Barzini’s, a 42-year-old Upper West Side grocery, is being evicted next week after racking up more than $1 million in unpaid rent.
The market at Broadway between West 90th and 91st streets ignored a June 29 deadline to vacate and filed for bankruptcy that same day in a failed bid to halt removal, records show. A judge permitted the eviction on Aug. 14, with the first legal removal date set for Aug. 31.
“This is not a situation where the landlord wanted this tenant to leave,” said Joseph Cervini, an attorney representing the landlord, in an interview with The Post. “As a matter of fact, the landlord waived a million dollars in back rent for this tenant and did everything in its power to try to work through this. It’s just the tenant wasn’t able to pay. And that’s a significant amount of money.”
The 3,600-square-foot space is already listed as “available immediately” with the option to split between up to three tenants. The shop has been plastered with “Everything must go!” signs for weeks, though employees told the West Side Rag earlier this month that the sale was due to “too much inventory” and not a closure. Staff are still refusing to confirm a final day.
The financial collapse follows more than a year of legal battles. The owners began defaulting on their $56,000 monthly rent in February 2025, just weeks after state inspectors shut the market down over severe health code violations and the shop defiantly stayed open anyway.
In the viral moment that foreshadowed the market’s downfall, inspectors found rats — both dead and alive — throughout the shop, beetles living in grain, and cheese that had expired seven years prior. Shop manager Parviz Abde told The Post at the time that Barzini’s had never once scaled back on its 24/7 service and wouldn’t start because of a court order. “It’s been open for so long and maybe we’ve neglected it a bit, but we are hoping to fix it up,” he said.
The market was nearly evicted last summer for nonpayment, but claims that landlords failed to correct undisclosed “hazardous conditions” extended the court fight. The owners altogether stopped paying rent in March.
For longtime customers, the loss cuts deep. Anthony Carbone, 54, told The Post his mother sent him to Barzini’s as a child for olive oil, imported pasta, and San Marzano tomatoes. “I still come here for mozzarella, the pecorino,” he said. “I’m really going to miss this place. You can’t replace this kind of history with any supermarket. It just disappears, and a part of your life is gone.”
Miriam Rosen, 68, called the shutdown “heartbreaking.” “I only just heard today and I’m in tears,” she told The Post. “Just like that, a neighborhood institution down the drain. I know it happens all the time, but this one really hurts. It’s part of the character of the city, the soul of the city, know what I mean?”
Abde did not respond to requests for comment about the eviction, and a lawyer listed for the grocer also did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment.
The space has housed Barzini’s since 1983.
The eviction can proceed as early as Aug. 31.