from Tradewise ($ 4) I doubled back to Carib market the other day and was quickly vindicated ($ 1.99) for my thrift-​fueled tear down Fulton.
One note is that aisles are narrow. Enter with a large bag/​backpack at your own risk. You’ll probably feel like an asshole.

Fresh produce, low prices, and open ²⁴⁄₇. What more could you ask for?
This is my go-​to place for fresh produce, particularly on late Sundays when I need a few items to complete soups or stews, or to buy some fruit for breakfast. The place is, true to it’s name, a Caribbean food market, and thus the bulk of their offerings consist of Caribbean spices and food items.
The only thing that I dislike is that the staff, particularly at night, is predominately Hispanic and a little aggressive about wanting to communicate only in Spanish. I say this as a non-​Hispanic person of color who lived in the South Bronx for more than five years.
Credit cards are accepted, but there is a $ 10 or $ 15 minimum, so I generally pay cash.

Not only the freshest produce and the lowest prices you can find on this side of Bed-​Stuy, but now open 24 hours!
If they only had low fat milk… And beer. Beer would be good.

The SO lives in Bed Stuy and I have found that this grocery store is da bomb! Although it is small, it manages to carry everything and I am amazed! It specializes in West Indian groceries, and you will find everything you are looking for! It is managed by Chinese people and I am wondering how do they know about West Indian foods? Probably they are West Indian Chinese.
In any case, here is a list of things I found that are interesting:
–Lots of fruits and veggies at very reasonable prices
–cassava flour
–fufu flour (used in West African cooking)
–several varieties of coconut milk
–all things Goya
–salted fish
–guava paste
–any kind of curry
–all kinds of molasses
They, however, do not carry low fat milk or fresh bread.
But, still it is a rather well-​stocked grocery store and you can find almost anything here.