With a Swipe, Groceries Served

By Sara Blau

Regulars at The Marketplace, an upscale kosher grocery destination located in Crown Heights, are used to seeing new products and unique produce on display, but not a photo booth.

Two employees were recently seen photographing samples of all the supermarket has to offer for a new service that will allow shoppers to fill a cart using your home computer, tablet, or iPhone.

KosherFamily.com, the newly launched virtual store-front for The Marketplace, aims to provide a smooth shopping experience to those unable or uninterested in walking up and down aisles after an exhausting day at work or at home.

The hassle-free, easy to use website is a result of a year of hard work and sleepless nights for a skilled team of programmers, designers, and photographers.

It was created as a strategic partnership between Itsik Benabou, owner of The Marketplace, and Alef Info Systems, an Information Technology company based in Crown Heights which was already building an online platform for brick and mortar grocery stores.

“Many people had already approached me with a similar concept, but these guys were by far ahead of the game,” says Benabou, who also owns other stores in the neighborhood such as Empire Kosher supermarket, Kol Tuv grocery and Kingston Pizza.

Dan Dashevsky of Alef Info Systems said the website brings an entire market of kosher food, fresh produce, and groceries “to your fingertips so that you can continue to live your active life, saving time for what really matters.”

The process goes something like this: You place the order on KosherFamily.com, cashiers at The Marketplace double as personal shoppers equipped with iPads to ensure accuracy. Within a few hours, your order is delivered to your doorstep.

“I am committed to outstanding customer service, and I will personally ensure superior merchandise and precise fulfillment of all online orders,” says Shloimy Gelbstein, Manager at The Marketplace. “I tell the personal shoppers to shop as if they are shopping for themselves.”

Since launching 2 days ago, Gelbstein says. the response has been overwhelmingly positive with customers pleased with the results.

“The site is so easy to navigate,” said Sara Eichler, a satisfied online customer. “With its incredible search options and drop down menus, you feel like you are in the store loading your cart.”

Mendy Goldstein, a Crown Heights resident whose wife recently gave birth to a baby boy, said he ordered the entire Shalom Zachor online. “On a hectic Friday, it was just what I needed. I saved the order as ‘Shalom Zachor’, and I know that when we’re blessed with another, I can choose to reorder it.”

Gelbstein is excited for what the future brings. “We have plans to expand and stretch outwards of the immediate vicinity of Crown Heights,” he says. “What is good for the customer is good for The Marketplace.”

To experience the shopping in The Market Place from your own computer, visit www.KosherFamily.com.

To view current promotions and expanding service coverage, like KosherFamily.com on Facebook: www.facebook.com/KosherFamily