MetroCard cookies fly off shelves as customers want last bite before NYC icon’s demise on Dec. 31
Zabar’s, the iconic Upper West Side grocer, has created a culinary tribute to the city’s soon‑to‑go‑away transit card. Since the chain began selling vanilla cookies that look exactly like a MetroCard—complete with white icing and a printed blue‑and‑yellow logo—patrons have been lining up for the treats as the real card draws its final curtain on December 31.
In a statement that sounded like the words of a die‑hard transit fan, 36‑year‑old Kurt Adams told the store staff that he wanted the cookie “for nostalgia’s sake.” Adams, who already keeps a genuine MetroCard in his home lockbox, hinted that he might freeze his sweet souvenir in hopes of one day opening it as a memento. The cookie, priced at $3.98, has sold out in a matter of hours and can be found in batches of up to a thousand per week, roughly eighty percent of which carry the familiar card print.
“We’re getting so many people coming just for the MetroCard cookie,” said Zabar’s general manager Scott Goldshine. “They come in with smiles, ask if we have MetroCard cookies, and walk out with at least five. The taste is surprisingly good, and it looks just like the card.”
Goldshine admitted that the high demand has forced him to spread out restocks throughout the day and that the bakery’s inventory sometimes runs out before the next delivery cycle. “I learned the hard way early on because I couldn’t keep them in stock,” he said. “But now I make sure they don’t run out.” He has already placed a bulk order in anticipation of the final MetroCard sales on New Year’s Eve and is weighing the possibility of keeping the cookies in the permanent lineup.
The cookie’s popularity grew after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced that the 90‑year‑old, plastic fare‑card would be phased out in favor of the OMNY contactless system. Although the MTA also introduced Carvel cakes and Gong Cha tea as part of a broader nostalgic package, the simple vanilla cookie topped with a MetroCard pattern has emerged as the fan favorite. The store also sells “Cardvaark,” a souvenir that was once envisioned as a mascot for the MetroCard but has seen far fewer sales compared to the icon itself.
“People treat these cookies like collector’s items,” said Jodi Shapiro, a curator at the New York Transit Museum. Her colleagues have been trying to get their hands on them for weeks, only to find them sold out repeatedly.
With the official retirement of the MetroCard scheduled for December 31, Zabar’s customers anticipate a surge in demand as the holiday season arrives. “At this rate, they keep selling, and I keep ordering,” Goldshine mused, hinting that maybe—just maybe—these edible tributes will stay on the shelves long after the real card has disappeared.
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