Suburban Projects

[joeDowntown]

46 minutes ago, NoDustBusterNoMore said:

I think it'll be the Knapp Street D&W. Or Gaslight village. I think Amazon buying ~14% of Spartan Nash will be a big factor. If Spartan Nash can pick up Amazon's distribution, they may not want to deal with owning a lot of their own stores.

Joe

[Winston1206]

21 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

I think it'll be the Knapp Street D&W. Or Gaslight village. I think Amazon buying ~14% of Spartan Nash will be a big factor. If Spartan Nash can pick up Amazon's distribution, they may not want to deal with owning a lot of their own stores.

Joe

I think it's been confirmed that Amazon purchased a pretty large stake in Spartan, but I read that someone from Spartan denied that they would be converting any stores to WF, but could have been a misdirection

[joeDowntown]

1 minute ago, Winston1206 said:

I think it's been confirmed that Amazon purchased a pretty large stake in Spartan, but I read that someone from Spartan denied that they would be converting any stores to WF, but could have been a misdirection

Agreed. Could be a smokescreen. Doesn't seem coincidental that Amazon bought into Spartan Nash (which I totally understand is MUCH bigger than just a few stores in Grand Rapids), a rumor about Forest Hills foods becoming Whole Foods, Spartan Nash coming out saying they're not converting it, then Whole Foods announcing a store (but not a location). Reminds me of a few times here where people got excited, released plans before they were ready, then had to backtrack and deny.

It might not be a Spartan Nash location, but you also wonder if with Amazon > Spartan Nash's relationship, they'd also agree to not drop a Whole Foods right next to a D&W?

Joe

[walker]

OK, my unsubstantiated rumor for today is:

 2891 RADCLIFF AVE SE KENTWOOD 49512

register of deeds

EDIT: Same  address as Buster's photo below.

Edited December 4, 2020 by walker
more info

[Chester Cheeto]

36 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

I think it'll be the Knapp Street D&W. Or Gaslight village. I think Amazon buying ~14% of Spartan Nash will be a big factor. If Spartan Nash can pick up Amazon's distribution, they may not want to deal with owning a lot of their own stores.

Joe

This isn't a guess based on the drawings I'm currently looking at.

[GRDadof3]

Nice find guys. The signatory David Schwarz checks out as legit:

https://media.wholefoodsmarket.com/experts/david-schwartz#:~:text=David Schwartz is Regional President,President of Prime Now Operations.

[mpchicago]

 

1 hour ago, walker said:

OK, my unsubstantiated rumor for today is:

 2891 RADCLIFF AVE SE KENTWOOD 49512

register of deeds

EDIT: Same  address as Buster's photo below.

Super impressive detective work!   

Is it just me or does this seem like a bad location?    If I fit the WF demo and lived in EGR, GR TWP, Ada, Cascade, etc,  I'm not sure I would go out of my way to battle 28th street to go grocery shopping.  

[GRDadof3]

17 minutes ago, mpchicago said:

 

Super impressive detective work!   

Is it just me or does this seem like a bad location?    If I fit the WF demo and lived in EGR, GR TWP, Ada, Cascade, etc,  I'm not sure I would go out of my way to battle 28th street to go grocery shopping.  

What did that used to be? Was it like an office depot or something? 

[arcturus]

25 minutes ago, mpchicago said:

 

Super impressive detective work!   

Is it just me or does this seem like a bad location?    If I fit the WF demo and lived in EGR, GR TWP, Ada, Cascade, etc,  I'm not sure I would go out of my way to battle 28th street to go grocery shopping.  

With their financial interest in Spartan Nash they immediately inherit a different and larger demo.  Perhaps this would be their first foray in having a hybrid store to attract the other 90%.

[WMrapids]

2 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

What did that used to be? Was it like an office depot or something? 

Yes it was, according to some old Apple Maps images.

[GR_Urbanist]

Maybe not huge news, but I saw that the 5 and 10 in Wyoming on 36th street has closed it appears a few weeks back by how completely empty the interior looked.

The last in W. Michigan.  A real classic retailer that I had lots of memories of as a kid. That, and the one on Michigan St.

[Prankster]

Never understood what it was about our demographics that prevented WF from putting stores in our metro area. I’ve been to a lot of area with smaller metro areas that had multiple locations. 
oh well, better late than never. 

[GRDadof3]

1 hour ago, Prankster said:

Never understood what it was about our demographics that prevented WF from putting stores in our metro area. I’ve been to a lot of area with smaller metro areas that had multiple locations. 
oh well, better late than never. 

I think it will be the first of a few of them. Especially with this location, they could easily do another one in the NE quadrant and not cannibalize.  

4 hours ago, mpchicago said:

 

Super impressive detective work!   

Is it just me or does this seem like a bad location?    If I fit the WF demo and lived in EGR, GR TWP, Ada, Cascade, etc,  I'm not sure I would go out of my way to battle 28th street to go grocery shopping.  

If you build it, they will come. The East Lansing one is in a weird spot but I'm sure people travel to it. 

[Pattmost20]

2 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

If you build it, they will come. The East Lansing one is in a weird spot but I'm sure people travel to it. 

It is definitely the type of store people travel for. I think at least some suburbanites in Cascade would make the 15 minute drive to Whole Foods vs the 8-10 minute drive to Forest Hills Foods. And then you'll get people from Kentwood and EGR as well.

[Chester Cheeto]

2 hours ago, WMrapids said:

s.

The shorter part of the building (under the big reddish circle) is going to come down. Then they will build a new expansion that will be about the area of the shorter building plus almost all of the parking lot to the left in the picture above. Also, looks like they will be pulling down the facade and updating the look, the Guitar Center facade will be getting the same update.

[GRDadof3]

58 minutes ago, Pattmost20 said:

It is definitely the type of store people travel for. I think at least some suburbanites in Cascade would make the 15 minute drive to Whole Foods vs the 8-10 minute drive to Forest Hills Foods. And then you'll get people from Kentwood and EGR as well.

Forest Hills Foods on Cascade Rd is kind of a joke. I don't really get the draw.  I go there to get wine and snacks, and that's about it. Their selection and produce is lousy compared to even Meijer. The Ada one is pretty cool, great meat and seafood counter. 

End rant, lol. 

Fox 17 has the link to the Kent County Register of Deeds site with the Whole Foods lease. Unless that was posted on reddit, I think they go it here.

[arcturus]

Isn't the Aldi on Wilson across from Meijer opening soon?  Just wanted to share in the fanfare.

[thebeerqueer]

On 12/5/2020 at 11:21 AM, arcturus said:

Isn't the Aldi on Wilson across from Meijer opening soon?  Just wanted to share in the fanfare.

I believe it's already open. Shows as an active store on their website. 

[HavingAhoot]

17 minutes ago, thebeerqueer said:

I believe it's already open. Shows as an active store on their website. 

it is

[GRDadof3]

On 12/4/2020 at 4:11 PM, NoDustBusterNoMore said:

The shorter part of the building (under the big reddish circle) is going to come down. Then they will build a new expansion that will be about the area of the shorter building plus almost all of the parking lot to the left in the picture above. Also, looks like they will be pulling down the facade and updating the look, the Guitar Center facade will be getting the same update.

Sounds like a pretty large store. 45 - 50,000 sf? 

[egrguy]

That means its not a 365 type store. I wonder if they took some notes from the TJs success and are going to build a proper sized location.

[Chester Cheeto]

2 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Sounds like a pretty large store. 45 - 50,000 sf? 

Right about 44,000 sf.

[GRDadof3]

1 hour ago, NoDustBusterNoMore said:

Right about 44,000 sf.

That's almost the exact same as the EL store.  Anyone here been there? I've been in the Detroit store, it's pretty small (20,000sf?)

[RegalTDP]

On 12/4/2020 at 11:29 AM, Prankster said:

Never understood what it was about our demographics that prevented WF from putting stores in our metro area. I’ve been to a lot of area with smaller metro areas that had multiple locations. 
oh well, better late than never. 

Not an industry expert, but I have to think the dominance of Meijer had something to do with it.  For a metro area of GR's size, it's rare to see a single big-box retailer with so many locations (like 12 in Kent County alone?).

Rochester, NY is a metro area about the same size as GR (and for most of its history was bigger; GR's only just caught up with it).  They just broke ground on their first WF this year.  Wegmans has a ubiquitous presence over there, similar to Meijer in GR.

[droonus2000]

8 hours ago, RegalTDP said:

Not an industry expert, but I have to think the dominance of Meijer had something to do with it.  For a metro area of GR's size, it's rare to see a single big-box retailer with so many locations (like 12 in Kent County alone?).

Rochester, NY is a metro area about the same size as GR (and for most of its history was bigger; GR's only just caught up with it).  They just broke ground on their first WF this year.  Wegmans has a ubiquitous presence over there, similar to Meijer in GR.

That’s my guess as well. To enter a market with such entrenched players like Meijer and SpartanNash must be terrifying. But I don’t have any industry experience either. I’ve long said that’s probably the reason why there are less than a dozen Walmart stores to serve the all of West Michigan. 

We will see if other grocery chains enter the market, I’d like a Mariano’s. It has to bring something unique to overcome Meijer and SN.