Information on new grocery store coming “during the next month”

John, you and your grocery store store/s click bait…. we watch…. we wait…the tease continues.

The big yellow circle makes more sense with what we were talking about in the Jim’s Grocery thread which only had a pin on one side of 25th.

And we need to be open to the compromises that would make medium-sized business investment and the jobs and money it can bring possible, profitable and likely in the east end.

The lot looks large enough for a Wegman’s – not an inner-city grocery store. And if it’s truly feasible, why hasn’t a chain snapped up the opportunity long before now? What are the odds that any investors’ returns/profits will be from taxpayer dollars instead of operations? A City that can’t responsibily manage the basics should refrain from considering itself a developer.

I can’t imagine any grocery store investing in that area. Grocery stores under the best of circumstances operate on razor-thin margins. This location would pose insurmountable challenges for even the most well funded, savvy operators let alone a small guy.

Hard to believe Jim Scanlon would even consider it.

@17…all operate small format locations. If it were viable long-term, it would be no problem for any of these to acquire the property necessary to build.

The real point here (in trying to make any economic sense in this move) is this is setting up to be another sweetheart deal with the city whereby the fine taxpayers of Richmond will be building this store (corporate welfare disguised as economic development).

If private investment cannot fund this development, it shouldn’t be built. The most the city should be on the hook for is infrastructure improvements to support the businesses.

#18…Agree on this. Taxpayers, the forgotten demographic – but surely the most important.

Maybe the city has some responsibility here. This is not the Redskins. The city concentrated poverty in one part of town and now no grocery wants to come here. This area has a large population without cars and since it is not easy or cheap for a mother (or father) to take heir kids along on a bus ride to the grocery store, they end up feeding their families with food from the corner markets. It is a sad but telling irony that a dialysis center is closer for many people than a store with healthy food options. My guess is that long term healthcare cost would be far greater than whatever the city might invest. This would be an example of tax dollars well spent.

@#21/East Grace–I could not agree more.

The city could do what other cities have done with planning healthy development–incorporate other mixed use into it, with a mind toward how best to benefit the community.

And not everything built in this town needs to be single-story–the city could get creative.

Perhaps a new library on a second level and the grocery store on the first level.

Slightly off-topic–what’s up with the planned Wal-Mart that was supposed to happen at Nine Mile at Laburnum? Haven’t driven by there in a few months.

As much as I loathe Wal-Mart, I think building one in that part of town (well, Henrico I guess if we are being technical) may actually improve some things for some folks.

Maybe what we need is some version of this –
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/22/the-supermarket-with-free-food.html

Trader Joes. Quality food. Low prices.

So when are we going to hear this news?