UWS Fairway Market Has An Error in Its Storefront Signage

Can you spot the typo? Photo by Gus Saltonstall.

By Gus Saltonstall

Fairway Market is a beloved Upper West Side institution.

Its green awning takes up more than half-a-block on Broadway between West 74th and 75th streets.

It has come to our attention (and now yours) that there is an error in its storefront signage. Fairway’s slogan is “Like No Other Market,” and the line appears on the store’s Broadway-facing signage six separate times. The signage is the same format in each case, “Fairway” in yellow capitalized letters, and then, “Like No Other Market” in smaller, upper and lowercase white letters underneath.

However, if you take a look at the section of the signage nearest the corner of West 74th Street and Broadway, you’ll notice the typo, which was spotted recently by an eagle-eyed West Side Rag tipster.

“LIke No Other Market.”

“LIke No Other Market.” Photo by Gus Saltonstall.

The “I” in “Like” is capitalized, when it should be lowercase as the second letter of the word. In each of the five other instances where the slogan is written on the green storefront, the “i” in “Like No Other Market,” is properly lowercase.

Fairway Market on the Upper West Side. Photo by Gus Saltonstall.

And here are the three examples on the northern side of the store, which also each have the lowercase “i” in “Like.”

Photo by Gus Saltonstall.

The Rag reached out multiple times to Wakefern Food, which owns Fairway Market, to see if there was an explanation for the one capitalized “I” in the signage, or if the company was aware of it, but we never heard back.

On Monday morning, the Rag visited the Upper West Side Fairway and spoke to a manager, who did not provide her name, but simply said the capital “I” in “LIke No Other Market” on the storefront was a “mistake.” She added that she hadn’t noticed the discrepancy before, and it had never been brought to her attention.

After some digging through Google Maps imagery, the origin of the one capitalized “I” can be pinpointed a bit more.

For those who don’t remember, the Upper West Side Fairway Market awning used to be blue.

The former blue Fairway Market signage. Google Maps.

While the “Fairway” element of the signage is still a shade of yellow, you’ll notice that the “Like No Other Market” slogan was written in entirely capitalized letters.

Additionally, as pointed out by the WSR commenter Boris, you’ll notice there is also a typo in the former blue awning, where it reads in one section, “Lie No Other Market,” instead of “Like No Other Market.”

Then, between August 2013 and September 2014, the Upper West Side market performed the restoration and redesign of its storefront signage to the green awning that stands today, Google Maps images show.

And in that redesign is when the one “I” in “Like No Other Market” was seemingly accidentally left capitalized.

The green Fairway signage in September of 2014, which shows “LIke No Other Market.” Google Maps.

Investigation remains ongoing and please check back in for updates.

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