The stores everyone tells you to visit
When people come to New York, they ask me about two places. Zabar's (ZAY-barz), the Jewish grocery on the Upper West Side that's been there since 1934 — smoked salmon, bagels, coffee, cheese. And Citarella (sit-ah-RELL-ah), the fish-and-meat market whose counter looks like an art installation.
I love them. Thirty-plus years here and those counters still make me happy. That's the fantasy of shopping in New York.
Then you get to the register
The fantasy ends at checkout. A little smoked salmon, some cheese, bread — one bag hits $60, $70 without trying. It feels less like groceries than like buying a gift.
The quieter problem is the corner bodega. A single banana, a dollar. You grab it because you're in a hurry, because it's right there. I call this the convenience tax — and I don't mean the bodega is cheating anyone. It sells rent, small quantities, and a door that's open at 11pm. That's a real product. What's a shame is paying that price by habit and filing it under "New York is expensive."
The price that hasn't moved in 40 years
The city holds a second set of prices too.
Costco's hot dog combo — $1.50. Dog plus a refillable drink. That price hasn't changed since 1985. Forty years. American prices roughly tripled over that stretch; this hot dog just stood still.
Costco rotisserie chicken — $4.99. A whole roasted bird, that price since 2009. A Manhattan supermarket charges $8–10 for the same thing.
IKEA's food court. $1 hot dog, $1.50 cinnamon bun, $2.75 slice of pizza — in a city where a single bakery pastry runs $5–8.
Why they don't raise it
Here's the spine of the whole series.
Costco's CEO said it out loud: "As long as I'm here, the price of the hot dog isn't going up." Not generosity. What these chains actually sell isn't a hot dog — it's the belief that you won't get fleeced here. The moment a price everyone has memorized goes up, that belief cracks. So they hold that one item even at no margin, sometimes at a loss. It's the bait that pulls you through the door and the way they defend their spot.
Which lands on this: New York is expensive — true. But "everything in New York is expensive" is not a law. In front of an item a company has decided to price nationally, even Manhattan rent can't touch it. (Americans bought 245 million of those Costco combos last year. A lot of people know that price by heart.)
So here's how we actually shop
One. On a day out in the city, we don't buy lunch at full price. If a Costco or IKEA is on the route, we eat there — lunch for two is $3. Two Manhattan sandwiches with tip is over $30.
Two. The chicken comes from Costco. One $4.99 bird is dinner, then chicken porridge the next day, then stock from the bones.
Three. And this is the important one: we decide in advance where the saved money goes.
What the saved money buys
Frugal-as-constant-deprivation doesn't last; I can't do it. So we spend what we save at anchor prices on Restaurant Week — the city's twice-a-year event where restaurants we'd never otherwise attempt put out deep-discounted prix-fixe menus. Or we go to Zabar's — not to do the shopping, just for smoked salmon and bagels, and eat them on a bench in Riverside Park over the Hudson. That bagel isn't a splurge. It's a plan.
Shopping smart isn't about doing without. It's knowing where the real price is, and choosing where you'll gladly pay more.
Word of the day
SACROSANCT — too important to touch. It comes from religious "holiness," but American usage is mostly secular now: a company policy, a sports rule, a family ritual can be sacrosanct. Korean has 신성불건침, but that's stiff legal/religious register; sacrosanct is everyday, and half-joking here. When U.S. writers call the $1.50 Costco dog "sacrosanct," they mean it and they're winking — knowing that temperature is knowing the word. Treat ~ as sacrosanct · nothing is sacrosanct · a sacrosanct principle.
Is there a price like this where you live — one that hasn't moved in years, to the point where it's almost strange? Tell me in the comments, and subscribe for the rest of the series.
📍 From New York | 📺 YouTube: @miguktv
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