What You Need to Know Before You Shop at Krm Supermarket in Boro Park
Krm Supermarket sits on 13th Avenue in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn. It is a kosher grocery store that services a largely Orthodox Jewish community. The store carries standard American grocery items alongside Hebrew and Yiddish-labeled products, dried goods, dairy, meat, and baked goods. If you have never shopped there before, the layout is tight and the aisles are narrow. Getting around during peak hours requires patience. I walked in for the first time on a Sunday afternoon around 2 PM. The place was packed. I stood behind a family waiting for a checkout lane to open, and the person ahead of me had a coupon book thicker than my hand. That is just how it is here. Most shoppers know exactly what they want, and the cashiers move quickly because they deal with the same routines every day.
Krm Supermarket Boro Park
The store is located at 642 West 13th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues. It opens early, usually around 7 AM on weekdays, and stays open until 9 PM. Shabbat timing changes the schedule on Friday afternoons. The store closes early before sundown and does not reopen until after Shabbat ends Saturday night. If you plan a visit on Friday, do not assume it will be open past noon. I learned that the hard way once when I drove from Queens with a full list and found the doors locked with a handwritten sign in Hebrew. Product availability follows the kosher calendar. Certain seasonal items sell out faster than you would expect. During the weeks leading up to Passover, the store does a much larger inventory of matzah, matzah meal, and kosher-for-Passover oils and juices. I once went on a Tuesday before Passover and the cooking wine section was completely bare. Not a single bottle left. If you are looking for specific items for a holiday, go midweek rather than the weekend before. The meat and dairy sections are strictly separated. You will notice this when you walk in. The dairy case is on one side and the meat counter is on the other. Everything is under Orthodox supervision, and the packaging makes that clear. If you are not familiar with kosher labeling, look for the hekhsher symbols on prepared foods. The staff can point you toward certified items if you ask. They tend to be helpful once you show you know what you are talking about.
Pricing is comparable to other kosher markets in the area. It is not cheaper than a standard supermarket like Key Food or Aldi, but it is not marked up like a specialty import shop either. The deli counter has better value if you buy by weight rather than pre-packaged. I compare prices between the deli and the refrigerated shelves every time I go. The deli chicken soup, for example, runs about three dollars less per quart than the boxed version in the cooler. Bakery items are fresh daily. The challah and bagels are decent, though the bagels are more traditional New York style than thedense Chewy bagels you get from certain chains. The bakery also carries shabbat cakes and wedding cakes if you order ahead. That is a thing people forget. You do not just walk in and buy a tiered wedding cake. Call the store at least a week in advance. I made that mistake once and ended up buying a sheet cake from a bodega instead. Payment methods include cash, check, and most major credit cards. They do not typically take Apple Pay at the older registers, though newer terminals have been added in the last few years. I still carry cash for the deli counter where sometimes the card machine is slow or out of order. It happens enough that keeping twenty or thirty dollars on hand is a good habit.
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The store carries a decent selection of international foods beyond standard kosher products. You will findMiddle Eastern spices, Indian lentils, and Eastern European jams. It is not a specialty importer, but the variety is wider than you might expect for a neighborhood market. If you are looking for something very specific, like tahini from a particular brand, check online inventory or call ahead. I once spent twenty minutes looking through three aisles for a specific brand of pomegranate molasses that they simply did not stock. The manager told me they could order it if I gave them two days notice. One thing to keep in mind is that the store gets extremely busy on Thursday afternoons. That is when people are shopping for Shabbat dinner. The parking situation on 13th Street is already difficult, and on Thursday it becomes nearly impossible. I started going on Wednesday evenings instead. Fewer people, open parking spots down the block, and everything is still fresh. The store does not run out of stock by Wednesday because they order multiple times a week. Another practical detail is the return policy. Like most kosher groceries, once an item leaves the case, it is not coming back. The deli and bakery are the same way. If you open something and realize it is not what you wanted, do not expect a refund. The staff will be polite about it, but they are not going to take back an opened package. I learned that quickly and stopped trying.
If you drive, street parking is the only option. There is no lot. Tow trucks patrol this stretch of 13th Avenue regularly, so read the signage carefully. If you are in a hurry, the subway is a viable alternative. The D, F, M, and Q trains all stop nearby at the 13th Street station. Walking from the station to the store takes about eight minutes. Overall, Krm Supermarket Boro Park is a functional, well-stocked kosher market that does what it needs to do for the neighborhood. It is not fancy. It is not designed for a leisurely browse. But if you know what you want and you go at the right time, it gets the job done without much fuss.
