Meijer Marketplace

[iheartthed]

There are so many nearly-abandoned shopping centers in the older suburbs and a few in Detroit that I would think Meijer or any other retailer would be able to find a location with parking without much trouble.

Downtowns and areas near downtowns present a bit of a problem if substantial parking space is needed. But that problem doesn't much exist in Detroit, there are areas within a mile or two of downtown that could accomodate a retailer with some amount of parking. And the old New Center complex not only had retail [[Crowley's), but it also was adjacent to a parking garage.

ETA: Oops, misread.

[iheartthed]

build one at Livernois & I-94... vast abandoned factory grounds..

They won't build on a brownfield lot that they have to clean up.

[DetroitPlanner]

Junkin Krypto and Hype, those areas are well outside of the CBD. The question asked by the person who started the thread was could this work downtown? Those are not Downtown.

[Scottathew]

I'm a little concerned about Meijer. Even while Target started building urban stores, Meijer still had the opportunity to compete and succeed. They have been slow to react. Now Walmart has slipped in and is opening small stores in neighborhoods....and none of them have parking.

It was an untapped market Meijer could have taken advantage of in the Midwest. They did not. Now their growth is limited to an area where they already have competition.

The big issue with Walmart is that once they figure out a way to "make it work" they will rapidly throw capital into it, and before you know it they'll be in every market.

[DetroitPlanner]

The only reason why the bigger stores are coming into the cities is because they realize they are losing many sales to stores like Family Dollar and Dollar General.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/12/...e-competition/
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dol...les-2011-03-22

[iheartthed]

The only reason why the bigger stores are coming into the cities is because they realize they are losing many sales to stores like Family Dollar and Dollar General.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/12/...e-competition/
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dol...les-2011-03-22

That's not the only reason. They are also coming to the consensus that the suburbs are over-saturated and the urban markets are extremely underserved [[even in the stable cities on the coasts).

[Parkguy]

At the City Council's Brownfields Committee Hearing a couple of weeks ago, Lormax-Stern acknowledged that Meijer is ready to sign on as the major tenant at their proposed retail development on the Redford HS site.

[kraig]

I can only go to ONE Meijer comfortably...their tiny store on Dix south of I-75. At least I can easily find everything I need...and for some reason they are the most consistent store to have organic lemons and the better oranges.

Most of their stores are SO huge, they chase me out. Dashed into the one on Haggerty and 8-mile on the way to my 30th High School Reunion this past Saturday, and nearly broke into melt-down because I couldn't find anything...yet had to walk a few MILES to figure that out. Mega-stores just totally f-'in' suck. I have the same complaint with Home Depot...and CostCo, although at least they make it fun.

I wonder which'll be the first to have mandatory motorized carts. Probably CostCo, their super-sized ones can be a little tough to handle loaded. Then again, not everyone has to have a drink or two in order to suffer shopping, heh.


Cheers

Not to fear, there are signs that indicate what is were. All you have to do is look up.

As far as an Urban Meijers goes, I still think the perfect spot would be at Jefferson and St Jean. That entire strip is still practically brand new, but, already depleted. A meijers there would bring the traffic needed to completely revitalize that area.

[kraig]

Junkin Krypto and Hype, those areas are well outside of the CBD. The question asked by the person who started the thread was could this work downtown? Those are not Downtown.

No. Downtown doesn't have the space to put one where parking wouldn't be an issue. A downtown Store, as Whole Foods is banking on, needs enough neighborhood foot traffic in order to survive.

[douglasm]

Ah, but what Target is aparently doing out here is converting one of two downtown Seattle buildings into a parking garage.

[kraig]

Ah, but what Target is aparently doing out here is converting one of two downtown Seattle buildings into a parking garage.

Interesting, thanks for the info. Here's a link.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm..._target31.html

[douglasm]

Sorry about the misinformation about the parking garage. It's been a year since the original story, and my memory isn't as good as it used to be. And I understand that due to the economy, the completion date has been pushed back. I did start a thread about the idea when the original story broke in the Times, and I really like the idea for urban locations.

Seattle has a major advantage over Detroit in that it has a major upper income population base in the downtown area and a retail core that, although weakened by the loss of a couple of major department stores, is still viable. I don't know if a store like Target or Meijers is looking for when considering opening a downtown store, but since both tend to be stand alones in the burbs, the idea might work in Downtown Detroit.

[Junkin4Life]

build one at Livernois & I-94... vast abandoned factory grounds..

Along with Home Depot, Lowe's, Kmart and several other stores

[Junkin4Life]

We need big box retail for the big city

[louis]

the only superstores that work in citys are department stores that have been around for 50 some years that supply "higher end products" theis stores are sustained by a strong middle class, however putting a store like meijer detroit would last for 10 to 20 years or untill the middle class in Detroit has grown to much larger proportions. a smaller meijer may or may not work, the idea has been tried by other big business i think it was petsmart that opened a small scale store in new york that sells its top shelf items

[wolverine]

I have hope now that at least some of Detroit's more valuable building stock has a chance at a second life with one of these big box stores.

Here's a building Walmart is moving into. The building will remain unmodified except for the alley side which will have additional windows and a new entrance added.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=3636+N...1.55,,0,-24.85