This grocer would be a moderately priced supermarket within walking distance in the downtown area. It would be clean, community-oriented with a neighborhood-friendly feel to it. It’s important for the grocer to cater to the local area’s needs by providing not only healthy items but ethinic items as well. A delivery service would be a great option for those in the area who would need to use it.
This grocer would be affordable, provide fresh and healthy products as well as being easily navigated. It would be important that this grocer accept WIC and food stamps as well as different methods of payment other than just cash.
[Regarding urban format supermarkets, see the article, "Urban grocers proliferate".]
Formerly “Urban Format Grocer in Downtown Bristol”
There’s….
Safeway
http://www.safeway.com/IFL/Grocery/Home
An excerpt about one of their locales…
A 55,000 square foot Safeway opened in 2007 at Cityvista, which also includes 685 rental units and another 75,000 square feet of retail. The grocery store space is 28 feet high, which allows for two levels of liner retail and restaurants — placed on two sides of the building. The third side has the main entrance and street windows that display the produce section. The fourth side has the loading dock. The parking is located below the store. Cityvista is located in the NoMa (north of Massachusetts) neighborhood, which has seen construction of 8,000 apartments in recent years, according to Wikipedia. It’s an example of how new urban development can drive supermarket location. Torti Gallas designed this store with Michael Marshall Architecture.
….
Harris Teeter
http://www.harristeeter.com/
Traditionally located down south… this food chain realized the booming urban market when they decided to take the splash around Washington DC.
Here’s an excerpt:
Harris Teeter, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ruddick Corporation, is a food market chain that operates in the eight-state area of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Maryland and Delaware. The company also operates stores in the District of Columbia. Ruddick Corporation is traded on the NY Stock Exchange at RDK.
In addition to our 201 retail stores, we also operate grocery, frozen food, and perishable distribution centers in Greensboro and Indian Trail, NC, as well as the Hunter Farms milk and ice cream facility in High Point, NC.
…
Giant
(which I believe Stop & Shop may have bought up)
http://www.giantfood.com/
An excerpt about one of their locales…
A 55,000 square foot Giant was completed in 2007 near the Columbia Heights Metro station in DC, a revitalizing neighborhood that won a CNU Charter Award in 2009. The store, with two levels of parking above, fills out a block that includes the reuse of the historic Tivoli Theater building and another new retail/office building. The supermarket and mixed-use building were designed by MV+A with materials and massing to complement the theater. The north face of the block is lined with three-story townhouses, reflecting the existing housing across Monroe Street.
Back in my old hood in NYC there is…
C-Town
http://www.ctownsupermarkets.com/
So called “Supermarkets for Savings”, are priced reasonably and have some great looking stores in the NYC area.
Another intriguing options is…
Loblaws, out of Canada
http://www.loblaws.ca/LCLOnline/aboutUs.jsp
I believe they are owned by the same group that operates Price Chopper. Loblaws builds in an urban format in Canada, so it might be a natural fit for the Price Chopper people to want to corner the market with a grocer on route 6, and a new one situated in a revitalized downtown Bristol!
Sounds like they are very triple bottom line…. An excerpt:
2008 – Loblaw takes a big step in reducing its carbon footprint with the opening of its new environmental flagship Superstore in Scarborough, Ontario. The store cuts discharges from refrigeration units, that cause greenhouse gases, by 85 percent. A new low temperature system, the first of its kind in Canada, reduces carbon emissions by 15 percent, while recycling heat from refrigeration cuts the store’s footprint another seven percent. “Loblaw is changing the face of grocery retail with this environmental Superstore,” says Peter Love, Ontario’s Chief Energy Conservation Officer. “Effective energy initiatives this store incorporates will serve as a blueprint for more to come.”
2009 – On a windy day, there won`t be any shortage of clean, renewable energy at the Atlantic Superstore in Porter`s Lake, Nova Scotia. In partnership with Scotian Windfields Inc., Loblaw Companies has installed the first wind turbine at a Canadian grocery store. The turbine will supply around 250,000 kilowatt hours of power a year or about one quarter of the store’s energy needs.
Harris Tweeter is a pretty cool place. Or something like Gristedes in NY…small yet has all the stuff people need in a compact place…not SUPER market but SMART market.
Loblaws seems to be the most logical choice based on your comments. Nice homework Mark!
Trader Joe’s!!!