Cascade Township developer in talks with new grocer

[trongrr]

The GR Press and Advance are reporting that developer Jeff Hundley is trying to bring a new grocer and restaurant to the old Family Fare location at 28th and Cascade Road. Is this the Trader Joe's we have been looking for? (You just read that in Obi Wan Kenobi's voice).

Link to Advance article -

Hundley told the DDA board that he is currently in discussions that "should bring a new grocer to the center.

Link to Grand Rapids Press article -

Hundley also talked about plans for creating a new restaurant space with outdoor seating.

[suydam]

I would drive that far if it was Plum Market. For Trader Joes and Whole Foods? Not really.

[Dutch]

It won't be Whole Foods. They require 1 million metro population to even consider a site.

[SupercityGR]

If you go up to the northern part of Michigan theres alot of Glens which is a spartan store.

[joeDowntown]

Why would Spartan close a Family Fare to open a Glens?! It would have to be someone coming in from outside the area.

It really would have to be something interesting. I'm shocked that Family Fare didn't close back in the day when it was a Prevo's. It was *NEVER* busy. I think that the only way another grocer would be successful is to siphon traffic from D&W, or bring a new concept to the area.

Joe

If you go up to the northern part of Michigan theres alot of Glens which is a spartan store.

[mpchicago]

It won't be Whole Foods. They require 1 million metro population to even consider a site.

That can't be true. Madison, WI has a Metro population somewhere north of 500,000, and Omaha, NE has a Metro population north of 800,000. Both have stores. If you use the old, and I would say correct boundary of the metro area, Grand Rapids has a population of over 1,000,000. I think it's based on, among other things, concentration of high incomes, and college educated people. Apparently GR doesn’t cut the mustard for their demo. I think Wholes Foods also doesn’t want to try to compete in a town that has a high a concentration of locally owned, established stores that have serious loyalty. Not many outsiders have faired well in GR over the years. If I was to guess, I think it might be Farmington Hills based Plum Market. We will see.

[SupercityGR]

Vienna has one. They dont have a 1 million met. But i dont think a whole fooods would do well, its to expensive.

[Veloise]

Ann Arbor has not one, but two WF stores, with a 2010 population of 113,934.

Additional Michigan sites in Rochester Hills (70,995), Troy (80,980), and West Bloomfield (64,690). Oakland County: 1,202,362.

Source: various census hits, all 2010 figures

[Explorer55]

My current city of residence, Lakewood, CO has two Whole Foods, not to mention at least two other "natural" grocery stores (smaller, but still bigger than anything in GR that I'm aware of). We have a population of about 140,000. But then they can draw from the larger Denver metro area, especially the foothill communities on the westside. But then again, there are several WFs in the Denver/Boulder metro area and other natural/organic grocery stores of various sizes.

I think it has to do with the culture of an area, as well as, if not more than, size of the population. Trader Joe's is finally coming here, too, or so it's been recently announced (3 locations in the metro area, with Boulder, of course, being named first).

[joeDowntown]

I heard a lot of it has to do with Logistics. Can they build multiple stores? Is it close enough to other stores to make it feasible to ship product (remember, that is what killed Fresh Market - the Cascade store was doing fine, but other stores closed and they weren't going to drive freight from Indianapolis to GR).

Joe

[Dutch]

That can't be true. Madison, WI has a Metro population somewhere north of 500,000, and Omaha, NE has a Metro population north of 800,000. Both have stores. If you use the old, and I would say correct boundary of the metro area, Grand Rapids has a population of over 1,000,000. I think it's based on, among other things, concentration of high incomes, and college educated people. Apparently GR doesn’t cut the mustard for their demo. I think Wholes Foods also doesn’t want to try to compete in a town that has a high a concentration of locally owned, established stores that have serious loyalty. Not many outsiders have faired well in GR over the years. If I was to guess, I think it might be Farmington Hills based Plum Market. We will see.

That's what their real estate contact told me when we spoke a year or two ago. I told him about the old MSA, but he said it was too wide spread. Maybe things have changed since then... I know a lot of people who would like to see a WF in GR.

The father of a good friend of mine calls the store "Whole Paycheck." Haaa

[egrguy]

I see a Trader Joe's being successful in GR much sooner then a Whole Foods. They actually have a lot of decent priced stuff... I don't see a Whole Foods being dramatically different then the D&W on the Beltline.

[Veloise]

MLive piece about the WF store pending in Detroit's Midtown:

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2012/03/whole_foods_detroit_groundbrea.html

[joeDowntown]

Heard from a reliable source that the old Family Fare in Cascade *WILL* be converted to Trader Joe's and it will be announced very soon. If this happens, I'd expect a few more in West Michigan in the next couple of years.

Joe

[eric_w]

If that does happen, I wouldn't be surprised to see another one in Grandville near the new Cabela's. I've heard that there are many "major" announcements pending on retailers for that development, many of which do not currently have a presence in West Michigan.

[egrguy]

I always thought that 28th/Beltline would be the area of the first Trader Joe's. I guess the doldrum's of a poor retail economy in West Michigan is finally over.

[suydam]

Any movement on this? Still no announcement.