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A Man Who’s Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store

longreads.com

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Re: A Man Who’s Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store

#11

Post by freeone3000 »

diminoten wrote: post #10
max76 wrote: post #9

I live in a dense urban area. I'd consider my neighborhood grocery stores to be the 5,000-10,000sqfoot places scattered around the area so no home within a three mile radius is more than a 10 minute walk to one. They survive just fine by being cheaper than Amazon Fresh and significantly more convenient than the Walmart/Costco that exist on the outskirts of the city.

Sure, right up until Walmart builds a Neighborhood Market a block away...

For me, this is a Provigo, an IGA, and a Metro Express. The Adonis might run into competition, but probably not. A Walmart Neighborhood Market would neither be a strict upgrade nor a strict downgrade to the other chain supermarkets.

Re: A Man Who’s Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store

#12

Post by fumar »

tropo wrote: post #5
shambolicfroli wrote: post #2

Elorant, what is the one short paragraph summary of this article, please?

Heh. It's a longreads.com article, which should be a hint. Basically it's about marketing firms trying to convince supermarket owners that inefficient layout and cute themes will save the day. All sorts of stuff is to be feared: millennials who prefer restaurants or Amazon (and won't age out of it by starting families), the giant Walmart monster, etc. So make the customers zig-zag around a store, kind of like shoppin…

Agree sounds more like PR than anything.

Re: A Man Who’s Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store

#13

Post by max76 »

diminoten wrote: post #10
max76 wrote: post #9

I live in a dense urban area. I'd consider my neighborhood grocery stores to be the 5,000-10,000sqfoot places scattered around the area so no home within a three mile radius is more than a 10 minute walk to one. They survive just fine by being cheaper than Amazon Fresh and significantly more convenient than the Walmart/Costco that exist on the outskirts of the city.

Sure, right up until Walmart builds a Neighborhood Market a block away...

That's a fight we have fought before and won. I'm confident we can fight it again.

Re: A Man Who’s Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store

#14

Post by Scoundreller »

mrweasel wrote: post #7

I live in a small town/village that has just had it's grocery store reopen after it being closed for five years. Based on my experience I don't see any need to radically rethink grocery store, people just need to experience shopping at a small store again. It's not for everyone, the selection is going to be more limited, but it's so much faster and cheaper. We save around 20 - 25% buy shopping locally, there's simply…

My chief complaint about the small supermarkets in urban environments is that their produce just doesn’t turn over very fast.

Especially for the larger pack sizes, if they even have them at all.

More generally, Am I willing to save 30% on bread crumbs or soap if it means buying a 6-12 month supply up-front? Yes, that’s a great ROI!

4 or 5L of milk may be a problem (unless you freeze it). But I can go through a 10 lb bag of potatoes if I could only get them fresh.

Re: A Man Who’s Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store

#15

Post by max76 »

Scoundreller wrote: post #14
mrweasel wrote: post #7

I live in a small town/village that has just had it's grocery store reopen after it being closed for five years. Based on my experience I don't see any need to radically rethink grocery store, people just need to experience shopping at a small store again. It's not for everyone, the selection is going to be more limited, but it's so much faster and cheaper. We save around 20 - 25% buy shopping locally, there's simply…

My chief complaint about the small supermarkets in urban environments is that their produce just doesn’t turn over very fast. Especially for the larger pack sizes, if they even have them at all. More generally, Am I willing to save 30% on bread crumbs or soap if it means buying a 6-12 month supply up-front? Yes, that’s a great ROI! 4 or 5L of milk may be a problem (unless you freeze it). But I can go through a 10 lb…

> More generally, Am I willing to save 30% on bread crumbs or soap if it means buying a 6-12 month supply up-front? Yes, that’s a great ROI!

This depends on the size of your home and the amount of storage space you have. I am generally unwilling to buy a 6+ month supply of household goods because real estate is significantly more expensive than toilet paper.

Re: A Man Who’s Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store

#16

Post by briandear »

max76 wrote: post #13
diminoten wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, right up until Walmart builds a Neighborhood Market a block away...

That's a fight we have fought before and won. I'm confident we can fight it again.

Why? Is the goal to have good groceries nearby or is it some kind of a war against “big” companies?

Re: A Man Who’s Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store

#17

Post by organsnyder »

briandear wrote: post #16
max76 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a fight we have fought before and won. I'm confident we can fight it again.

Why? Is the goal to have good groceries nearby or is it some kind of a war against “big” companies?

Smaller stores with local ownership offer benefits, as well. Of course, either option is preferable to no options at all.

Re: A Man Who’s Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store

#18

Post by Kalium »

PorterDuff wrote: post #8
WillPostForFood wrote: post #3

Article has a confusing title, it not about saving your small local neighborhood store. It is about how supermarkets can compete with Amazon, Walmart and online. His idea sounds a lot like Whole Foods, and not a neighborhood store. The store that resulted is called Harvest Market, which opened in 2016. It’s south of downtown Champaign, Illinois, out by the car dealerships and strip malls; 58,000 square feet of floor…

Exactly. I like the idea of "traditional American supermarket" for the irony content. When I was a youngin', our town didn't have any chain stores, just a dozen or so family markets. I miss the culture and environment, not so much the lack of selection. Since then, it's hard to take sides in a Safeway vs Walmart vs Amazon brawl. The first chain fast food (aside from the ubiquitous Dairy Queen) came somewhat later. Th…

Having shopped at family markets, I also don't miss their prices.

Re: A Man Who’s Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store

#19

Post by DoubleCribble »

tropo wrote: post #5
shambolicfroli wrote: post #2

Elorant, what is the one short paragraph summary of this article, please?

Heh. It's a longreads.com article, which should be a hint. Basically it's about marketing firms trying to convince supermarket owners that inefficient layout and cute themes will save the day. All sorts of stuff is to be feared: millennials who prefer restaurants or Amazon (and won't age out of it by starting families), the giant Walmart monster, etc. So make the customers zig-zag around a store, kind of like shoppin…

You'll probably want to avoid a stop at Stew Leonard's[0] in Norwalk, CT then. Ol' Stew pioneered the concept back in the 60's and it's definitely not for the short on time. The whole store is full of kitschy displays, animatronics, a petting zoo for the kids!, free samples, etc. etc.

But then again, it's the best grocery store to visit if you're a kid (or a kid at heart) and people make it a point to visit from across the country whenever they are in the area.

[0]http://www.stewleonards.com/how-it-all-began/

Re: A Man Who’s Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store

#20

Post by 013a »

WillPostForFood wrote: post #3

Article has a confusing title, it not about saving your small local neighborhood store. It is about how supermarkets can compete with Amazon, Walmart and online. His idea sounds a lot like Whole Foods, and not a neighborhood store. The store that resulted is called Harvest Market, which opened in 2016. It’s south of downtown Champaign, Illinois, out by the car dealerships and strip malls; 58,000 square feet of floor…

The article addresses that: Whole Foods literally contracted the same people between 2003 and 2007. These stores are like Whole Foods in part because they're designed by the same people.

They also mention Niemann's relationship with the Whole Foods CEO pre-sale, and how Niemann didn't believe WF was doing enough to lower prices. Then the recession hit and Whole Foods nearly went out of business.

The anti-amazon part isn't in the design (as already said, the design predates the Amazon acquisition); its in the supermarket's direct relationship with local suppliers.

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