Grocery shopping is a big deal for folks who want to guffaw at the idea of living downtown. As Eric over at CapCitySavvy pointed out back in April, there are quite a few large-scale grocery shopping options within 2 miles of the center of downtown (Broad & High) as well as a slew of CVS stores and speciality shops. Oh, and don’t forget about the North Market.
Really, it’s about the same variety you’d find within a few miles of home in most of the suburbs, give or take.
The problem is that people who live downtown aren’t supposed to want to drive to get groceries, and a mile and a half is an awfully long walk (especially when it’s 90 degrees or 20 degrees outside) just for a gallon of milk. The easy solution that we all want to point to is more small corner-shop grocery stores. Something that offers more variety than a CVS, but doesn’t have the huge footprint (and parking lot requirements) of a full-size Kroger or Giant Eagle.
It sounds like a great plan, and I agree that it would be nice to have a little grocery store on every corner downtown for the folks who move there, but I don’t really think it’s as simple as that. (It never is, is it?)
The rub here is that most people’s grocery shopping trends in the midwest have changed a lot in the last century, and no overnight urban relocation is going to change that. Everyone wants the best deals when buying groceries, and rightfully so. They’re lured into buying in bulk for better deals and turning what once was a daily chore into a weekly or bi-monthly outing.
So, even if you can convince someone to relocate from the burbs to the center of downtown, they’re still going to want to drive their car to the grocery store, buy a trunkload of groceries in bulk and haul them home for the week. It’s a romantic ideal to think that too many people are going to have the time, energy, or patience to completely change their shopping trends overnight. Perhaps a stop by the farmer’s market once a week, but are you really going to buy a 24-pack of Coke at the corner shop for a 50% price increase than if you drove 10 minutes out to the nearest WalMart to get it cheaper? My guess is that most people would opt for the WalMart prices.
What’s the real solution here? I really don’t have one myself, but I guess somewhere in between the two options is where we need to be aiming.
I still think the solution is to refit one of the City Center anchors as a mid-to-high-end grocery store, a la Dayton’s Dorothy Lane Markets. You’ve got more than enough existing parking for the traditional “drive and shop” customers and a built-in center-of-town quality to it for those who want to walk.
No idea whether that’s something that’s been considered yet by the current CC owners — I would imagine it has — or if it’s financially feasible, but it still seems like that’s the most obvious use for that space.
I think it’s going to be a challenge with the parking there though due to the parking being allocated in a garage across the street or in underground garages. How many people would be willing to push their shopping carts that far?
There was a big push a few years ago to bring a Whole Foods downtown, but I think it again fell to the backburner due to the whole parking issue.
I think parking is a bigger deal than people usually make it out to be. If you live downtown and you’re used to dealing with parking woes, it’s no big deal, but many suburbanites have been spoiled with ample parking and scoff at the idea of having to pay to put their car somewhere. And really, who can blame them? No one likes to pay for things that they’re used to getting for free.
[...] grocery shopping is something I bring up on this blog from time to time. It’s one of the first amenities people seem to ask for with downtown living. And while [...]