Urban Supermarkets

[ajacks13]

This is a twist on the popular topic of urban retail. I've been asked to look into how supermarkets determine if a particular location is suitable, particularly one in an urban setting without the space for parking typically associated with a grocery store.

I would also be interested in any real life examples of grocery stores/supermarkets that have been developed in an urban setting and made to fit in with the neighborhood. I know of one in the South Loop of Chicago adjacent to an "L" stop with two levels to accomodate a small site.

Thanks

 

[Cardinal]

Yuppie and granola criticisms aside, Whole Foods has done a respectable job of fitting its stores into urban neighborhoods. The one in Madison, WI is a fine example.

Sav-A-Lot has a small-format store (~20,000 square feet) that it locates in urban neighborhoods. They might be one to check on as to the demographics they look for in their sites.

 

[Tranplanner]

Toronto's downtown condo boom has lead to the creation of some new "urban" grocery stores - some stand alone (with rooftop parking, etc.) and some integrated right into a new condo development. The best one is the Dominion store they put right into the ground floor of an old warehouse that was converted to condos. Our new Whole Foods went into an upscale downtown shopping mall.

 

[Repo Man]

There is a Whole Foods in Downtown Evanston, IL that does a great job with limited space. They placed the parking on the roof and the store below at street level. A large elevator brings the carts up and down.

 

[Jeff]

Yeah, besides for the tree-huggin type stores I don't know of any supermarkets designed in areas where there isn't any parking.

Wait....

The Thriftway in my old neighborhood. It is right at the Bridge-Pratt El station in Philly (this is the transit hub for the city). However, this store has been there for 60 some years? Pre-dates auto-oriented society, and can't be doing to well compared to other markets.

 

[Repo Man]

You may also want to check out Dominick's chain of grocery stores in Chicago. They have stores in areas with big time parking problems like Lincoln Park

 

[PlannerGirl]

Whole foods here in Arlington seems to use small sites, limited parking, also the new Harris Teeters are 2 story but they seem to have much more parking.

 

[nerudite]

Pavillions (which is owned/operated by Safeway I believe) has even done some urban-ish type developments in Los Angeles. Usually these are adjacent or attached to major shopping malls. There is a Pavillions in the aptly named Westside Pavillion shopping mall... it has been there for at least 18 years (that was the first time I went), and it has no street-side setbacks, all parking is behind the building within a parking garage for the mall, etc. So even major chains bend the rules...

 

[Cardinal]

Here is a link you may find interesting. If you search the site a bit more, they have some excellent resouces for downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts.

 

[Plan Man]

Loblaws have done an interesting "A" store (something like 100,000 square feet) in one of Ottawa's urban villages. Quite a large store, brought right to the street edge, entirely glass storefront with entrances, and parking in behind. Seems to stand out quite a bit now, but once the surrounding fabric builds out it should be a good fit.

 

[Planderella]

Whole Foods did a decent job of converting an old bus barn in a historic New Orleans neighborhood. There was a lot of controversy surrounding their proposal and it took a lot of negotiating with City Planning, the City Council and the area residents to get to where it is now.

 

[dbarch]

Kroger has a "Citi-Center" grocery store in downtown Atlanta with very limited parking on-street or in an adjacent surface lot. It is modestly-sized, but has a wide range of products, including a good-sized deli and lots of convenience foods. I don't know how the economics work, but it is geared to the urban dwellers in the new infill apartments/condos as well as the loft dwellers a few blocks away. I think the deli is also a popular lunch spot for workers from city hall and the state capitol, which are a couple of blocks away.

 

[ajacks13]

Thanks

I appreciate your helpful responses - I've got lots of research to do but I have a better idea about where to begin. An extra special thanks to Mike for that link - the info there was particularly useful.

 

[ecofem]

Publix supermarket worked closely with a neighborhood historic preservation group (Riverside Avondale Preservation - RAP) in the design of its Riverside urban market. (Riverside is one of several historic neighborhoods in Jacksonville, FL) It has reduced scale and parking, which turned out much better than the strip-mall prototype planned for the neighborhood.

Publix also has an urban market in Orlando, FL in the Colonialtown neighborhood.

 

[freshcutgrass]

The Whole Foods in Toronto is pretty nice...good organic selection...but the hours stink. Good location though...in a very urban (all parking u/g and 1 block from subway), very upscale little mall, tucked away in Yorkville.

The big downtown supermarkets (the 50,000 sqft variety) is a battle between Loblaws & Dominion.

Loblaws has one on Queen's Quay...a bit out of the way for downtown, with surface parking. They do have one above the subway at St Clair West station and uptown in Empress Walk with direct inddor subway access. The best one is the one located right in Manulife Centre...direct indoor subway access...top marks for that. Best feature...the Marche's worse feature...not open 24 hours.

Dominion is probably the most aggressive...great locations right in large residential condo buildings (Market Square & Merchandise Building). Best feature...open 24 hours

The majority though, are the smaller 24 hour markets all over the place...kinda like larger, more upscale 7-11's. Rabba is a good one...especially if you want 3 different kinds of pate at 3:00 AM LOL!!!

Most interesting are the ones located in the financial district, in the u/g shopping concourses under the office towers. This is a hidden "sprawl-fighter"...it allows the suburbanites to pick up their groceries from the same building they work in before they leave, so they don't have to make a separate stop at their favorite suburban sprawl-mall.

I don't know of anyone who lives downtown that travels out of downtown to food-shop. Supermarkets in downtown Toronto thrive because it has a big residential base to draw from...about 300,000 people.

 

[ajacks13]

I knew there was a reason I liked Toronto- I'm defecting!

 

[plannerkat]

Publix supermarket worked closely with a neighborhood historic preservation group (Riverside Avondale Preservation - RAP) in the design of its Riverside urban market. (Riverside is one of several historic neighborhoods in Jacksonville, FL) It has reduced scale and parking, which turned out much better than the strip-mall prototype planned for the neighborhood.

This is my neighborhood supermarket and the developer did a great job after much debate with RAP. The store is smaller in scale than their usual ones and the parking lot is in scale with the neighborhood. The center is in a U configuration around the parking lot with all shops accessible from the streets as well as the parking lot. There is also designated on-street parking along the more local streets. I'll post a picture if I can locate one.