Jesse Jackson promotes chain grocery stores in Detroit.

[erikd]

"Another area Jackson wants to address right away is combating the city's so-called food desert, a term used to describe pockets or neighborhoods in Detroit where fresh foods are not available.
"There is not a national or regional chain food store in Detroit," Jackson said. "Detroiters spend $2 billion on food and retail outside of the city."
Jackson said he is talking to owners of some chain stores about investing in the city.


Read more: Rev. Jesse Jackson: The fight begins in Detroit | freep.com | Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com/article/20100930/NEWS02/9300409/1001/NEWS/Rev.-Jesse-Jackson-The-fight-begins-in-Detroit#ixzz11HNgoLjk"

[gdogslim]

Well.. Jesse, as well as any other entrepreneur or investor[[s) are free to open a grocery store any where they choose to if they think it is viable.
By all means Jesse, raise the capital and GO FOR IT!
I applaud Jesse putting his words where his mouth is and investing part of his $400,000+ income in Detroit.

[Zacha341]

Well stated!

Well.. Jesse, as well as any other entrepreneur or investor[[s) are free to open a grocery store any where they choose to if they think it is viable.
By all means Jesse, raise the capital and GO FOR IT!
I applaud Jesse putting his words where his mouth is and investing part of his $400,000+ income in Detroit.

[milesdriven]

The problem with chain stores is that they like to preserve their brand identity by keeping things uniform throughout all stores. When in Detroit, you have to lock up many items, such as baby formula, OTC medications, and anything else that is easy to steal. If the extra expenses [[security, insanely high insurance costs, high property taxes, and frivolous lawsuits) weren't a hurdle to turning a profit, there would probably be some Kroger stores in Detroit. It didn't work out too well at 7 Mile and Gratiot, if I remember.

[Hermod]

Well.. Jesse, as well as any other entrepreneur or investor[[s) are free to open a grocery store any where they choose to if they think it is viable.
By all means Jesse, raise the capital and GO FOR IT!
I applaud Jesse putting his words where his mouth is and investing part of his $400,000+ income in Detroit.

Some years back, there was talk of Jesse running for mayor of Washington DC. Former mayor Marion Barry, when questioned about the possibility of Jackson being mayor of the city, uttered the classic quote, "Jesse doesn't want to run anything but his mouth."

[Ravine]

Some years back, there was talk of Jesse running for mayor of Washington DC. Former mayor Marion Barry, when questioned about the possibility of Jackson being mayor of the city, uttered the classic quote, "Jesse doesn't want to run anything but his mouth."

Bravo. How true.

And thumbs-up to anyone who suggests that Jackson, having raised the subject up to public review, should show his sincerity & commitment by doing something other than yap his trap about it.

[DetroitPole]

In addition to putting his money where is mouth is or just plain going the fuck away, can this guy get out of the early 1980's?

He's talking about opening plants and chain grocery stores. Okay, how about a Renaissance Center, genius? It would turn this city around! Then he goes and slams urban farming.

Meanwhile, back in Detroit, we're starting to grow our own food on a larger scale, and small successful markets are opening. Places like Tech Town and industries like health care are provided small job growth, not automotive assembly plants.

Did this guy get the memo that it's the 21st century and we have to come up with new ideas for a new reality?

No, let's just open all the shuttered plants and bring in chain grocery stores. Why don't we just build a time machine while we're at it? By the way, we had all that stuff while the city was still in horrible shape. We need new ideas, not the same old ones that haven't been working.

What a vapid moron, a dinosaur. Last I checked, economics drove job growth, not talking. What is he aiming on achieving? Someone agreeing to invest just so he'll go away?

[DC48080]

As with most of his mumbling mumbo jumbo comments, old Jesse is wrong on this issue. There are national and regional chain grocery stores in the city. There is at least one Aldi store in Detroit, there are several Spartan stores as well. While there may not be enough of these to serve the populace of Detroit, Jesse conveniently forgets the reasons why there aren't more large grocery stores. Reasons such as exorbitantly high crime and insurance rates, and the simple fact that the city of Detroit, especially many of the neighborhoods, is an extremely inhospitable place in which to conduct retail business.

Ole Jesse should stick to what he does best i.e. shaking down large companies for dollars to settle trumped up racial issues.

Does anybody in the Detroit area really give a damn about anything this so called "Reverend" has to say?

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clip...head-apologize

[oldredfordette]

You guys all care. One mention of Jesse and you all go foaming at the mouth. Very entertaining.

Here's one for you:

AL SHARPTON.

[Ravine]

You guys all care. One mention of Jesse and you all go foaming at the mouth. Very entertaining.

Here's one for you:

AL SHARPTON.

Oh, I see.
You, of all people, find that to be entertaining.

[DC48080]

You guys all care. One mention of Jesse and you all go foaming at the mouth. Very entertaining.

Perhaps we should pin a bunch of kooky buttons to our clothes and stand in front of Jesse's house and flip it off like you did in front of the White House. That must have been incredibly entertaining.

[oldredfordette]

You're obsessed with that picture. It's complimentary/disturbing - maybe you should get some real friends.

[jcole]

Just a clarification: Other than these stores [[D&W Fresh Markets, Family Fare Supermarkets, Felpausch Food Centers, Glen’s Markets and VG's Food and Pharmacy)Spartan is not a chain of grocery stores. Spartan stores are independently owned stores that use Spartan as a distributor. So-called Spartan stores can be as small as the corner party store or as large as Imperial Mkt on 8 Mile.

[gazhekwe]

Way back in the day, before there were a lot of big chain grocers, small neighborhood grocers ruled. If I am remembering right, the chains coming in back then were Wrigley's, A&P and I forget the other one. They went into the neighborhood slots, like Plymouth east of Southfield, Grand River and Fenkell, Schaefer and McNichols that I can remember. Of course, back then, there were still one car families with a stay at home mom, who walked to the grocery store with her little cart. Stll, the bigger supermarkets eventually ran the small stores out of business. Maybe now it is time for the smaller local grocer to come in and stake out their neighborhood. Hopefully they can keep down the shrinkage rate so they can afford to stay in business.

[rhythmc]

I would love to see the city get a mix of locally owned as well as national chain grocers. I can remember as a child having both Kroger's and Farmer Jack's in the city. I can't imagine how all city residents can be made to go without these businesses due to the actions of the few.

Jesse's right about the need.

[DC48080]

You're obsessed with that picture. It's complimentary/disturbing - maybe you should get some real friends.

I'm not the least bit obsessed with it at all. I find it comical and rather pathetic at the same time.

That picture did clarify one thing to me though; from reading your posts I had always pictured you to be an idealistic young college student say about 19 or 20 years old. One who really hadn't experienced much of the real world yet. Then I saw your picture and was shocked to see that you're a grown woman who appears to be in her mid fifties. I would have thought such a woman would have more couth than to commit such a vulgar and immature act.

[oldredfordette]

You were wrong again, DC4. Do you ever get tired of being wrong? It must be exhausting.

[DC48080]

What? About what you did being vulgar and immature? No, I was spot on in my assessment.

[oldredfordette]

You poor man. Turn off your computer and go outside, the sun is shining.

[DC48080]

You poor man. Turn off your computer and go outside, the sun is shining.

The sun is shining? Not anywhere in Metro Detroit is isn't right now. It is overcast and drizzling. Perhaps in whatever alternate world you live in it is sunny out but not here at this time.

You are hilarious. And you're really really special too. Keep on doing what you do.

As for me, I'm out of here for now. I have some thing to get done.

[oldredfordette]

The sun is shining in Royal Oak, Michigan. Where ever you are, it must be gray and chilly. Bye bye.

[Pam]

I'm not the least bit obsessed with it at all.

I think you are up to four or five mentions of it by now. How many more do you need to qualify as obsessed?

[Hermod]

I would love to see the city get a mix of locally owned as well as national chain grocers. I can remember as a child having both Kroger's and Farmer Jack's in the city. I can't imagine how all city residents can be made to go without these businesses due to the actions of the few.

Jesse's right about the need.

The city had quite a mix of Krogers, A&P, Farmer Jack, Wrigleys, Big Bear, and many smaller independents.

Gee, Reverend Jackson, what do you suppose happened to them? Were they vaporized by aliens?

[gnome]

Great Scott, don't forget Great Scott ... or Hamady's, Farmer Jack, etc. all fell to market forces. JJ pat anser to everything is Top-Down solutions while claiming to speak from the bottom.

Big Gov could save us if they'd just do _____; Big Inc could save us if they's just do _____; meanwhile nary a word about creating an enviroment where small business people can grow and prosper. Jesse could have gotten behind a micro-loan program for people to set up mobile vegi trucks that sold Detroit grown produce, but that ain't what he did now is it.

Let the Big Man save us. Make sure we know that our fate is in someone else's hands. That there is a massive force out there keeping us down and if only they'd build a huge ass hyper-market our lives would be perfect.

JJ wants the power concentrated, so when he comes knocking, he doesn't have to knock on a bunch of little doors, just one big one.

[DetroitDad]

I like Kim's Produce in Midtown across from the McDonalds. They treat me nice, and I pay a couple cents extra for them to have that old "down home" feel. Plus, I know I'm helping local businesses and farmers, and eating mostly organic foods. Eating chemicals from, herbicides, pesticides, and perservatives can cause problems with attention span and self discipline, two things that are a root cause of problems for most of us. Good health is an important precursor to good wealth, and a happy home.

Now if you excuse me, I need some honey for my green tea, so I am going to go kick a beehive alongside DC48080, oldredfordette, and Pam.

Some Links:

• Take a stand at Kim's Produce [[link to a documentary about the Downtown area's Kim's Produce); http://vimeo.com/14404995
• Read reviews for Kim's produce on Yelp; http://www.yelp.com/biz/kims-produce-detroit
• Anything that is not a fruit, fish, vegetable, or meat, can usually be found at University Foods, Food Pride, or a local corner convenience pharmacy [[like CVS)
• Other areas of Detroit are frequently served 24 hours by Meijer
• Fresh produce can be purchased from the Peaches and Greens trucks in some neighborhoods.