That's good. Been there a few times now, and I'm already pretty fond of it.

Their food bar/food combos option is pretty valuable as an affordable lunch (I work pretty close) or as an easy dinner to pick up on the way home.

I suppose I haven't done a great deal of actual shopping there, but it seems to be nice. I think they'll do well wherever they go as they've managed to find a niche.

Fresh and local food, with an upscale feel, at prices competitive with Schnuck's or Dierberg's rather than Whole Foods.

Maybe a location in Old North could be part of McKee's NSR plan.

Both pretty slow TBH

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Oct 16, 2019

Both pretty slow TBH

I have only gone to the downtown one once and I would agree with this statement. Maybe I am biased though since the Schnucks/Culinaria is just slightly closer and more convenient to my location and it seems to always have a long line. That or maybe I went on a bad day. 

Downtown location has been so slow you can find cheese that expired this summer still on the shelf 

Fields Foods is a 4-minute walk for me, and I've only been there like three times and spent a total of maybe $20.

Culinaria is 10 minutes more walking, but the produce is so much better and everything is far, far cheaper. For me personally, Fields is nearly worthless, other than maybe once in a while when I need something between 9pm and 10pm (Fields is open an hour later).

I go quite often to the Lafayette Square location and it always feels extremely empty to me.

kipfilet wrote: ↑

Oct 21, 2019

I go quite often to the Lafayette Square location and it always feels extremely empty to me.

I wouldn't say extremely empty, but the best gauge to me is that of the 8 to 10 checkout lanes they have, I have never seen more than two open and full of customers, and most of them just have a basket of groceries or less.  I generally go after rush hour though, so it's possible they get a lot of early evening traffic from all of the downtown workers passing by to access the I-44 / 55 ramps.

Until they can scale up and get a better price from suppliers there is no point of going. I don’t mind paying a higher price when the product is better quality but not when the same dogtown pizza is $3 cheaper at Schnucks

Tbf it's not unusual for Schnucks to have very few lanes open even when busy. Just one way that retailers have cut costs is by understaffing their stores and increasing wait times for customers.

^About the only time I see more open is during a holiday rush, when places are chaos anyway. Even with every lane open.

rumor is that Fields is pulling out of the Dogtown project and may be replaced by Ruler
and that Fields downtown west location is bombing (but I've been signing that tune since it opened)

I checked out the downtown Fields Foods not too long after it opened. It's very nice, but I couldn't really get over how expensive everything is. I could understand maybe being a little higher than Schnucks, but I mean, it would be such an expense for me if I lived nearby and had to buy my groceries there. (I imagine the Delmar and Euclid store is just as high?). Such a shame, I thought the DT location would be busy pretty much all the time. Don't they have an adjacent parking lot, too?

eflurer wrote: ↑

Dec 18, 2019

I checked out the downtown Fields Foods not too long after it opened. It's very nice, but I couldn't really get over how expensive everything is. I could understand maybe being a little higher than Schnucks, but I mean, it would be such an expense for me if I lived nearby and had to buy my groceries there. (I imagine the Delmar and Euclid store is just as high?). Such a shame, I thought the DT location would be busy pretty much all the time. Don't they have an adjacent parking lot, too?

There is a parking lot next to the building on the west side

from a friend- 

Passed a guy coming out of downtown location yesterday. He was on the phone and said: “Oh my god. I’ve never paid so much money for 4 things in my life.” Pretty much says it all.

Yes, I already wrote this somewhere (maybe a different thread), but I truly cannot understand how the Lafayette Square survives. The place is nice enough, sure, but it's a Whole Foods clone after all. Everything is crazy expensive. We would never think of regularly doing our groceries there. I go there only occasionally for smaller things, mostly beer and wine runs. 

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Dec 18, 2019

rumor is that Fields is pulling out of the Dogtown project and may be replaced by Ruler
and that Fields downtown west location is bombing (but I've been signing that tune since it opened)

I think it’s past a rumor at this point. It’s been pretty much confirmed by people at the building. That fields isn’t going in, not the ruler part of it. That could also be true though.

When the LS Fields first opened it was great. Really fresh produce, high-quality stuff. Then they started lowering the standards a bit. Less local. More bargain brand. But the prices remained high. Maybe even went up. I now go to the new Aldi on Gravois.

The reviews for the DT location are kind scary. The main complaints are prices, empty shelves, poor quality, unprofessionalism...I feel like it would be hard to recover from such a bad reputation now. People aren't gonna want to go back.

It's a slippery slope - if you're doing well and then cut back a bit, customers are gonna notice and some will stop coming in. Then to raise the prices and cut back even more to offset those losses...you're digging your own grave. I hope this is an extreme picture I'm painting of Fields Foods, as I want nothing more for them to succeed and DT needs more places to get groceries!

I was excited for the CWE location, especially that corner, until I saw the prices. It's standard grocery store items at luxury prices.  Aldi is across the street. Straubs/WF are pricey yes, but they carry products you can't get in other stores, some might believe are higher quality.  My everyday junk/frozen food was notably higher than Schnucks.  A facebook ad was taken out against Fields Foods stating the owner just took subsidies. 

^I drive past the CWE store almost every day, and I rarely see shoppers inside.  

Why should I shop at Fields? Convince me....