Aldi stores on Milwaukee in Wicker Park, two on Clybourn one on Belmont were all less then two miles from my house and all were set-back boxes with parking in front. Can't think of one true urban design. Jewel-Osco did open a new store on Chicago that was a true urban design. Not many others.dweebe wrote: ↑Mar 10, 2021Just asking: not challenging, but does Aldi do urban stores? In Chicago all I can remember them being their normal suburban boxes with parking lots.
The only true urban Aldi store I've seen is in Chicago on Sheridan/Broadway at Granville. I saw it when I visited a friend at Loyola a while back. It's at the base of an apartment building.STLinCHI wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2021Aldi stores on Milwaukee in Wicker Park, two on Clybourn one on Belmont were all less then two miles from my house and all were set-back boxes with parking in front. Can't think of one true urban design. Jewel-Osco did open a new store on Chicago that was a true urban design. Not many others.dweebe wrote: ↑Mar 10, 2021Just asking: not challenging, but does Aldi do urban stores? In Chicago all I can remember them being their normal suburban boxes with parking lots.
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^Even in the UK I'm recalling Aldi being a thing of parking lots and strip malls. But they're based out of Germany and they have stores everywhere, so I expect they can figure it out if they want to. That said, I'd favor something local over any out of town grocer just on principal.
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^ I really only saw urban Aldi's when I stayed in Germany. Of course, I only traveled out to the countryside a handful of times, but even then, they didn't look anything like how they do here. That being said, Downtown nor Downtown West need any more grocers, small or large. What's the point? There's a brand new DGX on Washington and the entire Schnucks in OPOP. The 22nd St. Fields Foods struggling should be a clear enough reason against any more grocers.
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Wouldn't not be cool if Dierbergs finally entered the city? Maybe call it DTown?
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I think Fields Foods at 18th and Washington will improve soon. Lofts at the Hupp, 1800 Washington and 1801 Washington will all benefit it. Not to mention Butler Brothers. I think Fields has improved a bit though since they first opened. More people know about it now. But the main issue, in my view, up until this point is that the area around Fields lacks the amount of residents that Culinaria/Old Post Office area have. Or maybe there's more but they're spread out. No matter the case though, I think it'll do better in the coming years.Elek.borrelli wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2021^ I really only saw urban Aldi's when I stayed in Germany. Of course, I only traveled out to the countryside a handful of times, but even then, they didn't look anything like how they do here. That being said, Downtown nor Downtown West need any more grocers, small or large. What's the point? There's a brand new DGX on Washington and the entire Schnucks in OPOP. The 22nd St. Fields Foods struggling should be a clear enough reason against any more grocers.
In my opinion, DGX isn't a grocery store. More of a convenience store. Downtown could benefit from having an Aldi-like business down there since Schnucks/Culinaria and Fields are little pricier. Not everyone wants to spend so much, so Aldi could be a good choice.
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Outside of the bigger cities they tend to look pretty similar to our Aldi stores. Things I miss about the OG stores is their better selections and also the fact you can buy and use cart tokens instead of coins.Elek.borrelli wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2021^ I really only saw urban Aldi's when I stayed in Germany. Of course, I only traveled out to the countryside a handful of times, but even then, they didn't look anything like how they do here.
That one must have skipped me in all my visits up there. If any place had urban Aldi's I figured it would be Chicago since their North American HQ is in Chicago, but waaaay out in the suburbs.chriss752 wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2021The only true urban Aldi store I've seen is in Chicago on Sheridan/Broadway at Granville. I saw it when I visited a friend at Loyola a while back. It's at the base of an apartment building.STLinCHI wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2021Aldi stores on Milwaukee in Wicker Park, two on Clybourn one on Belmont were all less then two miles from my house and all were set-back boxes with parking in front. Can't think of one true urban design. Jewel-Osco did open a new store on Chicago that was a true urban design. Not many others.dweebe wrote: ↑Mar 10, 2021Just asking: not challenging, but does Aldi do urban stores? In Chicago all I can remember them being their normal suburban boxes with parking lots.
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A downtown Aldis would be great. I just don't think we're there yet for a Trader Joes down at the Mansion House.
Never happening unless there's new leadership that gets a wild hair. I think they're pleased as punch with their suburban strip mall stores.Miss Shell wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2021Wouldn't not be cool if Dierbergs finally entered the city? Maybe call it DTown?
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It took Dierbergs over a decade to stop being jerks about the Metrolink stop at Brentwood.
As I said, this is a big project. Surprised this has gone under the local media's radar, especially considering they've already started work:framer wrote: ↑Mar 10, 2021Plans include a 16,000 sq. ft. grocery store at ground level:
https://greython.com/project/city-place ... 4KNosCTQHc
"Greython Construction has been selected to act as Owners Representative/Construction Manager to oversee the adaptive reuse of the former 600 room Crowne Plaza building in St Louis, MO. The 26 story, $46 million-dollar project will transform the existing building into 160 market rate apartments, 190 hotel rooms, and 95 time share units. The common areas, lobby, observation decks and restaurants will also be thoroughly renovated and repositioned. In addition, a street level 16,000 square foot retail grocery store will be added to the building. Greython will oversee the design and construction of the project."
FWIW, from their project list, it looks like Greython does some fairly upscale stuff.
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Trader Joe's desperately needs a city location but I will eat my sock if their first one ends up here. A setup in a major semi-urban development with plenty of free parking makes a lot more sense for them (not unlike Fresh Thyme in the Foundry)
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Why time-share units?urbanitas wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2021As I said, this is a big project. Surprised this has gone under the local media's radar, especially considering they've already started work:framer wrote: ↑Mar 10, 2021Plans include a 16,000 sq. ft. grocery store at ground level:
https://greython.com/project/city-place ... 4KNosCTQHc
"Greython Construction has been selected to act as Owners Representative/Construction Manager to oversee the adaptive reuse of the former 600 room Crowne Plaza building in St Louis, MO. The 26 story, $46 million-dollar project will transform the existing building into 160 market rate apartments, 190 hotel rooms, and 95 time share units. The common areas, lobby, observation decks and restaurants will also be thoroughly renovated and repositioned. In addition, a street level 16,000 square foot retail grocery store will be added to the building. Greython will oversee the design and construction of the project."
FWIW, from their project list, it looks like Greython does some fairly upscale stuff.
The 20, 30 or more person long lines at the Brentwood TJs should be tipping their management off they have demand. But yeah, I'll also eat a sock if they go into Mansion House.GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2021Trader Joe's desperately needs a city location but I will eat my sock if their first one ends up here. A setup in a major semi-urban development with plenty of free parking makes a lot more sense for them (not unlike Fresh Thyme in the Foundry)
Does $46 million mean a quality job will be coming? Or is it a sign these buildings have a ton of work to be done?urbanitas wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2021As I said, this is a big project. Surprised this has gone under the local media's radar, especially considering they've already started work:framer wrote: ↑Mar 10, 2021Plans include a 16,000 sq. ft. grocery store at ground level:
https://greython.com/project/city-place ... 4KNosCTQHc
"Greython Construction has been selected to act as Owners Representative/Construction Manager to oversee the adaptive reuse of the former 600 room Crowne Plaza building in St Louis, MO. The 26 story, $46 million-dollar project will transform the existing building into 160 market rate apartments, 190 hotel rooms, and 95 time share units. The common areas, lobby, observation decks and restaurants will also be thoroughly renovated and repositioned. In addition, a street level 16,000 square foot retail grocery store will be added to the building. Greython will oversee the design and construction of the project."
FWIW, from their project list, it looks like Greython does some fairly upscale stuff.
Not only that but I think Dierbergs is an even higher price point than Schnucks (not by much, and I don’t shop there, but that’s what I hear) so I bet they’d pass on downtown all together anyway even if they went for a city store somewhere.dweebe wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2021Never happening unless there's new leadership that gets a wild hair. I think they're pleased as punch with their suburban strip mall stores.Miss Shell wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2021Wouldn't not be cool if Dierbergs finally entered the city? Maybe call it DTown?
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It took Dierbergs over a decade to stop being jerks about the Metrolink stop at Brentwood.
Yes, I put Dierbergs in the same tier as Whole Foods and Fresh Thyme: not happening downtown, not enough market value to sustain it unless they are getting massive incentives.
Agree that there is demand for TJs. We used to shop a lot at the Brentwood location and basically stopped doing so with Covid as the lines are absolutely insane. We go to the one close to Frontenac when we are out there visiting friends. But they seem to expand in a more conservative manner than other chains. I still vote for Aldi or some other chain that has not been mentioned.
Agree that there is demand for TJs. We used to shop a lot at the Brentwood location and basically stopped doing so with Covid as the lines are absolutely insane. We go to the one close to Frontenac when we are out there visiting friends. But they seem to expand in a more conservative manner than other chains. I still vote for Aldi or some other chain that has not been mentioned.
Across the country TJ's only sites their stores in areas with high median incomes. My guess is that Downtown and most of the city would be too low for them.
There's a Dierbergs near our home so we pop in from time to time. I'd consider them more of a Schnucks+ than a local WF.
Prices for their staples - eggs, bread, meats, boxed mac & cheese, etc. - are priced comparably to Schnucks by and large. You *can* shop there as cheaply as you would shop at a Schnucks if you choose your products carefully. The difference is they also tend to include more premium options for most products. They are *definitely* cheaper than Whole Foods.
That said I'd be shocked to see them enter the city proper, much less open an urban-format store downtown. In their 167-year history I don't believe they've ever operated a story within STL city limits.
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Prices for their staples - eggs, bread, meats, boxed mac & cheese, etc. - are priced comparably to Schnucks by and large. You *can* shop there as cheaply as you would shop at a Schnucks if you choose your products carefully. The difference is they also tend to include more premium options for most products. They are *definitely* cheaper than Whole Foods.
That said I'd be shocked to see them enter the city proper, much less open an urban-format store downtown. In their 167-year history I don't believe they've ever operated a story within STL city limits.
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TJ's = Fancy Aldi.PeterXCV wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2021Across the country TJ's only sites their stores in areas with high median incomes. My guess is that Downtown and most of the city would be too low for them.
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^ Have to agree on that one.
It is still mind boggling on how many choices for my family with decent income because they all carved out a niche or price point. I think we shop four different grocery stores at any given time from Whole Foods, to TJs to Sprouts to a local chain Lonardi's. Yet we can still hit high end or the very low end or simply convenience in our immediate area which include another three choices between Safeway, Target w full groceries and a very high end local Diablo food markets nor any of the couple local small corner markets in our area. All said and done we can be to seven different grocery stores in ten minutes plus a couple local corner stores. I given up on counting coffee shops. Maybe a better way to put it for better or worse, amazing how much they stumble over each other based on demographics
To some of the earlier posts it would be interesting to see if Aldi's would carry an urban format as the Chicago one that Chris noted further or to more places.
It is still mind boggling on how many choices for my family with decent income because they all carved out a niche or price point. I think we shop four different grocery stores at any given time from Whole Foods, to TJs to Sprouts to a local chain Lonardi's. Yet we can still hit high end or the very low end or simply convenience in our immediate area which include another three choices between Safeway, Target w full groceries and a very high end local Diablo food markets nor any of the couple local small corner markets in our area. All said and done we can be to seven different grocery stores in ten minutes plus a couple local corner stores. I given up on counting coffee shops. Maybe a better way to put it for better or worse, amazing how much they stumble over each other based on demographics
To some of the earlier posts it would be interesting to see if Aldi's would carry an urban format as the Chicago one that Chris noted further or to more places.
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Fun fact, Trader Joe’s is actually Aldi. Interesting story.
https://www.aldireviewer.com/aldi-trader-joes-related/
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https://www.aldireviewer.com/aldi-trader-joes-related/
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It does have a ton of work to be done, no question, but it depends on whether or not the retail/office building to the north is included in that $46 million figure. The demo drawings didn't include that building, so maybe the renovation of it for the grocery store, or whatever, is more of a Phase 2.dweebe wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2021Does $46 million mean a quality job will be coming? Or is it a sign these buildings have a ton of work to be done?
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Trader Joes is in fact owned by Aldi but not the Aldi that operates in the US....the Aldi brothers split the company down the middle and one had Aldi North in germany and the other Aldi South, well the Aldi that stayed in Germany and Europe at some point bought Trader Joes but its not the Aldi that came to the US
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With their next closest stores being in Atlanta, there's zero distribution network to support stores in Missouri. IMO, this spot would be best serve as a CVS or Walgreens.