Interior Market Design | Grocery Store Rendering | Produce Area Design | Grocery Store Design originally uploaded by I-5 Design & Manufacture
Last week’s poll asked how you cook bacon. While I have moved to the superior oven-based method, the vast majority of respondents note that they still use the frying pan method. Definitely quicker that way but messier and certainly not as conducive to saving clean bacon fat for use later. Yum, bacon fat.
This week’s poll comes after word from the StarTribune (sorry, I try not to link to them all that often because of their ridiculous limits on reading) that Farmington’s mayor believes the recently renovated grocery store in town will bring more business back to other areas of the city because people won’t be leaving to go to other areas to do their shopping.
From the article:
“People were going to Lakeville, they were going to Apple Valley,” said Farmington Mayor Todd Larson. “They quit coming to town to buy groceries, they quit coming to town to eat and buy gas, and they quit coming to town for everything else.”
The article goes on to note that a recent city commissioned study concluded that the city could support two grocery stores and they are looking into making that a reality. Evidence that the newly renovated store is having a trickle down effect on other businesses were quotes from other local businesses nearby noting they have seen an uptick in the number of people walking in their doors.
The question here is whether a single store, in this case a grocery store, would keep you closer to home for all of your money spending needs? If your town didn’t have a grocery store would you be begging the city to bring one in or would you simply drive the handful of miles to another town like everyone does in almost every other city in the nation? Do you wonder if the uptick in nearby business is just a result of curiosity or do you think this could be a longterm indicator? Are you a Farmington resident? Does the new format of the grocery store in town make you excited? Do you go there for all of your main shopping or do you just use it for quick trips when you have forgotten something?
Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on and vote on the side bar and then feel free to check out our expired polls in the archive or read through the previous posts about polls here.
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July 8th, 2012 at 8:04 am
Absolutely a good grocery store would keep me in town. A crummy one keeps me there too, considering that I go to the grocery store 2-3 times a week compared to 2-3 times a month for the most frequent destination on my list, I don’t like driving to across town for stuff if I don’t have to.
I spend 90% of my grocery dollars within 5 miles of my house. I love Trader Joes for example and if they were local would be in there once a week, but because the nearest one is 13 miles away.. i’m only there when I have a special trip or are in the neighborhood anyway.
The better the store the better I feel about going there and yes, when I’m there I’ll stop at the gas station, dry cleaner, and whatever else might be around.
July 8th, 2012 at 8:09 am
I think that a grocery store is part of it. For me, It’s great to have a store within a mile of the house for when I need something quick. If we did not have a Cub down here, and I was forced to go to Roundy’s for my immediate needs, I would, however for my regular shopping, I would go somewhere else with a non-Roundy’s store. (Don’t care for the layout, the produce or the overall ‘feel’ It just has a ‘goodwill’ of Grocery stores and is too bright and sterile white for my liking.
I do have about everything I need within 2 miles of home, Target, Grocery, Menards and a selection of food. I do feel tho, if there wasn’t a good grocery down here, I would venture to Woodbury or Hastings.
It’s important to note, those towns both have a Chipotle, where Cottage Grove does not.. (sad panda)
July 8th, 2012 at 10:56 pm
I currently live within a few miles of eight full grocery stores and multiple smaller ethnic ones, with the closest being a SuperValu 3 blocks away. I’m spoiled. But next week I’m moving and will be miles from the closest grocery store, but within blocks from work. For me, I’d rather have to drive 10 to 15 minutes to get to a grocery store a couple times a week and be able to walk to work than the opposite.
July 10th, 2012 at 8:25 pm
Sorry, but I don’t live where I live based on local grocery stores. I call bullshit on anything Mayor Larson says, as well.
I will say, however, with great conviction, that when the store in Farmington changed to a bullshit store with zero selection, I vowed to never set foot in the store again in my lifetime. Let it go back to a full-service store, I don’t care. I stand by my vow to never shop the again.
July 11th, 2012 at 11:37 am
I’m not sure the term “keep you in town” is meaningful. Farmington reaches pretty far west and north which would put their respective grocery stores closer than downtown Farmington. If I lived in those areas, I would still go to the closest place that offers what I need (assuming quality, selection, and price are equivalent). That would be the Pilot Knob Target in AV or the Cubs on Cedar or just west of downtown Lakeville.
On the flip side, a couple times I’ve lived in homes where I literally passed grocery stores to get to what I needed. In St. Paul, I lived two blocks from corner grocer Widmer’s. When I had a large list, there were just too many holes in what they offered and I ended up going down to Lunds in Highland anyway. It was fine for a quick couple of things. If they had expanded/improved (not really an option for Widmer’s, but hypothetically) then, yeah, it would have “kept me in town/the neighborhood”.
What I’m mostly curious about is why this was a “news story” at all. A business made itself better and more people go there now instead of driving 2-3x the distance to get the product. Brilliant! But the City didn’t have anything to do with it and is commissioning a study (at a huge expense I’m sure) to tell people what everyone already knows – as soon as there is enough demand in a particular area, a business will capitalize by opening there. If the business sucks, it will fail.
July 11th, 2012 at 7:05 pm
Yeah, it is not about the number of people in Farmington, so much as it is where they live, like MSPD says. Downtown Farmington isn’t that convenient for a lot of people, just like a lot of people in northern Lakeville don’t go to its downtown all that much (if ever).
July 15th, 2012 at 7:02 am
[...] week’s poll asked whether all of your shopping revolved around the local grocery store. The vast majority said that it does not, possibly invalidating the hopes and dreams of the [...]
July 20th, 2012 at 11:01 am
Because of where we live in Farmington, we are in the ‘newer’ (northern) section of the city. However, we are still closer to downtown than to the AV Target on Pilot Knob, and the Cub off of 179th and Cedar.
We stopped going to the Farmington grocery store when they were testing their new store format, which was supposed to compete with Aldi. We tried it once and didn’t go back. However, now that they went back to a full-service formatted store, it’s been a much more pleasant shopping experience.
We’ve been shopping there the last few weeks, and I myself notice how much more we’ll spend money at surrounding businesses. Whether it be on gas at Kwik Trip, a haircut, ordering takeout, or running to the hardware store. I would say the article mentioning the business uptick isn’t that far off.
July 20th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
That must be like the Timberwolves at the end of each season “competing” for the most ping pong balls in the draft lottery.
July 20th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
That sincerely made me laugh. +5 for being an excellent sports analogy.
August 23rd, 2012 at 7:02 am
[...] the author states is true. Some people do indeed spend money in areas where they visit for any variety of reasons. It’s that sort of logic which drives politicians to make poor [...]