Eataly, NY

A new Italian supermarket, Eataly, opened in New York's Flatiron District this week. It's a short walk from DMNews' office so I took a stroll down at lunch today. I found out immediately upon walking in that the hype surrounding the opening was justified - the place was impressive. Large and packed to gills with cafes, restaurant and wine stations as well as aisles and refrigerator cases full of well-laid out groceries. Everything was fresh and everyone was happy to be there.

The store resides in a well-established building in a busy intersection across the street from the Flatiron building, and the transformation from toy building to upscale marketplace was a necessary update that will behoove not just the building and store owners, but mostly the passers-by who peruse its aisles and leave with a better sense of what the store offers and why the area so immediately and wholeheartedly embraced what will soon become a landmark.

On my way back from the 20-minute excursion - my first in a while - it struck me that we're working hard at DMNews to make our redesign has the same impact on our community that Eataly had on its community. October 1 is fast approaching and we can't wait to see what the industry will have to say about our new look after a few trips through our redesigned magazine.