AMERICAN ALBUM : New Yorkers fed up over ‘teeny-tiny’ food stores : Quality, size of city’s supermarkets stir complaints. But moves to better business climate run into roadblocks.

Comparing the quality of supermarkets in her Manhattan neighborhood to those in her former home of San Diego, Lori Dykeman finds herself complaining regularly.

She says the stores near Columbia University are “teeny-tiny,” “overpriced” and “dirty”--stocked with meat that is “gross.” But nothing prepared her for the day last fall when she and her husband spied a fist-sized flying object in the local produce section.

“All of a sudden, something swooped down from the ceiling and landed on some lettuce and flew back. It was a pigeon, and it was in the grocery store--on top of the refrigerator cases where they keep the produce. It scared us. I assumed they didn’t know about it. I went to get the stock boy. He told me to get the manager. I couldn’t find the manager, so I told a checker. She responded, ‘So?’ and continued to ring up her groceries.”

“I hate it. I hate it,” Dykeman, a 27-year-old publicist, added. “In California, the stores are cleaner, the aisles are wider, the selection is better and the produce is fresher.”

Many of the nation’s inner cities are known for the paucity of their supermarket shopping--with a lack of major stores, prices higher than in the suburbs and a poor selection of food. But in New York, the problem is almost citywide, with residents of even some of the wealthiest neighborhoods complaining about the quality and size of their food stores.

“It’s horrible. You can’t even fit a stroller through the aisles,” said Kym O’Sullivan, 27, mother of a 1-year-old boy who lives on Manhattan’s prestigious Upper East Side. “And there’s not enough baby products.”

New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani is attempting to change all this. As part of his plan to improve both the business climate and quality of life for New Yorkers, Giuliani is proposing easing up on zoning requirements that force any business seeking to open a store located on former manufacturing sites--just about the only place a store larger than 10,000 square feet can find enough space to operate in New York City--to go through a three- to five-year review process that has kept major food chains out of the city.

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The reaction of the local business community has been less than enthusiastic.

Coalitions to protect small mom-and-pop outfits have developed, and the owner of Gristedes and Sloans--one of the larger supermarket chains in the five boroughs--threatened to close his stores if the new rules take effect. Moreover, many small-business owners in Harlem are protesting the building of a 53,000-square-foot Pathmark in the supermarket-deprived neighborhood, claiming that the mega-food store will drive them out of business.

The average New York City supermarket occupies less than 10,000 square feet, compared with the national average of 35,000 square feet. And experts say the problem is not just one of zoning restrictions. High-priced real estate keeps almost all stores, not just supermarkets, smaller than the national averages. It also inflates prices, since merchants must charge more per item than the national average to turn a profit.

A U.S. Chamber of Commerce 1992 survey found the New York metropolitan area the most expensive place in the nation to buy groceries. It cost New Yorkers $147.20 to buy 27 commonly purchased food items. Los Angeles residents paid $111.70 for the same goods. The national average was $100.

The smaller spaces that most New York stores occupy lead them to offer fewer brands, and aisles tend to be narrower and more cluttered than in suburban stores, analysts say.

Like a species threatened with extinction, New York store owners and shoppers have adapted. Residents think of one store as the place to go for canned goods, another for gourmet items and a greengrocers for fresh fruits and vegetables. As a result, many analysts say New Yorkers actually have more products to choose from--if they are willing to visit more than one store.

But many frustrated residents say choice is only part of the issue. Shoppers are vehement in their assertions that Manhattan stores are slovenly, stocked with rotting fruit and staffed with rude sales help.

“It’s like you walked into a fraternity and you don’t belong,” said Maura Minsky, 29, a documentary producer. “When I walk into a supermarket, I’m made to feel guilty when I don’t have exact change.”

“I wouldn’t want to eat my breakfast off the floor of a New York City supermarket,” adds Louise Kramer, an editor at Supermarket News, a trade publication.

Buttressing Kramer’s point is a 1994 New York Times survey that found 53% of all New York City supermarkets failed inspection by state health authorities on their first try. Kramer contends that New Yorkers’ busy schedules and lack of cars contribute to the problems of city shopping because many consumers simply choose the store closest to their apartment out of convenience, regardless of cleanliness or quality of produce.

“It’s a shame that shoppers will put up with the dreariness,” she said. “That’s why supermarkets look like this. Because they can.”