Mr. Kiwi — The Family Fruits
Mr. Kiwi’s is a brightly-lit staple, a reliable lamppost for the many years I’ve walked Broadway down into Bushwick. Half-upscale-grocery, half bargain-vegetable-treasure, it’s a well-lighted bastion of sanity off the Myrtle-Wyckoff J/M/Z train.
For the longest time I knew Mr. Kiwi’s as “the place with the hella cheap vegetables still in the case with the colorful signs”. They’ve maintained this vital piece of their business model — and I have come to find it’s only so unique. They have a brother deli called Mr. Piña just off the Marcy J/M/Z stop whose similarities cannot be denied. It’s the same vegetable specials, the same overly-expensive bottled juices, box sushi, and preciously branded maracons. Strangely I’ve always been ok with what Mr. Piña charges for beer; it’s as cheap at Mr. Kiwi.
Cheap produce makes up about half of their business model; Grab-and Go is the other. The majority of their dry goods are of a snacky nature, be it morning or evening appetites they’re appealing to. This is where things get expensive: four-dollar chip bags, seven-dollar salsa, five-dollar noodles salads. These are all items designed to be eaten with other foods. It’s rare that you’d ever walk out of Mr. Kiwi with a hot meal for under six bucks.
In part, yes, this is because they don’t do hot food. No deli counter, no sliced meats; they’re a low maintenance operation outside the vegetable turnover. They do have a minimal selection of raw meats, but chicken at five-dollars-per-pound is strictly not affordable. That said, they have an unofficial collaboration with a taco truck who operates on the curb outside during nights.
It’s a different feeling however at 5:45PM, seeing two very distinct crowds arrive for their nightly rituals. You have the more affluent mini-cheesecake-and-a-six-pack crowd who bring their own bags and don’t blink at the fact that this is their 40th dollar spent just today at Mr. Kiwi, the morning’s allotment frittered away on Green Juice and a vegan noodle salad for a cool 13-dollars. Then, you have the mothers and grandmothers and cane-wielding gentlemen who spend the majority of their hour-long visit shuffling over the same three bins of vegetal jewels buried beneath the justifying chaff, making sure their seven-dollar choice is as righteous as possible.
And yet they’ve still got that moment we can all come together and enjoy: Sangria de Chateau Diana. Truly the best of both worlds.
- Bodega Cat: Previously Seen, Currently Absent
- Dustiest Item: Green Mountain Gringo Salsas
- Best Deal: $1.00/bunch Asparagus
- Most Expired Beer: N/A
- Chateau Diana: Yes, and Sangria!
- Imports Ratio: 10:1::American:Foreign
- ATM Fee: $0.99
- Juul Pods/Price: N/A
- 24 Hour: Yes
- Credit Minimum: $10 Stated, not enforced at $9.82
- Bag Waste Reduction Law: Compliant
- Music Overheard: Radioactive — Imagine Dragons
- Proper Name: Mr. Kiwi’s
- Building Owner: 957 SANG CORP
- Last Transacted: 1992, in satisfaction of a Mortgage
