Revisiting stories: urban grocers and the forthcoming Woodward Corners Market in Royal Oak, Michigan

I've been writing about food supermarkets in cities since 2005, the beginnings of the blog, sparked in part by "protests" over the Giant Supermarket in Columbia Heights, which intended to have a "parcel pick up" lane in the sidewalk right of way.

The city didn't favor them doing so, but at the time they were negotiating with Giant to open a store in Ward 7, an underserved area in terms of retail, and the Giant was to be the anchor of a shopping center, and Giant wasn't totally committed.

So the city wasn't willing to demand much vis a vis the Columbia Heights store, even though the city had some leverage because the Tivoli shopping facility involved city loans and other considerations, because they felt in so many words Giant was threatening to walk away from the other project.

The Coalition for Smart Growth organized a protest and eventually Giant and the property owner, Horning Brothers, backed down

-- "Protest Giant Sidewalk Threat,"
-- "That's Not My Giant -- More about Giant-Horning-- NCRC response"
-- "Urbanity, History and the Giant Supermarket at Tivoli Square"






But it started me thinking about and writing about the concept of why can't urban grocers, even chains, "open up their store to the street" the way they did decades ago, although some independents still do this in New York City and on in San Francisco.

(This is called "outdoor merchandising.")

In short, why can't supermarkets in cities be urban?

-- "(Urban) Grocery Stores," 2006
-- "Urban Safeway design misses the mark," op-ed, Washington Business Journal, 2011


United Brothers Fruit Market, 30th Avenue, Astoria, Queens


24 Fruit & Grocery, Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn.

The reason I mention this is a retail e-letter I get has a piece on the soon to be open new "small store" Woodward Corner Market by the hypermarket operator Meijers, on Woodward Avenue in Royal Oak, in the Suburban Detroit county of Oakland. According to the article:

When the weather is warmer, six garage-style doors open to an outdoor fresh produce and floral area.

I've been arguing supermarkets should do that for 14 years!

Not just with produce and flowers but coffee and prepared foods (pizza etc.) too.  Basically just as you have "exhibition kitchens" inside restaurants, have exhibition food sales where the building facade meets the sidewalk.

Cafes and bars do this, including in DC (although this image isn't from DC).  Pearl Dive on 14th Street is one of many places that does this.  In nice weather, their bar opens up to the street and supports the patio.





Although the location isn't particularly walkable, it is a prominent location, at 13 Mile Road and Woodward Avenue ("Here's when Meijer's Royal Oak store at Woodward Corners will open," Detroit Free Press).  One feature will be the sale of locally sourced products.  The company says they'll be selling over 2,000 such items.

But for a store like this to support "urbanism," it would have been better to have been located in the more traditional historically walkable commercial district further south in the heart of Royal Oak.

Oakland County is an automobile-centric place, but shopping districts along Woodward Avenue in Ferndale, Royal Oak, and Birmingham were walking districts, albeit once people drove their and parked ("Don't Royal Oak my Ferndale? Progress tugs at progressive suburb," DFP -- the story has a video using stills, including of the "great" Federals Department Store at 9 Mile and Woodward, a store that I remember shopping in).

Wayne State University Virtual Motor City collection.

More than any other chain, Whole Foods does some of this, not with open storefronts, but on the front side of many of their stores, they do outdoor merchandising of fruits more than vegetables, like pineapples and watermelons, and garden items.

At the Silver Spring, Maryland store, they've even done a food stand outside opening coconuts for fresh coconut water.

Sometimes, Giant Supermarkets will do a hot dog and burger stand outside their stores.  And in the summer and fall, working with Hooper's Crab House, they do an outdoor seafood promotion as you enter the store (2019 schedule).