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In Bay Ridge, even free parking has a price.

A Third Avenue shopper who said she wanted to avoid paying a $1.50 ATM fee, left her Toyota Highlander in Foodtown’s private lot and walked down the block to the JPMorgan Chase bank to withdraw $200 — only find her SUV on a tow-truck’s hook, and herself on the hook for a $165 towing charge.

“It’s just not a friendly thing to do to your customers,” said Yolanda Variano, who forked over her shopping money to keep her car from being impounded. “I felt like I was being mugged.”

For the store, which is between 91st and 92nd streets, it was an illustration of just how little parking is available in the vicinity — and of its uphill battle to keep its own spaces available for its customers.

Variano claimed that she was fully intending be a Foodtown customer after returning from the bank. But the rules are clear — you can’t leave Foodtown property and leave your car in the lot — and they’re enforced by the Fast Way Towing, not by store employees.

Foodtown manager John Colberg said that towing is necessary because in parking-staved Bay Ridge, a clogged lot can discourage would-be customers.

“We only have 39 parking spots,” he said. “We can’t allow them to be the neighborhood parking spots or we’d lose business. If people can’t find a place to park here, then they shop at other places.”

Colberg added that shoppers at Foodtown, which is planning a 4,000-square-foot expansion that promises not to sacrifice a single parking spot, are allowed to park in the lot and briefly leave the store premises — so long as they enter the supermarket first.

“They cannot walk out of the parking lot without going into Foodtown first, but if they leave afterwards, we give them five or 10 minutes [before towing their cars],” he said.

Variano, a 10-year Foodtown regular and a card-carrying Foodtown Club member, said she returned to the lot after a 12-minute absence to find her vehicle gone.

She said she had withdrawn the cash to pay for groceries, although there’s a more convenient — but more expensive — ATM inside the supermarket that charges $1.50 per transaction. Variano, who has sworn to never again shop at Foodtown, could also have user her debit card for free while paying for her groceries (and even gotten cash back at no charge) — but the self-described “creature of habit” prefers to buy groceries in cash.

©2008 Community Newspaper Group