Washington, D.C. needs more Choices – and we’re not talking politics, we’re talking groceries. According to Governing magazine’s blog, the 13th Floor, American inner cities suffer from a dearth of convenient, reasonably priced places to shop for the daily bread. Hence the popularity of Trader Joe’s – a cult favourite for those who have been in one (and picked up a bottle of incredibly cheap wine).
I’d be willing to trade a Choices in Vancouver for a Trader Joe’s, but that’s only because we have, well, choices: Urban Fare, Safeway, IGA Marketplace, Caper’s, Super-Valu – and that’s just the downtown peninsula.
I’ve often argued that you don’t really have a definable neighbourhood until you have a full-service, medium-sized supermarket – the anchor for the high street, around which other stores and services will cluster. But in order to get that egg, you have to have the right chicken: enough people, within reasonable proximity, able to shop without dependence on the car. Once you’ve got it, you’re in the money. The blogger is right: “Crack the code to big-city retail and big profits will follow.”
Gordon, have you been to the new H Mart store on Robson? It’s an incredible hybrid Korean/western supermarket. We got one in Seattle this year, too, but it’s too deep in the suburbs for me to make it there often. And yours is downtown! Would Vancouver please stop sticking it to us?
YOu forgot T&T Supermarket and Nestor’s Market from the list. I find Nestor’s to be the most reasonbly priced supermarket downtown – you can find a loaf of bread for under $3.00!!