Why you shop at Key Food on Avenue A without listening to a random song from the 1980s

EVG archive photo

Reports and videos by Stacie Joy

Shopping at Key Food has changed in the past week since the day the music died on August 12th.

The public address system in the grocery store on the corner of Avenue A and Fourth Street is broken.

For shoppers, there is no store playlist filled with funky alternative hits from the late 1980s and other classics from the 1990s. (I hear you, Paula Cole – and I don’t want to wait!)

In addition to the music, the in-house intercom system has also broken down. This means that you will not be disturbed by orders from above for Richie to take line 2, nor by calls about a delivery for the meat department.

Co-manager Dennis Acuna explained that technicians have come to fix the intercom and jukebox (a control unit for both systems) and that they need to order a replacement part to do the repair. They hope the replacement part arrives soon so the system can SOON play Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue” and Stevie Nicks’ “Rooms on Fire.”

Meanwhile, there is a deafening silence in the corridors.

“Imagine you’re only here (at the supermarket) for a short time,” Acuna said. “We’re here all the time – we miss it too.”

I spoke to a few employees, and some of them were relieved that the music was temporarily turned off. “It’s a relief, it’s not so stressful here,” said one cashier. Another employee said he missed stocking the shelves with music.

Right now, the only sounds are the groans of the ghosts of Key Food, the relentless “Please place the last scanned item on the scale” message at the self-checkouts, and the echo of White Claw boosting cases.

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