Any speculation as to when I can start buying groceries here?
Moorlander wrote:^ This Schnucks will not be priced competitively nor should it. Anyone who thinks different is straight up ignant. This is a downtown store, and it will have downtown prices.
Frankly, I'm pissed. Maybe I missed the small print, but everything was "this is a downtown Schnuck's." And it's not.
Who is going to shop here? And why?
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^ I think it's been popularly referred to as the downtown Schnuck's, but every word from Schnuck's has been that this will be different type of store.
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PsychoTim wrote:Moorlander wrote:^ This Schnucks will not be priced competitively nor should it. Anyone who thinks different is straight up ignant. This is a downtown store, and it will have downtown prices.
Frankly, I'm pissed. Maybe I missed the small print, but everything was "this is a downtown Schnuck's." And it's not.
Who is going to shop here? And why?
Funny, I don't remember ever typing that. I think if Schnucks builds out a nice store with quality goods, people won't complain over paying a slight premium as long as the prices are still competitive. After all, this will be extremely convenient.
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{very OT}
I find it very comical that the first post of "psychotim's" that I read begins with "frankly i'm pissed."
{end}
I find it very comical that the first post of "psychotim's" that I read begins with "frankly i'm pissed."
{end}
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STL63101 wrote:You are all kidding yourselves if you think that Culinaria is going to be any cheaper. Talk to any small grocer and you will learn the very unfair economics of the grocery business. Schnucks is not going to be stocking Culinaria with inexpensive items. It is going to be a boutique grocer. You won't be finding any schucks plain label goods.
Your opinion or fact? I think I remember reading a press release stating that their prices will be inline with other stores. This is not a small grocery store needing to charge a premium because they have no buying power. This is a major chain that can purchase items cheaper than places like City Grocer's. I expect some things to be pricey but the major staples to be quite fair with a decent variety.
Moorlander wrote:^ This Schnucks will not be priced competitively nor should it. Anyone who thinks different is straight up ignant. This is a downtown store, and it will have downtown prices.
“In addition to an expanded selection of prepared foods, our downtown customers can expect this market to offer the same Schnucks product value, quality, variety and service,” said Schnuck. “We are particularly excited to bring the only pharmacy to the downtown area.”
“Schnucks is committed to growing and to serving more customers in our hometown,” said Schnuck. “As with any one of our new store projects, we will build this new downtown, neighborhood market to meet the lifestyles and budgets of all its customers.”
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irocktheparty2000 wrote:Moorlander wrote:^ This Schnucks will not be priced competitively nor should it. Anyone who thinks different is straight up ignant. This is a downtown store, and it will have downtown prices.
“In addition to an expanded selection of prepared foods, our downtown customers can expect this market to offer the same Schnucks product value, quality, variety and service,” said Schnuck. “We are particularly excited to bring the only pharmacy to the downtown area.”
“Schnucks is committed to growing and to serving more customers in our hometown,” said Schnuck. “As with any one of our new store projects, we will build this new downtown, neighborhood market to meet the lifestyles and budgets of all its customers.”
Hm..I think that means it will be more expensive
...unless they're thinking about the folks that might wander in from Larry Rice's place.
From the April Gourmet News Magazine
Schnuck's Culinaria opens this summer
04.2009
By Jenna Crisostomo
ST. LOUIS-Schnuck Markets Inc. plans to open a new, downtown store here on the lower level of Ninth Street Garage this summer. The groundbreaking for Culinaria - A Schnucks Market took place Jan. 28.
"Culinaria is a very interesting name, and this will not be your typical grocery store," said Lori Willis, director of communications for Schnuck Markets Inc. "At Culinaria, we're going to provide food and food education. We're going to teach people and we want to be a very service-oriented store in the downtown area."
Located on 9th and Olive Streets, Culinaria will have two levels. The upper level will span approximately 6,300 square feet, and the lower level will be around 21,000 square feet, said Willis. "It's a smaller store, but what it lacks in size will be made up for in service," added Willis.
In addition to being heavy on service, Willis said "our (Culinaria's) prepared foods section will be the focus of the store. We're making it very easy for customers downtown to pick up prepared foods and meals."
The store will also offer various food bars, wine selections and sampling of foods, and house a pharmacy, the "only pharmacy in the downtown area," said Willis.
Willis was unable to comment on future store openings beyond Culinaria's summer debut.
"As a company, Schnucks has worked toward the growth and revitalization of downtown for some time now," Schnucks Chairman and CEO Scott Schnuck said in a statement. "We have always looked for opportunities to serve customers in this market area. A growing downtown population, potential for additional growth and redevelopment around our planned store site along with our partnership with state and local supporters are all indicators to us that the time is right for us to bring a new neighborhood store and new jobs to the City of St. Louis."
Schnuck Markets Inc. was founded here in 1939. The company operates 103 stores, which includes five Logli stores, and 100 pharmacies in Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, Tennessee, Iowa and Mississippi. Culinaria's opening will mark the ninth Schnucks store in the city and the 65th store in the metropolitan area here.
Schnuck's Culinaria opens this summer
04.2009
By Jenna Crisostomo
ST. LOUIS-Schnuck Markets Inc. plans to open a new, downtown store here on the lower level of Ninth Street Garage this summer. The groundbreaking for Culinaria - A Schnucks Market took place Jan. 28.
"Culinaria is a very interesting name, and this will not be your typical grocery store," said Lori Willis, director of communications for Schnuck Markets Inc. "At Culinaria, we're going to provide food and food education. We're going to teach people and we want to be a very service-oriented store in the downtown area."
Located on 9th and Olive Streets, Culinaria will have two levels. The upper level will span approximately 6,300 square feet, and the lower level will be around 21,000 square feet, said Willis. "It's a smaller store, but what it lacks in size will be made up for in service," added Willis.
In addition to being heavy on service, Willis said "our (Culinaria's) prepared foods section will be the focus of the store. We're making it very easy for customers downtown to pick up prepared foods and meals."
The store will also offer various food bars, wine selections and sampling of foods, and house a pharmacy, the "only pharmacy in the downtown area," said Willis.
Willis was unable to comment on future store openings beyond Culinaria's summer debut.
"As a company, Schnucks has worked toward the growth and revitalization of downtown for some time now," Schnucks Chairman and CEO Scott Schnuck said in a statement. "We have always looked for opportunities to serve customers in this market area. A growing downtown population, potential for additional growth and redevelopment around our planned store site along with our partnership with state and local supporters are all indicators to us that the time is right for us to bring a new neighborhood store and new jobs to the City of St. Louis."
Schnuck Markets Inc. was founded here in 1939. The company operates 103 stores, which includes five Logli stores, and 100 pharmacies in Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, Tennessee, Iowa and Mississippi. Culinaria's opening will mark the ninth Schnucks store in the city and the 65th store in the metropolitan area here.
irocktheparty2000 wrote:Moorlander wrote:^ This Schnucks will not be priced competitively nor should it. Anyone who thinks different is straight up ignant. This is a downtown store, and it will have downtown prices.
“In addition to an expanded selection of prepared foods, our downtown customers can expect this market to offer the same Schnucks product value, quality, variety and service,” said Schnuck. “We are particularly excited to bring the only pharmacy to the downtown area.”
“Schnucks is committed to growing and to serving more customers in our hometown,” said Schnuck. “As with any one of our new store projects, we will build this new downtown, neighborhood market to meet the lifestyles and budgets of all its customers.”
Well they already made at least one mistake by saying they're the only pharmacy, considering CVS has been open for some time. They may have accidentally added "value" to their list of benefits, too.
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I paln to do about 1/4 of my grocery shopping there. Well continue to go to Schunk's at Arsenal 3 weeks out of the month, but I want to see what's happeneing at The Culinaria, too once a month.
Wow, this is a tough crowd. Lot of negative speculation. I think I'll reserve my opinions for after I have experienced the store. My guess is that the store will open at the very end of summer...late September.
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vollum wrote:Wow, this is a tough crowd. Lot of negative speculation. I think I'll reserve my opinions for after I have experienced the store.
Now that's just crazy.
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maybe this is the pilot for a chain of whole foods killers.
I don't understand why no one is showing any support here for our current neighborhood grocer? City Grocers has been down here for almost 5 years now. Owned by neighbors, we should support this local business first! So you may pay a little extra, but in the long run you are investing in the neighborhood. Let's see how much our property values sink when all the storefronts downtown are empty because no one who lives down here will support the business because it is "too expensive" Even that "fake urban" neighborhood in St.Charles that we all mock so much fought to keep their original neighborhood grocer open and viable.
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If you read back through 47 pages in this thread you will find many supporters of City Grocers. By the way, Schnuck's is a local business as well. I always find it curious where people's lines between corporate/local/small business/etc exist. What if City Grocers were to grow to 100+ stores would we need to stop supporting them?
point was...Schnucks got 7 million dollars of our money to open this store. CG probably got about 50K of our money, the rest was all a few neighbor's money that they have invested. They opened when no one else would.
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Grover wrote:If you read back through 47 pages in this thread you will find many supporters of City Grocers. By the way, Schnuck's is a local business as well. I always find it curious where people's lines between corporate/local/small business/etc exist. What if City Grocers were to grow to 100+ stores would we need to stop supporting them?
When you get down to it, Schnucks is local, but it is also run out of the suburbs. You have to look at the track record of any business before pouring your utmost support into it; local businesses are no exception to that rule. Schnuck's track record is very mixed. On the one hand, they still maintain stores in areas that Dierberg's and even Shop 'N' Save don't seem to touch (for Dierberg's, this means anything inside City Limits). The Grand and Kossuth store seems to alleviate an incredible dearth of fresh and relatively affordable groceries for North-Central City.
On the other hand, Schnucks and their real estate arm (DESCO) have taken what could have been transformational developments for their host neighborhoods and turned them into suburban blight. The Grand and Gravois property is ugly, ill-maintained, provides too much parking, and is oriented to no street at all--in the heart of one of St. Louis's most visible and active business districts. Their development of a shopping center at Page and Union destroyed a row of unique and beautiful homes and replaced them with something much less urban and appropriate to the built environment. Already discussed in depth on this thread, DESCO's handling of the OPO/Century debacle combined the worst of insider politics and horrible, 1950s era "planning" to produce the "Culinaria".
The best rule of thumb in choosing where to put your money (if you have the privilege to do so, that is) is to examine who benefits from your contribution and what that company's vision is. Schnuck's is hellbent on capitalizing on profits in the exurbs. Their level of success and their path to enhancing profitability is to expand, expand, expand, build suburban stores, and corner the market (they now have stores in Memphis, Southern Illinois, and Minnesota). In other words, they're not the same Schnuck's Markets of the 1930s.
City Grocers profitability is tied to the health of downtown alone. Even if it opened up three more stores (say, Ivanhoe, South Grand, and Euclid), its resources would still go into supporting the City of St. Louis. Exclusively shopping at Schnucks means that you are contributing to providing groceries to your exurban neighbors. I'd rather support downtown.
City Grocers is also, on some level, unique and speaks to something you can't find in most suburban areas: a walkable, independently-owned grocery store. We can't downplay the effects of propping up unique places in our city, even if it difficult to monetize these effects.
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Very well said Matt. I guess this is why Left Bank Books downtown is much preferable to a Borders. There's good reason to support some local businesses over other "local" businesses. Any news regarding City Grocers possibly moving west?
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Do we even know if Craig Heller wants to continue to operate CG in the short term/long term? I'm pretty sure CG was just to be a stopgap.
The reason that City Grocers opened in the first place was because Chris Heller realized there needed to be a grocer downtown to attract people for his apartments. Schnucks is good for everyone INCLUDING the owner of City Grocers. The image of Schnucks being downtown is huge. This is the best thing to happen to downtown in a while. I can't believe that some people can find a negative in that. We're not putting a mom and pop store out of business we're fulfilling an image that this individual had a long time ago. City Grocer will evolve and find a niche and if it doesn't Chris will open something else in that spot that downtown needs.
^^^ Exactly....what people are failing to realize is that City Grocers is a great establishment, but lacks the name credibility of a Schnucks. Now that Schnucks is downtown people that would have never considered downtown because of the perceived lack of service will now look into the market. The addition of the Schnucks is instrumental in selling downtown to locals (specifically empty-nesters and retirees looking to downsize), because if we don't convince more locals that downtown is a real neighborhood this great St. Louis urban renaissance will go unnoticed and therefore will be short lived. Everyone should be pretty confident at this point that downtown will have a little a boom after the economy is better, because of the addition of amenities like Schnucks.
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Goat--
I have a feeling that people looking to move downtown will do a bit more research prior to their move. That research would likely unearth City Grocers, which is an asset unique to downtown. Sure the Culinaria is a new concept for Schnucks, and I'm sure it will be snazzy, but it's still just irks me that there are heavy subsidies for a corporate tenant with, as goat puts it, "name credibility".
The desire for name credibility, and attracting those people who are slaves to it, is anathema to creating a unique, livable city differentiated from its own suburbs. St. Louis desperately needs creative, free thinkers who will be dedicated to pushing the city in a positive direction so that we can build off of recent successes.
I mean, would you be happy if the city lured a Barnes and Noble to locate a block away from the new downtown Left Bank Books?
I have a feeling that people looking to move downtown will do a bit more research prior to their move. That research would likely unearth City Grocers, which is an asset unique to downtown. Sure the Culinaria is a new concept for Schnucks, and I'm sure it will be snazzy, but it's still just irks me that there are heavy subsidies for a corporate tenant with, as goat puts it, "name credibility".
The desire for name credibility, and attracting those people who are slaves to it, is anathema to creating a unique, livable city differentiated from its own suburbs. St. Louis desperately needs creative, free thinkers who will be dedicated to pushing the city in a positive direction so that we can build off of recent successes.
I mean, would you be happy if the city lured a Barnes and Noble to locate a block away from the new downtown Left Bank Books?
aj2cb2000 wrote:The reason that City Grocers opened in the first place was because Chris Heller realized there needed to be a grocer downtown to attract people for his apartments. Schnucks is good for everyone INCLUDING the owner of City Grocers. The image of Schnucks being downtown is huge. This is the best thing to happen to downtown in a while. I can't believe that some people can find a negative in that. We're not putting a mom and pop store out of business we're fulfilling an image that this individual had a long time ago. City Grocer will evolve and find a niche and if it doesn't Chris will open something else in that spot that downtown needs.
I thought it was Craig.