This one is a no-brainer, right? Since starting DenverInfill, I can’t count the number of people who have asked me in person or by email “when are we getting a grocery store Downtown?”
Frankly, I think we need two grocery stores in Downtown: a King Soopers or Safeway type that offer “regular” groceries, and a Whole Foods that offers the upscale and more gourmet items. There have been a lot of people who have been talking about a Trader Joe’s too, which hasn’t established a Colorado store yet.
Then there’s the location question. I feel strongly the stores should be as close to the 16th Street Mall as possible. Since they’ll need to serve the greater Downtown area, we’ll want as many people who live and work Downtown to be able to access them via foot or public transportation. The stores will still have to have sufficient parking no doubt, but it doesn’t make sense to put them in a location where few people are likely to walk to reach them. Right now we do have one Downtown grocery store proposed: an upscale King Soopers that would be part of a Nichols Partnership mixed-use residential project on Block 005-H in the Union Station district. However, due to the restrictions that give East West Partners the exclusive right to develop residential units in the Central Platte Valley until 2011, it seems the earliest that store could open would be 2013 or so.
Anyway, what do you think? One Downtown grocery store or two, and where should they go?
I think two would be great! Love the idea of a "normal" grocery store and an "upscale" one. And coming from the east coast…Trader Joe's would be great…even if it wasnt right downtown.
How about a super target with groceries? I could imagine a three or four story target with groceries on the street level.
Don't need any because between 7-Eleven, Wallgreens & Cook's Fresh Market you basically have all the elements of a grocery store on the mall already — Just kidding, I wholeheartedly agree with you about the need for one or more full-on grocery stores in central downtown (maybe in the form of a Super Target to satisfy both you idea #6 & #5 at once?).
Ever heard of a building designed for a retailer that was just so GOOD, so PERFECT, so BRILLIANT, that it caught everyones attention and made the rest of the world extremely JEALOUS of that city?
Ok, maybe im just getting a bit carried away….
The city: Sydney, Australia
The retailer: Apple
Here it is:
http://overseas-immigration-printing.com/australia/APPLE-STORE.jpg
Now imagine this tower in denver, with a ground floor Department Store and/or Grocery!!!!!
Only in my dreams, I guess….
YIKES!
Epic phail on my part! That design is out of date! Here is the finished building:
http://www.77king.com.au/gallery.htm
Its known as 77 King Street, sorry:D
I would think it would be great to replace the Federal Reserve Bank on block 98 with a grocery store. Not only does it sit on the 16th street mall between Arapahoe and Curtis, but it even has a parking lot out back for those that want to drive and pick up their groceries – which could easily be modifide into a multi-layer garage.
Currently, the Federal Reserve Bank does nothing enhance the urban environment and frankly, seems out of place. If I held the purse strings for the city, I'd give the bank a sweetheart deal to relocate to Araphoe Square or near other municipal loctions around Civic Park.
Instead of the Mall, I think we need one capable of serving the Ballpark AND Lodo together. Maybe the lot on 18th/Market? The CPV is an obvious target, and that will be great for the folks in Lodo but it does little support the growth on the other side of 20th.
I totally agree! Get the Fed the heck off the 16th Street Mall already. It's rediculous to let such a prime piece of real estate be wasted.
Maybe as part of the stimulus package the Federal Reserve can print itself some money to build a new location elsewhere. 🙂
Another good location would be where the parking garage currently sits on 16th and Larimer next to the Office Depot. It features a "lovely" blank wall to both 16th Street and Larimer, right where ground floor commercial would thrive. The existing parking for the residential tower could then be moved on top of the grocery along with parking for the public.
I would like to see a Sunflower Market to serve downtown and the northeast neighborhoods. It is not high priced like Whole Foods but the quality is very high. It does lack a big take-out section. But because of its reasonable prices, those who live in Cole, Whittier, Curtis Park, 5 Points, Globeville who have more modest incomes would shop there. Sunflower Market would serve a wider range of incomes than a Whole Foods. Everyone appreciates affordable quality.
I all for the grocery store, but what I think what Denver really needs is a big market. Like the ones in Chicago or NYC. That would bring a lot of life to Denver.
There is the Vitamin Cottage at 15th and Platte. That's a good store, and it's local.
i'd have to think that in 'ideal' world we would get TWO smaller versions of EACH for a total of four…
these could serve as mini-anchors on each side of DT…
the issue with mega-sized stores (especially in under-dense cities) is that they tend to encourage driving and require more parking.
A Trader Joe's would be absolutely perfect. You can fit those things anywhere and they've got everything you need.
Downtown Seattle has a brand-new grocery store in the basement of an old Kress department store building, and by all accounts it's a smashing success; they also have a fairly new Whole Foods. Chicago has Treasure Island stores in several locations north of the River, along with Fox & Obel (where Oprah's staff shops) and two Whole Foods stores–one in the Gold Coast, the other in the South Loop.
Given the economy, I think it will be awhile before any grocery store takes the risk of opening downtown. From their perspective, it's far easier to open in a purpose-built box in a shopping center near new subdivisions. Very few grocers are progressive enough, and willing to risk the money, to open an urban location, and they really favor a nice, simple rectangle over the convoluted spaces available in most downtowns. King Soopers is our best (and probably only) hope.
I doubt Sunflower will be downtown any time soon–they have a business model that mostly involves re-using spaces that other grocery stores (like Albertson's) have abandoned; their purpose-built W. 38th location is an anomaly. And it's a myth that Whole Foods is more expensive than Sunflower–they may be pricier than Sunflower in perishables, but their dry groceries are more expensive in my experience than Whole Foods. My breakfast cereal is $3.69 at Whole Foods and $4.29 at Sunflower. So I buy some things at both stores, and a large amount at Vitamin Cottage as well, despite their silly TV commercials.
–historymystery
Ya, there is that vitamin cottage filling yuppie needs. There really aren't that many people living downtown. Not that I don't think more grocery stores are needed, but maybe smaller ones would fill the void. I also wish that retail was spread out more than just 16th street. 90% of downtown proper is a deadzone, super boring for walking. Most of the street activity are people walking back and forth to 16th street from their office. What retail there is has been "malled", take 18th and curtis for example. There are shops in there, but you don't see them from the outside.
Really? This is an issue? As Beth points out there's a large "upscale" store at 15th St. and Platte, and there's the Kings at Colfax and Speer (that's still there isn't it?). Too far out from the mall?
Not arguing, just asking…
If Portland can command two Downtown super markets (Safeway/Whole Foods), then I'm quite positive that Denver can as well. The Gas Lamp in San Diego, which is hardly more dense than Lodo has a grocery store (and a full fledged shopping mall).
Denver has a very solid urban population. Why it is so undeserved on the retail front I'll never know.
Bruce: the Vitamin Cottage at 15th & Platte is certainly not "large," and much of it is non-food items (all those vitamins). The produce and meats sections are really quite lame.
The King Soopers is between 13th and 14th Ave, on the wrong side of Speer.
As of last year, there were a few guys operating the "Central Market" that was located near 21st and Larimer, but they didn't last too long. They had great sandwiches and prepared meals, but their overall selection was fairly minimal. It's too bad; those guys were pretty cool and I would have liked to have seen them do well.
However, when I think of good urban grocery stores, I think of something like Treasure Island in Chicago. The isles are small, the carts are small, and the racks are stuffed from floor to ceiling. It's almost a cozy feeling. You don't need a lot of space to get a lot of selection.
I agree with one of the comments, an open market would bring a lot of life to the mall,..not that it needs it…but it would look beautiful.
A test blog,
As has been said on this blog, Chery Creek is a big reason for lack of retail downtown.
Any additional grocery store would be great. KS or SW are good if you like one stop shop, are into processed foods, and virgin forest paper products.
I agree with the WF and Sunflower assessments above and add… WF has reasonable house brand prices, great seafood selection (far superior to the low tide variety elsewhere), breads, and cheese. Sunflower has great produce and coffee prices.
I shop at VC quite a bit. I find it really down to earth. Like the bulk foods and their all organic produce which is often quite reasonable though limited (if its out of season should you really be cooking with it?).
TJ would be perfect DT. Small footprint, funky and down to earth. And they could have their one and only CO Liquor license at the DT store.
Yes, a grocery store is desperately needed. I lived at 2500 Walnut while I worked at 16th and Broadway, and it was horrible.
I could traverse the entire downtown area from work to home, using any number of routes, and never come across a grocery store. That is absurd. After walking through the entire downtown, I'd still have to hop in the car when I got home just to drive to that lousy Safeway off of Park. And that VC on the exact opposite side of downtown from me.
I think good locations for a store would be something between 16th and 15th. From a driver's perspective, 15h St. is the easiest way to access downtown, if you are coming into downtown from the south or the east. And this location would be the most pedestrian friendly.
If you had two stores, maybe another could be somewhere on 20th in the Arapahoe Sq. area. 20th is the other easy way to access downtown when driving.
Both 15th and 20th are close enough to the downtown core for most workers and residents to access on foot, and on the fringe of the core enough that they are easy to drive on.
Of course, my dream is for a grocery store/Target to be integrated into the Block 162 project. Could you imagine the business a store like that would have?? Right in front of the LRT, right on 16th St. Mall, a block away from the Convention Center, across the street from the Hyatt, across the street from Hilton Garden Inn, a block away from the Spire (and its 500 units), and a couple of blocks away from all the boutique hotels and the new Four Seasons.
Oh well, I can dream. I know Block 162 is not some surface parking lot you can just plop a store down on. It would have to be a creative design.
And what is going on with Block 138? Block 207?
Now I don't live downtown anymore, and take the LRT downtown from where I live at I-25 and Colorado. But I would still shop at a store in this area, rather than wait until I get home just to hop in the car and navigate the driving hell that is Colorado Blvd. A store near this location would improve MY quality of life considerably, and I don't even live downtown. I could stop in after work and buy things as I needed them until instead of having to save up for the big weekly grocery store trip and hump 10 bags of groceries from the car to the apartment.
I go to Cook's Fresh Market for lunch, but not to buy groceries there (because it's pricey). And I hate going to the 16th St. drugstores, because they don't have good prices or a good selection. That Walgreens on Stout is pretty awful, but I use it ALL the time.
So forget thinking about downtown residents, as a downtown worker, any decent grocery store/Target would make $100/week off of me. Now add in the downtown population/hotel guests/conventioneers, and that's pretty good business I think.
We do have enough Downtown residents to support at least one supermarket. While we're waiting for that, there is one smaller grocery store that I believe has yet to be mentioned here: Pacific Mercantile Company at 19th and Lawrence. Some prices can be a little high, but they do have good stuff.
I live in the CBD and have for quite sometime. To get groceries I always DRIVE to kingsoopers at 13th/speer, which isn't far, but a pain!
As of right now, one can find almost everything needed within the CBD to make a meal; however, to do so requires trips to many stores, like sakura square and the corner bakery, but not only is this inconvenient, these stores have very limited operating hours. This said, downtown, specifically the CBD needs a full service grocery store ASAP.
I agree with all other comments that a Super Target, Super Walmart, Super Kmart, etc. would be the ideal solution. Any full service grocer needs to be located within the CBD and preferably within short walking distance of the mall ride. Any grocer located in the CPV or west of coors field will be a waste for the larger population and work base within the CBD.
On the other hand, let's not forget that Walgreens exists on the mall in a centralized place; why can't this store be modified to include better dry goods (breads), fresh meats, and a produce section… that would be ideal!
Without a doubt there should be one of the two grocery stores in the Upper Larimer/Ballpark district. If I had the money or capital, I would buy one of the old warehouse lots near the Fireclay Loft area and sit on it until I found myself negotiating with Whole Foods or Safeway anywhere from 2-4 years from now. To me it is an innevitablility that growth will continue north in that district, and that commercial will most certainly catch up along side all of the residential growth. Sometime in the not too distant future, the industrial corridor extending from 23rd to 32nd will look like another Platte street.