New York is the kind of city where hyperbole is sometime reality. The NY Times reported this figure of $20 Billion in an article on the opening of Trader Joe's at 14th Street near Union Square. What an incredible figure. Think of the buying power NYC could exert on the rural areas of America simply by choosing to buy different types of food.

The article also underscored how important Union Square has been in changing NYC's food landscape. Union Square has become a mecca of fresh food for not just its surrounding residents, but for the whole city given all of its convenient transportation linkages. The Union Square greenmarket has been a major catalyst in making this happen. Chefs from all over the city get key seasonal, fresh ingredients from the greenmarket. Everyday people were able to start cooking like the pros with all sorts of unique items never found in supermarkets.

This shows that greenmarkets can raise the level of competition for fresh local and organic foods in local areas. Union Square is a wonderful example of how a greenmarket can serve as a catalyst for economic revitalization in both the urban areas that host them and the neighboring rural farm land that need access to local markets.

I think 86th Street Between Fifth Avenue and East End could become a new mecca of food for the Upper East Side. There is a lot of space available right now between Lex and 2nd Avenue that could support a Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and there is good space on both ends to support good greenmarkets.