Tashkent Supermarket
If the Wegmans opening at Astor Place, Manhattan's first Wegmans, was the most-anticipated supermarket opening in the borough of the last five years, Tashkent's arrival in the West Village must be the second-most-anticipated. The diminutive supermarket is only about 5000 square feet (plus storage and prep space in the basement, it seems) but drew attention from publications like Eater New York and New York Magazine's Grub Street, with Hell Gate calling the store "worth the wait" (after warning that "The Prepared Food at the New Astor Place Wegmans Is Awful"). And the new spot, beloved by local foodies -- and tourists, of course, as I've come across it on various influencers' socials) -- earns the distinction of being the only Uzbek supermarket in Manhattan. There are several others in Brooklyn, which is where Tashkent got its start. There are now five Tashkents across New York City.
You enter to the produce department in the front of the store with refrigerated produce and dairy lining the left-side wall. (In the above image, you can see the store's front windows to the left, and below, we're looking towards the back of the store.) The right side of the store is lined with buffets and served prepared foods counters, along with a bakery towards the back. A halal butcher, seafood, and deli counter lines the back wall of the store, with the checkouts in the back-right corner where there's also an entrance and exit.
Even when I visited a month after opening, the store was very crowded and looking like a brand-new grocer. The focus is on fresh foods, as there are only a few short grocery aisles selling a few types of imported groceries.
The staff here was also obviously prepared to run a high-volume store (as the other locations are, too). There were multiple clerks in each department, and every display was picture-perfect. The registers are set up along a counter, and every one was open, plus a clerk directing customers to the next available register. It's clear they're running this store like a well-oiled machine.
It's not the type of supermarket where the average West Village resident is getting their whole weekly shopping order -- that would be Lincoln Market five blocks north -- but it's nevertheless drawing the crowds.
The right-side wall of the store has several service counters for prepared foods, including shawarma and salad at the front, hot foods in the middle, and plov towards the back.
Here's the plov counter, where the rice dish is prepared to-order.
And self-service buffets opposite that have literally piles of salads, prepared entrees, baked pastries (like samsa with different fillings), and desserts.
You can see the multi-tiered buffet tables here. Even though this isn't exactly a mainstream supermarket, it's refreshing to see a grocer so fully committed to prepared foods even as so many supermarkets reduce or eliminate the selections.
And, quite simply, the food is pretty fantastic. I've tried several dishes from multiple Tashkent locations and they've all been exceptional. Plus, even the presentation in the buffets is impressive.
Like the rest of the store, there's a lot of attention to detail on the buffet line.
Behind the plov counter is a large bread counter with fresh-baked breads, looking very crusty and delicious.
What I love about this store is that they haven't diluted the offerings since coming to this location (which doesn't have a large Uzbek community like their original locations do). Sure, the store is on the smaller side, but the menus and products are the same as their original Brighton Beach location.
Behind produce and the prepared foods bars are the few short grocery aisles. As you can see, this isn't the focus here, and the grocery items are almost all specialty imported items. Don't come here for toilet paper, for instance.
And yet more service counters line the back wall of the store, with smoked and fresh fish, fresh meat, and deli meats and cheeses.
The presentation once again is fantastic, and the general look of the area is very high-end.
The registers are then in the back-right corner. You can exit from the door just behind the number 3 in the image below.
Opened: March 6, 2025
Owner: Odiljon Tursunov
Previous Tenants: Duane Reade
Cooperative: none
Location: 378 6th Ave, Manhattan, NY
Photographed: April 11, 2025
Tashkent clearly has a winning formula and they do it exceptionally well. I'm glad to see them expand across the city and I'm excited to post their other locations eventually -- of which I've been to several but haven't yet gotten to post them. There's still more to see this weekend, so check it out below!
- Another Rite Aid becomes a supermarket, just outside of Newark
- A long-awaited Uzbek supermarket comes to Manhattan's West Village (this post)
- A newly-built supermarket on Staten Island seems to already be winding down
- ALDI prepares to open a second Staten Island store
- We return to the closed Price Chopper in Worcester along with a look at a new store coming soon (Sunday)
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