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I know the residents of Detroit on this blog have encountered the lack of retail stores in the city and found it to be problematic. This WSJ article discusses the issue.
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/107206/retailers-head-for-exits-in-detroit.html?mod=family-autos
Into Detroit
12 years ago
This has been a problem, especially groceries. It is amazing that there are no full scale supermarkets in the City, and there hasn't been since Farmer Jack went out of business a couple of years ago. There have been a couple of notable grocery stores that started and went out of business in the past year. Now, there is talk that Meijer's may come to 8 mile and Woodward. Also, an abandoned Farmer Jack on Jefferson might be reopened as a nonprofit market. There is even talk of Eastern Market opening an outlet in the Compuware Building. I hope these initiatives work out.
ReplyDeleteHere is a related link in today's Free Press: http://freep.com/article/20090630/BUSINESS06/906300333/Grassroots+grocery+aims+to+fill+niche+in+city
"Two Detroit grocery stores that opened with much fanfare last year are closed now, but there is hope for one in the works."
"Detroit has a host of successful independent grocery stores, but some neighborhoods are underserved. Wilson said that a survey taken at a community meeting about the store in May found that some people were driving more than 30 miles to do their grocery shopping."
" "A 45,000-square-foot store in the suburbs with a breakeven of $300,000 in sales a week will often need $400,000 in sales to break even in the urban setting, due to these other cost issues," Gorland said."
"Cindy Warner, owner of Zaccaro's, said she would advise the coalition to set up the store as a nonprofit and use it to train people in nutrition, food preparation and grocery operations. "That could help keep their labor costs down," she said. Another idea is to join a co-op to gain purchasing power, she said. Warner said she wishes them luck. "The only failure is in not trying," she said."