New York City appetizing emporium Zabar’s is known for many things, including its top-notch selections of smoked fish, cheese and coffee; long lines and legions of loyal Jewish customers from the Upper West Side and beyond.
But there’s one aspect of shopping at Zabar’s that you may have overlooked: just how fashionable its customers are.
“When I look at customers who shop here, it’s a fashion show every day,” Scott Goldshine, the general manager of Zabar’s, says in an Instagram reel posted last week in collaboration with Nordstrom, the Seattle-based department store that opened a flagship store on West 57th Street in 2019.
The Jewish family-owned grocery, which has been in business since 1934, is being spotlighted as part of Nordstrom’s second-ever “For Everything New York” campaign. Launched in February, the marketing campaign aims to highlight “Nordstrom’s commitment to serving the needs of its New York customers,” according to a press release.
“New York City has been at the heart of the Nordstrom journey since opening our store in 2019,” Deniz Anders, Nordstrom’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement. “With the latest Nordstrom For Everything New York campaign, we’re not only celebrating the moments that matter to our customers, but also the iconic people and places that make this city so extraordinary.”
Other New York City institutions in the campaign are The Plaza Hotel, American Museum of Natural History and Nom Wah, a Chinatown dim sum parlor that dates to 1920. Among the notable New Yorkers shot at these locations are actors Amy Sedaris and John Turturro, and filmmaker Spike Lee.
The Zabar’s shoot features stylist to the stars Kate Young and her two sons, standing with a full double-decker shopping cart in front of the shop’s iconic fish counter.
“It was a family atmosphere,” Goldshein says in the video, describing the evening photo shoot. “The joy on their faces, and all the things that were in their baskets, it really — you got a real feeling for the Zabar’s shopping experience.”
“The shopping experience at Nordstrom, I can tell when you walk in the door, right away,” he says. “It’s similar to here, the way you get taken care of.”
This isn’t the first time Nordstrom has partnered with an iconic Jewish New York business. Last year, the clothing retailer — which, unlike many of its New York-based peers like Macy’s, Bloomingdales and Bergdorf Goodman, does not have Jewish roots — collaborated with Barney Greengrass, the famous Upper West Side Jewish deli that is also known for smoked fish.
Previously, Nordstrom’s 57th Street shop hosted a pop-up from Edith’s, the Brooklyn hipster Jewish deli that serves a popular bacon-egg-cheese-latke sandwich, or BECL, and their beloved iced tahini cold brew slushie.
And in December 2022, the brand featured Brooklyn-based Jewish fashion blogger Mordechai Rubinstein celebrating Hanukkah with his family in ads all over the city. In the campaign, Rubinstein and his wife, interior designer Sara Brown-Rubinstein, eat latkes from Russ and Daughters and light the menorah together.
“Inclusivity is important to us as a company, and we know it is something our customers value too,” Red Godfrey, vice president of creative at Nordstrom, told the New York Jewish Week at the time. “Our campaign spreads cheer by showing the real human connection through warm and intimate moments shared amongst loved ones in their most personal settings.”
Zabar’s, too, is no stranger to the fashion and merchandise scene. The grocery has a line of its own branded merchandise — including T-shirts and a cheerful white mug printed with the orange Zabar’s logo, which is considered an all-time New York classic. For those whose tastes lean more nosh-meets-posh, 2022 saw the launch of the Zabar’s x Coach collection, which included a Zabar’s branded sweater that retailed for $495.
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