urbanSTL

Mark Groth wrote: ↑

Aug 17, 2023

I was no fan of Fields Food prices, but I appreciated the locations and physical spaces they occupied in Downtown West, Clayton-Tamm and Skinker-DeBal. The Peabody Darst Webbe/Lafayette one was 100% suburban model, but clearly the most successful. That got me thinking, are St. Louisans not ready or willing to shop at smaller, more independent markets vs. driving to a huge Schnucks or WalMart, etc? Maybe we're not ready to shop smaller. Who knows. I do find it weird that some seem to be happy to see a local business fail that didn't meet their needs 100%. Anyhow, we need more diversity in grocery stores. Nothing against Schnucks, but Aldi and Sav A Lot are really the only other options for full shopping in St. Louis. And Schnucks is $$. I like the Fresh Thyme on Forest Park, but it too is $$. The Meijer store brand is pretty competitive to Schnucks though...

I understand the frustration, but I don't think that's it. Johnny's Market was pretty well supported back in the day, and Freddie's still is. Le Grand's does well, particularly since they also have a great deli. Several of the local Asian markets are basically full-service grocers now, with cosmetics, pharmacies, butchers, and even appliances in some cases. There's a ton of different examples, and there are plenty of others that have come and go over the years. (Sappington Farmer's Market comes to mind.) They've worked in the city and out in the burbs. They've failed in both places, too. I think it depends on how the place is run. There's even several different winning formulas. Be a neighborhood grocer that's clean, well stocked, and has stuff people near you want. (Freddie's.) Sell prepared food and make it work as a combination restaurant and grocer. (Le Grand. Though to be fair, even the big chains do that more and more all the time.) Be a destination grocer selling specific things you can't get elsewhere, like the larger ethnic groceries. And if you want really small footprint stuff there's plenty of tiny groceries in the city that are really barely more than a convenience store. And if you're in the county, well . . . maybe there's a convenience store that isn't too long a walk, but people mostly live there by choice (mostly) and you get what you pay for.

I'm sorry to see Field's go, but I don't think they're failing because they're not perfect. We make the rounds of three different grocery stores near us and the only one we skip that's close is Dollar General, and to be fair . . . they suck. We usually hit the Schnucks on Loughborough, Cho Quoc Te/World Market on Grand, and the Aldi on Gravois near Chippewa. I'd be thrilled if there was another option closer. (Say where that Dollar Sadness on Grand sits.) I admit, I don't often shop at the two groceries nearest me, as they're respectively a tiny Afghan grocer and . . . hot garbage. But I've tried both. And I don't think my corner is really atypical for the city.

As to the prices, meh, people are going to complain. They don't really feel all that different from Columbia, when I lived there. We had Schnucks, Gerbes (a Kroger brand), HyVee (an Iowa chain), Aldi, and the usual variety of smaller local and ethnic grocers. If the prices were cheaper it wasn't by much, and the variety of groceries you could get easily was a bit lower, so I'll take the trade. I'm willing to pay at least a modest premium for convenience. All that said, I'll absolutely agree that more would be better. Variety is the spice of life.

I would think Aldi will be eyeing the Lafayette location. I would love it although that would probably spell the end of the nearby Save A Lot.

It is over two months since Fields Foods @ Expo at Forest Park closed.

Trader Joe's within city limits would be fantastic.

I don't think Trader Joe's within city limits is going to happen anytime soon. 

kipfilet wrote: ↑

Sep 07, 2023

Trader Joe's within city limits would be fantastic.

Really don't get the popularity.

Here is a quick comparison of some demographics of the Lafayette Square Fields Foods location to the Brentwood Trader Joe's location...

TalkinDev wrote: ↑

Sep 07, 2023

Here is a quick comparison of some demographics of the Lafayette Square Fields Foods location to the Brentwood Trader Joe's location...

That is useful data.  Is the source publicly available?

The three miles tells a very different between the two locations. The river is only a mile from the store, which throws off how many people are living within three. Median income is also thrown off by the proximity to Clinton Peabody's concentrated poverty. 

There are plenty of wealthy enough Trader Joe's customers in and around that area that would patronize that location. 3 miles is a tiny catchment area for a specialty grocer like Trader Joe's with such a loyal customer base. Not to mention there is no Trader Joe's on the East Side, so it would scoop many of those river crossers that would otherwise go have to go all the way to Brentwood. 

If the data exists, I would be curious to see how many daily customers at the Brentwood store are from Illinois.

RockChalkSTL wrote: ↑

Sep 07, 2023

I don't think Trader Joe's within city limits is going to happen anytime soon. 

Me neither, but I would have loved it.

I think TJ's only opens locations in areas with high median incomes. It's not like publicly stated but other people have done the math on where their locations are. 

PeterXCV wrote: ↑

Sep 11, 2023

I think TJ's only opens locations in areas with high median incomes. It's not like publicly stated but other people have done the math on where their locations are. 

^ is it more selective than Whole Foods? 

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Sep 10, 2023

The three miles tells a very different between the two locations. The river is only a mile from the store, which throws off how many people are living within three. Median income is also thrown off by the proximity to Clinton Peabody's concentrated poverty. 

There are plenty of wealthy enough Trader Joe's customers in and around that area that would patronize that location. 3 miles is a tiny catchment area for a specialty grocer like Trader Joe's with such a loyal customer base. Not to mention there is no Trader Joe's on the East Side, so it would scoop many of those river crossers that would otherwise go have to go all the way to Brentwood. 

If the data exists, I would be curious to see how many daily customers at the Brentwood store are from Illinois.

Sorry about my lack of understanding but how does opening a new TJ store work? Are the stores owned by TJ or an independent owner? If latter, then isn't that difficult? If TJ owns it, then can I go and talk to the one in brentwood and ask them to do some research

Unfortunately, St. Louis city has a better shot at a second Whole Foods than they do a first Trader Joe's.

That said, I don't think a second Whole Foods is happening anytime soon, either. 

I'd love to know how the one on Pine is doing.  

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Sep 11, 2023

PeterXCV wrote: ↑

Sep 11, 2023

I think TJ's only opens locations in areas with high median incomes. It's not like publicly stated but other people have done the math on where their locations are. 

^ is it more selective than Whole Foods? 

that is what I heard.

There is a section on the TJ's site where you can recommend future lcoations: https://www.traderjoes.com/home/contact ... st-a-store However, it seems they are just fine being super selective and have no plans to expand aggressively. Doing some basic googling, and came across this article and quote: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/trader ... t-36648012

“We’ve got a plan and that plan is based on customer feedback,” Anderson says. “We listen to Crew Members at the store, Regional Vice Presidents. We look at current stores, where things are really hot. We look at accessibility, visibility, parking, and square footage.”
Does that store-opening plan also include perusing the “Request a TJ’s in My City” submissions you might ask? “We get requests from around the world and don’t collect data on which location is requested the most,” says Kenya Friend-Daniel, National Director of Public Relations at Trader Joe’s. “Individuals or communities make their requests and we review all of them. We do not open new locations based on requests alone, the location also has to be a good fit, it has to be the right time and we have to have a great team to run the store. These are just a few of the factors we consider.” 

So while it's fun to daydream about TJ's opening up a city location, it's more likely they'll open up a location out in Wentzville than any place close to downtown in the near future. At least in my opinion and based on my understanding of their business strategies.

I used to work at Trader Joe's back in the day. 

We'd constantly have customers come in and tell us to open a new location. We'd refer them to the same page you just provided. 

I don't think Trader Joe's really listens to it, unless they're already really thinking about it. They're content to let stores grow until they're truly bursting at the seams. 

Edit: I agree; I think it's far more likely that Trader Joe's would open a location in St. Charles County than St. Louis city or anywhere in the Metro East. 

Stltoday - Fields Foods closes all stores in St. Louis. 'No deal' for new owner yet.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/bus ... dec02.html

Can they just demolish the building on Lafayette and replace it with something that utilizes the lot better?

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utilizes the lot better?
Aldi's?
or...........

Miss Shell wrote: ↑

Sep 20, 2023

Can they just demolish the building on Lafayette and replace it with something that utilizes the lot better?

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If there was a business willing to pay for the developer to do so then yeah, sure. Cash is king. But with the Walgreens and its parking lot right next door, it’s not as if this entire site would drastically change.