Gardner's Market is closed
You could just walk in and see that shelves were empty; allegedly, vendors were not paid, either, allegedly, when one vendor was due, they would leave them hanging and then use another vendor.
I stopped going to Gardner's on a regular basis long ago, I never felt it was clean and the prices were crazy. I wrote a blurb here, in 2005, after one of the many hurricanes came by, asking if they were price gouging. They were the only ones open at the time and they seemed to take advantage of the situation. After that, I had been back but only a handful of times.
Over the last year, I've been approached by people portraying Gardner's as a filthy, roach infested place. I've seen photos of roaches in the soup and filthy storage rooms. I think it all finally just caught up with them. I could never prove any of it; I could never determine if the photos were fake, set up, or taken elsewhere so I never delved into it. I guess the government solved that problem now by closing them.
I have friends who used to stop in almost daily for lunch, and they stopped going long ago because they felt the place was so rundown and dirty.
I had been notified by many people about abuses at the store regarding employer-employee relations. I wondered why people just didn't leave if they were being abused and not paid. I know at times that people are stuck in a job and they have nowhere else to go, but over the years, I've seen so many grocery store workers make the rounds - working in Gardner's one day, next in Milam's, next in The Fresh Market and then back to Milam's, making the rounds all over again. So I assumed they weren't stuck at one place.
I don't usually write about store closings, I never feel comfortable announcing the closing of a business unless it's an institution here. I don't think Gardner's was an institution, but it seems that the closing was a long time coming and rightly so.
posted by Tom Falco at 10:00 AM
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8 Comments:
I used to go all the time. Then they changed ownership and I never went back! They stopped carrying what I went in there for. And like you said Tom, the shelves were always empty.
Wow! They were always overpriced and I rarely went there for that reason, but Gardner's used to have the best soups and deli. Things change, right? Now we've got Fresh Market and Milam's is nicer.
I used to go there for take out and soups. I liked it better when it was Scotty's.
Saw this coming. Im actually surprised that they didn't close before. We used to go every single day but i agree with the comments above, once they change ownership prices were crazy, place was filthy, customer service was terrible, the sandwiches were poorly made and shelves were always empty.
Their other locations in south Miami and pinecrest closed years ago. Their $10 sandwiches were a bit pricey
It was convenient to grab a quick lunch though
Voer priced and was dirty. I think Pauloluigi should take over the location. I remeber when they used to be in the Grove spot location.
Gardners was founded in 1912 and operated with soul and compassion until Farm Stores bought the company. Please research a facility or company fully before defaming it: Gardner's was family-owned for almost one hundred years before being sold. New owners abused, mishandled vendors, pricing, and employees, and eventually did not profit nearly enough due to absolute lack of ethics and care or respect for the company name.
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