{"id":80940,"date":"2025-12-25T16:27:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T16:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/80940\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T16:27:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T16:27:06","slug":"zabars-struggles-to-keep-metrocard-cookies-in-stock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/80940\/","title":{"rendered":"Zabar’s struggles to keep MetroCard cookies in stock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zabar\u2019s is keeping the crumbling MetroCard alive.<\/p>\n

Thousands of sugar-cookie-loving straphangers are swarming the iconic Upper West Side grocery store to get their hands on an edible version of the beloved piece of transit plastic as it marches toward its final day.<\/a><\/p>\n

Zabar\u2019s is struggling<\/a> to keep up with demand for its vanilla MetroCard cookie as the Big Apple grows more and more sentimental for the soon-to-be-gone New York City turnstile icon.<\/p>\n

Zabar\u2019s sells as many as 1,000 MetroCard cookies a week. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy not get it for nostalgia\u2019s sake?\u201d said Kurt Adams, 36, who whisked a cookie off the counter while ordering his morning coffee Tuesday. <\/p>\n

The Washington Heights resident said he already pocketed a real MetroCard over the summer in anticipation of its demise \u2014 well before the MTA wheeled away its once-omnipresent vending machines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have it at my lockbox at home,\u201d Adams said, adding that the fate of his edible MetroCard is uncertain: \u201cMaybe I\u2019ll save it in the freezer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MetroCard cookies have been flying off the shelves since Oct. 24 when the 90-year-old grocer was announced as one of several MTA partners to honor its dying plastic card<\/a> with delectable treats. <\/p>\n

Scott Goldshine, Zabar\u2019s general manager, said they fly off the shelves so fast, he can\u2019t keep them in stock. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

Carvel cakes and Gong cha tea also were brought in on the plan.<\/p>\n

But none seem to have the same stronghold as the simple Zabar\u2019s cookies topped with white icing and the printed MetroCard logo in icing on top of that.<\/p>\n

Zabar\u2019s sells as many as 1,000 triangular, MTA-themed cookies a week, roughly 80% of which are a screen print of the famous blue and yellow card.<\/p>\n

The grocer also hawks handfuls of Cardvaark \u2014 which was once dreamed up to be the \u201990s-era mascot for the then-new MetroCard before being killed \u2014 but its sales pale in comparison to the ultra-famous piece of plastic.<\/p>\n

Kurt Adams could barely wait to unwrap his. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

Zabar\u2019s is considering selling the MetroCard cookies permanently because of their popularity. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

The cookies are vanilla and have a printed MetroCard on their top. Stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cCustomers come in with huge smiles on their face and go, \u2018You got MetroCard cookies?\u2019 \u201d Scott Goldshine, Zabar\u2019s general manager, told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey walk out with five, and they\u2019re pretty happy. And they actually taste pretty good. It looks exactly like a MetroCard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon their release, the $3.98 cookies were selling out within a matter of hours daily, forcing Goldshine to stagger restocks throughout the day.<\/p>\n

The grocery boss expects the demand to only surge as Dec. 31 \u2014 the day the last MetroCards will be sold<\/a> \u2014 draws closer and has already put in a bulk order in anticipation of the crush.<\/p>\n

The real MetroCard is officially retiring Dec. 31. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned the hard way in the beginning because I couldn\u2019t keep them in stock. But I\u2019ve gotten smarter as I\u2019ve gotten older, so now I make sure they don\u2019t run out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI already told the bakery: Do not tell me \u2018no\u2019 when I tell you, \u2018I need a couple hundred.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n

Some customers have expressed their interest in the cookies for nostalgia, with some calling the sugary goodies a \u201ccollector\u2019s item.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jodi Shapiro, a curator at the New York Transit Museum, told The Post her colleagues have been trying to get their hands on the Zabar\u2019s cookies for weeks \u2014 but they\u2019ve been constantly sold out.<\/p>\n

The good news is that the cookies are so popular that Goldshine is considering making them a permanent staple at the Broadway shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this rate, they keep selling. I keep order, they keep selling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zabar\u2019s is keeping the crumbling MetroCard alive. Thousands of sugar-cookie-loving straphangers are swarming the iconic Upper West Side…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[75,57,30986,141,9,24,55,197,54,56,62,58,7664],"class_list":["post-80940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-manhattan","tag-metro","tag-metrocards","tag-mta","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-life","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-upper-west-side","tag-us-news","tag-zabars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}