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Downtown Fort Worth dwellers' needs


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#1 Recyclican

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Posted 11 September 2008 - 11:18 PM

QUOTE
Nat Summers says he thoroughly enjoys living on the eastern edge of downtown Fort Worth, but if there’s one thing he’d like to see, it’s a Trader Joe’s neighborhood grocery store near his house.

Summers owns a town house at Cassidy Corners, at First and Pecan streets. He says he mostly walks to the downtown restaurants and venues, but does his grocery shopping "whenever I’m out."


Read the full article here: http://www.star-tele...ory/903565.html

Not much news, per se, though I am thankful for this sort of press; and hope it eventually catches the eye of a grocer / dry cleaner - and they take notice of some of these survey results. " Nearly 40 percent have incomes exceeding $100,000." "Nearly 2 in 3 people chose to live downtown because of the lifestyle. "

Sounds like ripe time to bring in the rest of that downtown lifestyle. And no, another tex-mex or steak restaurant is not the answer I'm looking for!

#2 mbdalton1

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Posted 13 September 2008 - 02:12 PM

I would love a Trader Joe's! Anywhere in Fort Worth for that matter. I've heard they are really neat.

smile.gif mb

#3 tjh1

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Posted 13 September 2008 - 02:25 PM

QUOTE (mbdalton1 @ Sep 13 2008, 03:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I would love a Trader Joe's! Anywhere in Fort Worth for that matter. I've heard they are really neat.

smile.gif mb


Ive been in TJ's in NY and Chicago, and they are great!! They have a great selection and are easy to get in and out of. I think Trader Joe's would be an excellent fit for DT.

#4 Recyclican

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Posted 13 September 2008 - 02:30 PM

Advocacy! Go to this page and send them an e-mail requesting a Trader Joe's in Fort Worth: http://www.traderjoe..._selection.html

Make sure to choose the subject as "Location Requests"

I'm going to send them a link to the FW-ST Article and this Forum.

Edit: Also sent them an e-mail suggesting they get in touch with Fort Worth South about the Southside area. Both parts of town are ripe for a business like TJ's

#5 McHand

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Posted 16 September 2008 - 11:31 AM

Dallas got one of these . Just saw it on the Chanel 8 noonday news.
I guess in the meantime the closest grocery stores to downtown are Fiesta and Target.

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#6 Urbndwlr

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Posted 30 June 2009 - 05:44 PM


Isn't Trader Joe's part of the same company as Aldi, the new smallish format grocery stores entering North Texas? I haven't been in an Aldi yet so don't know what to expect. Trader Joe's is somewhat similar to a World Market.

It would be great to see the introduction of several economically viable small grocery stores around Downtown. As you all probably know, the Dallas Urban Market mentioned in a prior post has not been economically sustainable and has required big subsidies from the City of Dallas to get by.

Maybe a coop would work better if it got 50% or more of downtown residents to become members.




QUOTE (Recyclican @ Sep 13 2008, 04:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Advocacy! Go to this page and send them an e-mail requesting a Trader Joe's in Fort Worth: http://www.traderjoe..._selection.html

Make sure to choose the subject as "Location Requests"

I'm going to send them a link to the FW-ST Article and this Forum.

Edit: Also sent them an e-mail suggesting they get in touch with Fort Worth South about the Southside area. Both parts of town are ripe for a business like TJ's



#7 Dismuke

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 04:13 AM

QUOTE (Urbndwlr @ Jun 30 2009, 06:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Isn't Trader Joe's part of the same company as Aldi, the new smallish format grocery stores entering North Texas? I haven't been in an Aldi yet so don't know what to expect. Trader Joe's is somewhat similar to a World Market.



They are sort of the same company.

There are actually two different Aldi companies based in Germany which were originally one company founded by brothers Theo and Karl Albrecht just after World War II. The stores specialized in selling a limited assortment of in-house brands at very low prices. In the 1960s, the brothers had a disagreement and decided to split the company up in two: Stores in Northern Germany became Aldi Nord which went to Theo and Aldi Süd operates the ones in Southern Germany which went to Karl. The companies have operated separately since then but cooperate with each other in areas such as the trademarks of their in-house brands and such and neither company competes in the other's agreed upon territory. Both companies also operate outside in countries outside of Germany - and, like in Germany, they do not compete in each other's agreed upon territory.

Trader Joe's is owned by Aldi Nord while the regular Aldi stores in the United States are owned by Aldi Süd. So while Trader Joe's is owned by Aldi, it is a different Aldi than the company that is about to move into the Metroplex.

I have never been in a Trader Joe's. Several years ago, I noticed an Aldi store when driving through Salina, Kansas and went in out of curiosity. It was almost identical to a typical Save-A-Lot store except that it was in a newer stand-alone building rather than in an older shopping center as is the case with Save-A-Lot stores here.

Aldi's USA stores traditionally have been targeted towards low income shoppers. However, I have read that in recent years they been upgrading stores and expanding their product assortment in order to have greater appeal towards higher income customers as well, which is their model in Germany. In Germany, Aldi is extremely popular - estimates are that 80 plus percent of the population shops there at least occasionally and it is not uncommon for them to be located in even high income areas. I have read that, in Germany, the average disposable income is less than $200 per month so, as a result, discount grocers are more popular there than they are here. In fact, a recipe book featuring only ingredients which could be purchased at Aldi's became a German best seller.

One thing interesting about Aldi is that they are one of the very few companies that has actually out competed Wal-mart which had to pull out of Germany after being unable to make a go of things there. Aldi had introduced discounting to the German market decades earlier so Wal-mart's arrival there did not have the impact that it did here and in other countries.

The other night I was at 183 and Hwy 157 (Industrial Blvd) in the mid cities and noticed construction in the shopping center at that intersection. Turned out it was an Aldi store getting set up. So presumably they are planning to open soon. Basically, what you should expect from them is in-house brands and product selection limited to high turnover items with prices lower than what you will find in Wal-mart. In order to get a shopping cart, you have to pay a 25 cent deposit which you get back once you return it to its proper place - which saves them the expense of paying someone to have to gather them from the parking lot. You also have to pay for grocery bags or bring your own. Some of the stores also carry discount in-house brands of wine and beer - supposedly the same as they sell in Germany which I have read are decent.

I think it would be great if Trader Joe's would open up here - and I suspect that they would do very well here. I have read several interesting articles about Aldi and the two brothers who founded it, who are now among the wealthiest individuals in the world. So I think it is neat that they are opening up here. I cannot say that I was particularly impressed with the one store I visited in Kansas. The store was clean and everything. But like the Save-A-Lots here, there was a lot of shelf space devoted to junk food products such as cookies, soda, chips, etc. They are good places to stock up on staples and save some money if one has the time to make the effort to do so. Supposedly the product selection in their newer stores more closely resembles what they carry in Germany, so I will be curious to check it out once they open. Not sure where any of their other stores are going to be located but I recall reading that are building a distribution center in Denton and plan to open quite a few in both Tarrant and Dallas county. Here is the website for their USA stores: http://aldi.us/index_ENU_HTML.htm
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#8 Fort Worthology

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 08:09 AM

On the subject of Downtown/urban grocery stores - I've seen quite a few examples on recent travels, which show the range and variety of stores that can adapt to many different kinds of urban neighborhoods, from the heart of a downtown to a large infill area like the Cultural District to the neighborhoods like Magnolia. Here's a few examples I've taken photos of:

Whole Foods, downtown Austin:









Royal Blue Grocery, local independent grocer in downtown Austin, first of two locations:



















Safeway, downtown Portland, Oregon. Full Safeway grocery store with loft apartments above, located on downtown streetcar line:



Zupan's Market, southeast Portland, Oregon, Belmont neighborhood. Grocery store with lofts above:





Food Fight!, southeast Portland, Oregon, 12th & Stark neighborhood, "vegan district." All-vegan grocery store in neighborhood setting:















Whole Foods, Pearl District, Portland, Oregon. Full Whole Foods located near Pearl District streetcar line:









Little Green Grocer, Pearl District, Portland, Oregon. Smaller-scale organic-themed store on Pearl District streetcar line:



Safeway, Pearl District, Portland, Oregon. Full Safeway with office space above, recently opened to compete with Whole Foods, located on Pearl District streetcar line:












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#9 UncaMikey

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 09:12 AM

Oh my, don't get me started about downtown groceries! Groceries and public transportation are two of the main things that define a 'real' city, IMO, and unfortunately FW does poorly in both.

I never cared much for Whole Foods (I used to live very close to the flagship store in Austin, and even shopped at the original Whole Foods further up N. Lamar), but it sure beats what FW has right now.

For several summers in a row now, we beat the Texas heat by fleeing to Argentina for a month, renting an apartment in Buenos Aires, where it's winter. Within a few blocks there are at least three very large super markets. Here's the smallest of the three, a Disco:



Besides the supermarkets, there are countless other shops of all sizes (produce markets, bakeries, take-out food, wine shops) within a block.

As for public transportation, we have Argentine friends who not only do not own a car, they have never had a driver's license!


#10 Dismuke

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 10:50 AM

Interestingly enough, Fort Worth actually had a downtown grocery. It was called Courthouse Market and was on Belknap where the TCC mess now is. I never went inside. Someone I know who did told me it was pretty nasty. My memory is that there always seemed to be a lot of people who appeared to be homeless hanging around it. I suspect that they made much of their money selling products such as Thunderbird and MD 20/20. Interestingly enough, it closed down just before the residential boom downtown started taking off. Perhaps had it been able to hang on for an extra couple of years, it might have been able to transition its offerings to appeal to a wider base - at least until TCC grabbed the land via eminent domain.

I have been in several urban groceries both in Boston and in New York City. When I lived in Boston there were two I would occasionally shop at. One was a Star Market in the Prudential Center in the Back Bay and the other was an A&P in a run down 1960s urban renewal housing complex rudely thrust into the midst of the South End row houses (and for which blocks of row houses had been demolished). The Star Market was nice. The A&P was not so nice - and it was the very first grocery store I had ever been in where there was an armed police officer standing guard (now a common practice even here). But both were VERY expensive. I was 18 at the time, on my own for the first time and just barely making it. Since I had a part time evening job a couple nights a week in one of the suburbs I did all my grocery shopping at a suburban Stop & Shop where prices were much lower and selection much greater and lugged everything back home with me on the subway trains.

The ones in New York City are downright tiny - the first time I went in one it reminded me of the grocery stores one occasionally still finds in the downtowns of very small towns. They are about the size of the what the larger grocery stores in Fort Worth were in the 1930s. In places like Queens you will find one or two every few blocks apart. To maximize space, the shelves tend to be high and the aisles very narrow - which would make navigating a buggy difficult. But a lot of people do not use buggies as everything they buy has to be carried home. So people tend to make multiple trips per week buying smaller quantities. My impression of New York City grocery prices - unlike pretty much everything else in the city - was they were not too much different than what one would pay at a national chain here such as Kroger or Albertsons. But, obviously, selection is much more limited than what we here in Texas are used to. But this is, in part, made up for by the fact that there are often specialty stores nearby such as greengrocers which sell only produce as well as fish markets, meat markets, ethnic grocers, etc.

The urban groceries in Boston were larger. But they were located in complexes which were built in the 1960s. The one UncaMikey showed in Argentina also appears to be of more recent construction. By contrast, the store buildings in Queens date back to the 1920s and earlier. My guess is that part of the reason Queens does not have larger stores is because of the difficulty of finding in-fill space to build them.

I don't mean to be anybody's dream killer - but I think it would be VERY difficult for an urban grocery store to make it downtown. The margins that grocery stores operate on are very slim - which means that, in order to make it, they have to have a certain amount of volume. If you are talking about a truly urban grocery where most people walk to the store, there simply are not enough people in downtown Fort Worth alone to support one - even when one ignores the fact that a store that is very centrally located downtown would be a LONG way for people in areas such as Uptown or the T&P lofts or the Firestone to have to lug bags of groceries from a few times per week.

Like I mentioned, in Queens, they exist every few blocks apart. But the density of the area is such that there are a LOT of people who live within easy walking distance of the stores. Not only that, the stores pretty much have a captive market. Most people there do not have cars so they either have to go to grocery stores within walking distance or use mass transit to shop elsewhere. But lugging groceries home on mass transit is NOT fun - take it from me who has done so. In downtown Fort Worth, there is no such captive market. Most downtown residents do have cars as it is very difficult to get by without one here. So once the novelty of a downtown store wears off and people begin to tire of the higher prices and more limited selection and the time wasted on more frequent visits to the store, a good number of them are going to get in their cars and drive to SuperTarget, to Central Market, to Wal-mart, etc. Ultimately, the bulk of the customer base for such a store would be those who use it mostly as a convenience store - which means that it must have VERY limited selection and VERY high prices. The urban market in downtown Dallas has already had to be bailed out by the Dallas city taxpayers on more than one occasion.

For decades, people in smaller towns have made monthly shopping trips to the closest "big city" in order to escape the high prices and limited selection offered by small town merchants. That is now starting to happen in urban areas as well. In Boston there is a company called Zip Cars ( http://www.zipcar.com/how/ ) which, for a $50 annual membership fee, allows urban residents who do not own or have frequent need for a car to rent one by the hour with gas and insurance already included. I understand that they have become extremely popular as a means by which urban residents can make periodic shopping trips to the suburbs in order to escape the limited selection, high prices and delivery fees they traditionally have had to put up with.

I think a Trader Joe's would be a much better fit for the downtown area than a more conventional grocery store. Trader Joe's is unique enough that it will actually attract customers from outlying areas - which would be necessary because I seriously doubt that there are enough people downtown to support one. And that means, of course, that it would need to have some sort of parking lot - which of course, will make it a bit less "urban." I have actually been in the Austin Whole Foods that Atomic Glee photographed. Unlike the real urban markets in Boston and New York, the store building includes a parking garage.

Again, don't mean to burst any bubbles. But there are certain economic realities which must be considered before someone makes the significant capital investment that is needed to stock and open a grocery.
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#11 UncaMikey

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 11:43 AM

QUOTE (Dismuke @ Jul 1 2009, 11:50 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Again, don't mean to burst any bubbles. But there are certain economic realities which must be considered before someone makes the significant capital investment that is needed to stock and open a grocery.


I think you're exactly right, Dismuke. I didn't mean to confuse the desirable with the possible. As much as I'd love to have a grocery downtown within walking distance, I think it's very unlikely, and makes little sense economically.

The key is population density, and Fort Worth just doesn't have it. Compared to busy urban centers with shops and subways, Fort Worth seems downright deserted, which is part of its appeal to me and others.

In Buenos Aires, for example, all those supermarkets and shops and restaurants are possible because of endless streets of 10-20 story apartment buildings. This is the view from our balcony on Av. Callao:



#12 Dismuke

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 11:59 AM

I envy you for getting to spend time there. It is up there on the list of cities I would like to someday visit. A friend visited a few years ago and told me that it is very European and that there are parts of that city and across the border in Montevideo which are largely unchanged since the 1930s.

Long term trends are for cities to become more dense over time. Somewhere on this board quite a while back I put up a quote of someone's observation of Greater London in the early to mid 1800s and the words could very easily be used to describe the sort of sprawl we currently see in the Metroplex. Of course, today, London is VERY dense. So someday Fort Worth might get there. But it will be many, many years. In the meanwhile, we are likely to see areas which are more like a hybrid which have an "urbanesque" feel for them but which residents will still have regular need to leave in order to do the full scope of their shopping, attend business meetings, engage in social activities, etc.
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#13 Fort Worthology

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 12:25 PM

QUOTE (UncaMikey @ Jul 1 2009, 12:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I think you're exactly right, Dismuke. I didn't mean to confuse the desirable with the possible. As much as I'd love to have a grocery downtown within walking distance, I think it's very unlikely, and makes little sense economically.

The key is population density, and Fort Worth just doesn't have it.


One thing I'd like to point out - the Royal Blue Grocery in downtown Austin has pretty much the exact same number of residential units in close proximity to it as you'd find in downtown Fort Worth around the Tower, Sundance West, and Sanger Lofts. Something about that ~450 units helps make Royal Blue work, because they're putting another one just a few blocks away in a condo tower with 430 units.

Obviously, the store survives off more than just those 450 units right around it, but I do think there's something about that number that gives it the "kick" it needs to get going. The store is small (I'd say no more than 600-700 square feet, if that), doesn't need much parking (it has zero dedicated spaces), and carries a full range (baking supplies, produce, etc.). In classic neighborhood grocer fashion, the owner will stock something for an area resident if they don't already carry it and the resident makes a request.

It really is a very cool store. Shows what can be done by somebody who can think outside of the typical Texan mental box.

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#14 Dismuke

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 08:26 PM

QUOTE (Atomic Glee @ Jul 1 2009, 01:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
The store is small (I'd say no more than 600-700 square feet, if that),


At that size, what you are talking about is more of a convenience store - and, sure, I see no reason why downtown Fort Worth would not be able to support some sort of convenience store either now or sometime in the future, especially if it can also draw in some lunchtime downtown office worker business and tourists. Obviously its product offerings would have to depend on whatever happens to be in demand by downtown residents and other potential customers. Given that a SuperTarget and a Wal-mart Supercenter are both within very short, convenient driving distance, the product mix at such a Fort Worth store might be a bit different than something similar in a different city.

QUOTE
Shows what can be done by somebody who can think outside of the typical Texan mental box.


Gee, Glee, I really have no idea what it is that constitutes the "typical Texan mental box." But whatever it is, I suppose I really ought to be pretty thankful for it right about now considering that Texas is hanging in there far better than pretty much any other state these days with people beating down the door to get in - including plenty who are fleeing as fast as they can from otherwise cool cities where there are real urban supermarkets. Seems to me that it is people in other places who might want to consider thinking more like Texans, not the other way around. Sure, there are certain aspects of certain cities in certain other states that I like better than here. But there is a reason I choose to remain here despite the lack of certain cool cultural and scenic amenities that can be found elsewhere. I certainly wouldn't choose to remain here if I had a negative view of the state's dominant mindset or if I found it to be limited and constrained to some sort of mental box.

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#15 UncaMikey

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 09:35 PM

QUOTE (Dismuke @ Jul 1 2009, 12:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
A friend visited a few years ago and told me that it is very European and that there are parts of that city and across the border in Montevideo which are largely unchanged since the 1930s.


Yes, Bs As is both European and Argentine, and the architecture is one of the main attractions. "Unchanged since the 1930s" can be understatement -- I promise, this is my last photo of Bs As in this thread, but here's a shot of the Otto Wulf Building, which was built before WW I to be the embassy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.



Pretty incredible German Art Nouveau, unfortunately quite dirty nowadays. Here's a link to the Flickr page, which has a link to the (Spanish) Wiki info on the building.

Otto Wulf Building

We're headed back down there in late August. Maybe I'll start a thread then so I can tell everyone about how I'm wearing a coat. :-)


#16 Dismuke

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Posted 01 July 2009 - 10:15 PM

QUOTE (UncaMikey @ Jul 1 2009, 10:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
We're headed back down there in late August. Maybe I'll start a thread then so I can tell everyone about how I'm wearing a coat. :-)


If you are so inclined, perhaps you could start a thread when you are down there in the photo section of the board and show us all the cool places you go to. Somebody else on this board went down there a few years ago and posted a similar photo thread which I really enjoyed.

I have read that before the Great Depression hit and Peron gutted what was left afterwards, Argentina was actually in the top 10 of the world's wealthiest countries.

You mentioned in another thread that you like '20s and '30s music - perhaps you might have a taste for Argentine tango music, at least as something to set the mood for your stay. When my friend who visited was there, he was able to find and bring back LOTS of CD reissues of '30s era Argentine recordings for VERY little in American money. I am a bit odd, I guess, but I actually prefer the tango recordings from that era that were popular in, of all places, Germany and Poland. The Argentine stuff is a bit on the "heavy" side for me - but much of it is still quite good.
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#17 Dismuke

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Posted 03 July 2009 - 05:29 PM

Was running some errands today and noticed that the old Office Max location on Hwy 183 on the westside near Ridgmar Mall, next to Lowes is being converted into an Aldi.
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#18 David Love

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Posted 04 July 2009 - 03:57 PM

A small convenience store "was" trying to get the approval to go in on the retail level of the Tower, but due to it being across the street from a church, that 300 foot rule, it could not get the proper approvals.

Fast forward two years, same location, now we have a night club called Vice in pretty much the exact spot, maybe even a little closer to the church, where a convenience store could not get approval. Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly okay with having several social venues as close as an elevator button away, as long as TABC can't come into my home, draw blood and issue me a ticket, anyway.

There's still a few square feet open on the ground floor of the Tower, the church proximity doesn't appear to be an issue any longer... Any takers?


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