City Hall Diary
Grocery stores are an important element of our neighborhoods. They remind me of libraries and parks: a place that is usually open and serves everyone. Some of my fondest memories of childhood include grocery stores—whether it was cooling down on a hot day in the freezer section or spending my paper route money on snacks. Of course, those were the days when one dollar could get a kid four candy bars (which led to my 38-inch waist in elementary school!).
Unfortunately, it appears that many of the neighborhoods in San Jose are having problems getting grocery stores to locate within their environs. From Willow Glen to Berryessa, from Sherman Oaks to downtown, residents have few or no choices. A trend that I am fearful of is that grocery stores are often replaced by drug or discount stores that do not have a produce section or meat department that shoppers tend to depend on.
The grocery industry is being challenged on a macroeconomic level and stores are closing all over the United States. Just last week, Lunardi’s in Evergreen closed its doors, leaving the community at a loss. In the case of Lunardi’s, unlike Safeway, they are a small regional player, but they still must operate under the same challenging business model. Grocery stores have low single-digit profits overall as they are distributors of products grown or manufactured by someone else. Margins are low in the distribution business, plus there are all of the other usual business costs like rent, utilities (24/7 freezers for example), labor and growing medical costs, etc. Higher margins exist on alcohol and value added services like a deli or bakery. Such value added services allow a grocery store like Zanotto’s to stay open.
As we know, former “grocery giants” like Alpha Beta, Albertsons, Lucky’s etc. have fallen to the new “big box” stores like Costco and Wal-Mart—with their discount prices and sophisticated supply chains—or to “specialty” stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, with their unique products. Therefore, traditional grocers are being squeezed by both ends of the market with little room to move.
When I was a child, my parents would shop at the local grocery store. 90 percent of the family food budget was spent at a traditional grocery store. My parents did not have the many choices that we have today. However, now my father, a retired teacher, shops all over. He may visit Whole Foods, Safeway, Trader Joe’s, Mi Rancho and, of course, La Villa within just one week. Nowadays, the family food budget is split among various retail choices, thus compounding the problem of the traditional grocery store.
This leads me to ask: What can we do to promote our local grocery stores so that they stay open? How do we locate them in our neighborhoods? Certainly cities can control zoning and the permit process. Here in San Jose, we have used Redevelopment monies for Trader Joe’s at the Market Center, Whole Foods on The Alameda and Zanotto’s downtown.
One thing we all can do today is support our local grocery stores and shop in San Jose.
I worked in the grocery industry for many years, and was then self employed in the retail business for many more years. My biggest frustration being self employed was as a sole propieter dealing with all the different levels of bureaucracies. Between the nightmare of trying to get permits, annual fees, inspections, insurance, taxes, and landlords who jacked up the base rent with astronomical triple net costs and working 80 hours a week, I sold my store. My labor costs were a relatively small part of budget, and I provided the basic Kaiser plan to my staff. I have sensed from your prior columns that you are not a big fan of labor, but to state that grocery stores are going under because of “labor and growing medical costs” is an oversimplification. While a small part of that may have validity, I think the overall system favors big stores versus the small, local, family run business.
I also think grocery stores that close tend to be either victim’s of their own failures, or stores that may be profitable, but have not performed to a corporate expectation. Frankly, it was not a big shock that Albertson’s either closed individual stores, or was sold off entirely. With a few exceptions, the Albertson’s I went into were constantly out of basic items, produce and meat were poor quality, and their customer service was terrible. I also know from my own experience of working for a large grocery chain, that it is much more profitable for a marginally profitable store to be closed, and to send the customers to other remaining stores.
Rather than assume we know why Lunardi’s closed, maybe it would be more prudent to find out exactly why. Did their rent skyrocket? Was there some internal problem in the company? Did they overextend their credit by expanding too fast? Have the shifting cultural demographics cut into a business like Lunardi’s? Although easy to do, let’s not blame all the woes on labor alone. We could all be working for minimum wage and still not know why the businesses closed.
Obviously, people have to eat.
Stores that cater to the market survive. Stores that cater to what politicians feel should be in a shopping center go out of business. Let the market decide.
Yuppie stores do not survive in neighborhoods where most customers are Asian and Hispanic.
This is a very good point. Grocery stores are very important to the community. In the North San Jose area (North of Montague) if you want to shop for groceries you are either going to shop in Santa Clara or Milpitas. The only thing even remotely like a grocery store is First Mart on North First and Nicolson. It is a nice little store but it is more like a 7-11 than a grocery store.
With all of the new development in the North First street area a real grocery store is needed. With the new @First Development that is being built on 1st and 237, maybe the city should consider providing a grocery store with some sort of incentive to build there until 2012 when the Irvine, Vista Montana, and Fairfield developments are completed.
This should be done for three reasons:
1. A grocery store will keep San Jose Resident Grocery dollars in San Jose.
2. It will be good for the environment. Think about how much gas will be saved by driving less than a mile to the grocery store vs. the amount that is used currently and multiply it by all of the people that do and will live the area. In some of the communities (Lamplighter, Oakcrest, and Vista Montana) it will be a very easy walk.
3. This will make the area more attractive to potential residents of the area.
Now is the time for the city to give some real serious thought to this in the north San Jose area. The potential sites for a real grocery store are rapidly disappearing. There is no time to lose.
You ask…
What can we do to promote our local grocery stores so that they stay open?
Stop putting people to sleep with your weekly blog and light a fire under your Economic Development Team to do their job.
Are you serious; “Some of my fondest memories of childhood include grocery stores-…”
You gotta be kidding me. Your weirdo factor just went up by 10 and you are going to start giving readers of this blog the friggin creeps, knock it off.
An RDA subsidy for a grocery store to move into an underserved area or GF money to attract grocery stores in non RDA areas is where city money should be invested as opposed to the Circus, Grand Prix, and every other non-profit with their hand out.
Very few of us in this part of the world have the luxury of time to shop at more than one or two places to obtain all our daily needs. And with the price of gasoline, traveling all over town to a separate butcher, baker, dry goods store, etc. just isn’t cost effective either. Small shops conveniently located cannot possibly carry everything we need. Families with kids @ home need to load up once a week or so, so the Costco model works for them. For solo dwellers like me, taking most meals in restaurants solves the problem.
The Lunardis and Zanottos of the world cannot compete on price, so they need to be very careful where they locate. The PW @ Foxworthy & Cherry couldn’t compete with 2 locations in WG, so they closed that one and consolidated with the one on Leigh.
What can be done? You and your Council colleagues could get a clue. You can’t keep approving massive housing projects with no grocery stores included and pretend to be surprised at what happens.
When I lived in North SJ there was a sign about a “neighborhood market” coming soon. It took NINE years before there was a market. As #3 says, you do your shopping in Milpitas or Santa Clara. Not only is it inconvenient but SJ loses tax dollars while spending more to support the infrastructure of housing.
First, stop the wild approval of huge housing projects. Then, when smart projects are approved, require a grocery store so that residents will have basic services when they move in, not years later.
I have to agree with #4—fond childhood memories of the grocery store? Yikes.
#1
It is all about health care. Health care costs are an issue for both government and private sector for union and non-union grocery stores. Safeway for example that offers good wages and benefits is going to have a problem competing against Wal-Mart with poor benefits and no medical or poor medical benefits. The cost of doing business is much higher for a union shop vs. a non-union shop. This is why Wal-Mart carrying groceries is a bad thing a traditional grocery store. Organic shops like Trader Joes and Whole Foods are non-union.
In my part of San Jose, we had a marginal Albertson’s that I couldn’t support because it closed not long after I moved in. The two grocery stores left in the neighborhood, Mi Pueblo and Zanottos cater to their demographics, neither of which I fall into. So, besides the new Target over on Coleman, where’s one to go? Fortunatly, Costco’s just another mile or so down the road. Problem solved.
#6
If there is a market in these “massive” housing projects for a grocery store then one would be there. Obviously, if there is not a store then there is not valid business justification for a store.
The last thing we need is politicians deciding what stores need to be built in a shopping center.
There are dozens of grocery or stores that sell food within 5 miles of downtown
You could go to Trader Joes and Target which has food at Coleman, Safeway at 1300 San Carlos, or Cutner / Almaden Expresswayy, Costco at 2201 Senter Road which is 1/2 mile closer than Santa Clara Costco or Costco at 5301 Almaden Expy near 87 / 85 , Trader Joe’s at 5335 Almaden Expy in same shopping center Safeway at 4950 Almaden Expy and there are many more large, small, discount or ethnic food stores nearby
If you go to Costco at 1601 Coleman Ave in Santa Clara then your sales taxes go to Santa Clara to pay for their city services not San Jose’s
Shop San Jose we need taxes and jobs
Councilmember Oliverio:
When I was living in Sunnyvale on El Camino Real 3 years ago, I lived only 1.5 blocks from the Safeway there, and only 4 blocks from where Lucky is (again). However, the bakery at the Safeway was not all that great, and Safeway didn’t have as good a chili as the Lucky did.
As both stores were on El Camino, they were on the 22, and with the Lucky, it’s at a 522 Rapid bus stop. As I lived near a 522 and 22 bus stop, it was easy for me to take the bus or even walk to get the groceries I needed.
With the current Safeway at Rivermark on Montague Expressway and Agnew (nearest to North San Jose) it’s on a bus line VTA will ax (the 59) and another to run only during weekday rush hours as of January 2008. Thus, residents in North San Jose and Alviso would have to get in a car and drive just to get basic groceries. Another example on how badly planned North San Jose development truly is.
I’m not familiar with the food shopping locations in Milpitas since I don’t go there often.
On a second note, I testified some years ago during that ciity council meeting that approved Tamien Towers that the development’s nearest grocery store was a mile away. I asked the ciity council how would residents there be expected to use light rail or buses if they had to drive to the nearest grocery store, as it is not within reasonable walking distance? Tons of blank stares from city staff and council members (then-Mayor Gonzales included) followed.
As half the SJ ciity council (including Mayor Reed) also has final say on bus (re)routing plans on the VTA Board, it should be made city transit land use policy to have grocery stores on major bus or light rail lines. As was brought up here earlier, there needs to be provision for grocery stores as part of all new development within San Jose city limits. I’d add that such stores:
* need to be within 1/4 mile of the proposed development
* be on an existing bus/light rail line with consistent weekday and weekend service
With where I live in Santa Cruz now, I’m only a 5-minute walk away from Capitola Mall, Save Mart, OSH, and a 3-plex movie theater. I’m also a 15-minute walk away from a new Safeway and Home Depot that opened up on 41st Avenue and Highway 1. Both are on two of the major bus lines in Santa Cruz County (the 69 and 71) with good weekday and weekend service.
It should be asked what is stopping San Jose from having this kind of quality development on existing transt services, other than perhaps neighborhood NIMBYism?
The existence of grocery stores within walkable distance of new housing developments becomes important when the development is sold to the City Council as having two nearby grocery stores, and then the grocery stores both go out of existence. This relates directly to the powers of the City Council in zoning.
For example, a planned development at Baton Rouge and North Capitol was presented to a neighborhood association as a wonderful thing because two groceries were within walking distance, an Albertson and a Pack & Save. That was back in 2003.
Now both groceries are closed, so promises about community amenities are invalid. It appears that the City Council should take a close look at developments when circumstances change so abruptly. This kind of information shouldn’t go down the memory hole.
And this would be a proper City Council action, to look into these changes from the point of view of now incorrect zoning promises.
Lunardi’s likely failed in Evergreen due to their high priced merchandise. They often have some of the best deals on produce and it’s fairly high quality, but on regular grocery items they are way overpriced. Their meats are superior to most stores and you can find deals on certain items in the butcher case, but all of the money you save by shopping wisely for meat and produce simply evaporates if you shop for the rest of your groceries there.
I think the people in Evergreen opted for a different grocer with more down-to earth pricing. I was at the Evergreen Lunardi’s once. It was a beautiful store but it was placed in a shopping center that’s literally on the edge of civilization. How is any retail venture supposed to succeed in that sort of situation? You can’t even get through the aisles of the Los Gatos Lunardi’s on a Sunday afternoon. And even though Zanotto’s practices unabashed thievery with their pricing, the money’s no object crowd in the Rosegarden feel it’s worth it to pay for the convenience of having a neighborhood grocer. It boils down to location, location, location. Lunardi’s over-estimated the potential of the Evergreen customer base.
I guess I’m a whack job also, since as a kid whenever I had spare change (which wasn’t very often) I’d head to the grocery store candy counter with other buddies. And I can still smell the rotisserie chickens from the original Valley Fair Market, a store that was way ahead of its time.
I’d bet the Safeway people could tell you within a gnat’s eyelash what density is needed within a certain geographical area to support a full service store like the one near Hamilton & Meridian. Grocery store margins are razor thin. Your pricing must be in line with your demographic or you will fail. E.G., Zanotto’s on 2d Street failed once. Without a subsidy it cannot survive with its current demographic.
Service is important, which is why the Albertons closed. Three’s a Crowd? Three wasn’t sh*t at any Albertson’s I was ever in. The one @ Bird & Minnesota was the second worst market in North America, closely following the Market on E. Santa Clara.
I lived a two minute walk from the one on Bird & Minnesota, but I gave up on the bad quality meats and vegetables and the lousy service. Well, I wasn’t alone in my opinions. It’s been closed a long time now; and I bet the other small stores in that strip mall have suffered from that closing.
What most things boil down to is price, these days. Think Fry’s. You’re treated like a criminal if you try to return something, their personnel are as knowledgeable as gnats, their commercials are the most obnoxious in the western world…yet they are packed and presumably making enough $$ that Mr. Fry can thumb his nose @ the rules and build a private golf course without so much as taking out a grading permit.
Don Wolfe of Wolfe Compuer provided value added serviced to his customers, and was trounced by the low price leaders such as Fry’s.
There are a lot of people in this valley for whom convenience is more important than price. Their time is more valuable than saving a penny or two on something you have to drive ten miles to get.
But for most of us that is not true. Price is very important, and they are deluded into the price-is-foremost mentality; without thinking that if I use $2.00 woth of gas to save $.59 on a bottle of ketchup, I have lost $$.
#6 & #11—whew, get a clue. How does the city require a grocery store to be built that will lose $$?? Can you explain to me the mechanism of how any governmental agency can force a private busines to move into an area where it is doomed to fail…and then to stay open despite losses?
Sorry, Eugene, but the vast majority of us have neither the time nor the inclination to take public transit to go grocery shopping. If that’s cool for you…then, cool. But it doesn’t fit into the world most of us live in where time is our most precious commodity.
Dale#12—I presume the 2 stores closed ‘cuz they weren’t making $$ If they were profitable, they’d still be open. So, there clearly wasn’t enough local support—CUSTOMERS—for 2 to make $$ Maybe one would have made it. But how can the city force private businesses to remain open in the face of monetary losses? Answer: it cannot.
It may be a density issue. In Manhattan you have these little shops on every block and they remain open. Why? Density makes for a good customer base.
I should just erase all of the above, since Mark T. #12 said it much better.
Mark T. hit the demise of Lunardi’s right on the nail. Having lived in a Shapell townhome a few blocks away from the market, I can tell you that the place was too damn expensive for full-fledged grocery shopping. Good for an occasional cake or bottle of wine. Full-fledged grocery shopping?…Leave that to Costco. Lunardi’s was a nice store however (really loved the Pete’s Coffee & Tea) that will be missed in that community. Perhaps Lunardi’s owners will consider setting up a store in SoFa; once all the high-rises and lofts are complete.
Mr. Councilman,
This may be a cutesy subject for you but it isn’t for me. I can find a grocery store but I cannot work on the huge San Jose budget deficit. Where are your priorities as a council member? I would think that as serious matter as the budget deficit is it would be on your agenda and mind day and night. Shame on you.
Appoint John Michael O’Connor as San Jose Grocery Czar. Mr. O’Connor will provide access to grocery stores for all San Joseans.
Throughout large cities, neighborhoods and villages of Europe, Asia and much of the world small bakeries, meat markets, fish and poultry markets, cheese shops and fresh produce markets thrive. People eat less processed food and seem healthier.
What makes this possible?
What allows them to thrive?
What makes them so attractive?
Is it Safeway, Wal-Mart or nada?
Is there anything the 10th largest city can do to make this Valley of Hearts Delight more down to earth? More healthy? More green? More non-Wal-Mart?
John:
You are not far off in that density (or lack of in San Jose’s case) is one of the core issues here. Something is clearly wrong in terms of ciity planning when one must drive out of city limits to buy groceries, as detailed previously No thought is given as to what happens when one can no longer drive to get groceries due to declining health.
Fortunately, it is possible to have decent grocery shopping in a suburban setting, near good public transit. As an example, I offer Kings Supermarket (equivalent to PW Markets) in Maplewood, NJ, about 20 miles west of NYC. The store is only a short block away from express train service to employment centers further in the suburbs of New Jersey, as well as midtown Manhattan.
I know what you told me was about how what I do is “cool” but let me ask you this question: what would have to happen to enable you to use a VTA bus or light rail train for grocery shopping instead of using a car?
Eugene #21, I’d have to have my drivers license suspended or revoked to get me into public transit in this town for any reason at all, not just to go grocery shopping.
I once lived about 2 blocks from the Albertsons/Luckys @ Bird & Minnesota. I’d go there occasionally, and I’d always walk to and from. But they were such poor service stores that I did my major grocery shopping elsewhere, and went by car.
I lived in SF for a dozen years or so. I took Muni to work; but I wouldn’t think of trying to schlep home four bags of groceries on Muni.
Pierluigi,
You are an interesting fellow. You bring to our council a sense of trust and commitment.
I can trace my life thru all the grocery stores in my life.
As a child driving to Robert’s Ville with my Papa, on the corner of Braham and Almaden. He would buy 5 gallons of gas , which was pumped into the glass enclosure, then allow to drain by gravity into his gas tank. Packed with groceries which were purchased on credit, this was a weekly occurance.
There was a genuine respect between the grocer and my Pop! I still hold that sprit that I senced between my provider and the connections my Pop had to feed a family of 11. We had a barnyard of chickens, eggs , rabbits, pigs and goats.
Most of my adult life I have sought out markets that pride themselves in providing there nitch of foods. Manuel has a fish store at 101 and Alumrock ave. I don’t know the name yet there I go and buy my fresh fish and the best of Portugese Wines. Do I really mind the extra miles? Of course not. Manuel and his son are hard working and very kind . The fish and the wine taste so much better when I am partaking of this meal and knowing that they provided this bounty for me.
I have shopped a Lunardi’s in evergreen. The perfect store, with the groceries priced accordingly.
Yet when I go to My neighborhood store Safe way and I get all of the 2 for 1 sales, how can I not indulge. Several of the storeslike La Vianda, and other stores that serve the Hispanic community have the best prices in vegetables, yet make no effort to engage their customers.
If I were to open a store in the heart of San Jose, I would be exclusively specific. Steaks, porks, cheeses, wines. Ask me what you want from me. Get to know me. Groceries are about people. Papa taght me that.
Go to Walmart for your toilet paper.
The Village Black Smith
Maybe the Grand Prix could be relocated to the Lunardi’s lot next year now that it has been cancelled from downtown according to KGO radio reports. Another possibility is to move the Cirque du Soleil from the police department parking lot on Taylor St where it has been located the last few years and moving it to the Lunardi’s parking lot.
PO—Nothing really wrong with a SJ Council member remembering being a kid with a nickel in a grocery store that had piles of candy and smelled like melons and peaches, and maybe had sawdust on the floor like the Safeway in Los Gatos when it was where Sharper Image sits now. Remembering being a kid is a whole lot better for the Polity than being a puffed up self-important phoney like much of the rest of the Council. A gemutlicheit frame of mind has a real chance to be original enough to work out the impossible budget deficit while an uptight mind is flailing about. Let’s hear it for honesty. There’s always a good chance for it on Mondays on SJI, tho PO does leave himself open for attack from The Ragers.
My only gripe is that no grocery store downtown is only part of the problem as more and more housing without any retail at all is jammed into a Critical Mess. People from Berkeley and SF and San Rafael need to come to San Jose (like they do to Santana Row because its Classy, Fun, Safe, and has some interesting stores). How about if San Jose was famous for it’s Italian Designer District having clothes, furniture—style—for block after block. Nah. The University Neighborhood Assn. NIMBYs wouldn’t allow it, nor the Preservation Reaction Council. George Green
PO,
Check with RDA again. I don’t think there was a subsidy on Whole Foods.
Not sure I agree this is issue of economics or pricing, rather it is an issue of company’s inability to adapt to market demands.
Zanotto’s is certainly cheaper than Whole Foods and provides much better service, i.e. shorter lines and more helpful staff, but Safeway is open 24/7, and has a pharmacy, WF has more organics, and TJ’s has more cheaper frozen foods.
If Zanotto’s provided more organics, had longer hours, a pharmacy and more cheaper frozen foods, you bet their parking lot would have more cars, but fortunately they don’t because the short lines are great!
Also the TJ’s subsidy wasn’t needed. It was use of RDA money for political gain. Or rather hopeful political gain. Let’s hope TJ’s doesn’t pick up and leave after 3 years like another nameless RDA subsidy.
What can we do? Tell your local grocer what services and products you would like buy! Local grocer’s listen. Large corporation grocers can’t adapt as quickly.
While you are looking at grocery stores, you need to talk to Safeway on W. San Carlos. The parking lot is too dark and it is not your family friendly neighborhood grocer on weekend nights.
Oh… and since you are an elected official and required to up hold the law, you may want to ask SJI to comply with the Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003 or remove their web bugs.
When a grocery store closes, you can’t pin the blame on too much housing.
More housing means more customers, especially for grocers. And customers are what keeps stores open.
If you want to be sure you have a grocery store, you need to live near 10,000 other people, because that is how many people it takes to support a major grocer these days.
Sorry, Eugene # 21, but you cannot use Maplewood NJ as an example of how a market in ANY PART OF CALIFORNIA can be sustained by people who use public transit to get to and from that market. The utilization of public transit in the eastern seaboard has ZERO relationship to any part of California, with the possible exception of SF.
you think the city cares where you shop for grocerys ? the city cares about one thing, how much tax money does the city get from a grocery store, as much as it gets for say 300 condos ,now you pick who gets to build what?
My father owned a small grocery store for over thirty years in the bay area. He worked his fingers to the bone providing quality meat and produce as well as competitive pricing. It was never good enough. He payed better than average wage to his employees and offered benefits to full time employees. He would work close to 80 hours a week. He finally had to close down because of all the expenses kept climbing and customer base dropped. He still had a high customer count, but he no longer had the customers that faithfully shopped his store. It became a glorifed mini mart.
Dynamics have changed. Price is what the majority wants in this country, hence why the Waldrons (owners of WALMART) are the richest people in the world. People would shop at our store and complain about prices all the time. People would ask why our prices were so high and Safeway or Costco was so cheap. We could not compete with that. Safeway is in bed with the growers. Did you know that Safeway and Costco get stocking fees from the manufactures. Yes if I owned a salsa company and wanted to put my salsa in Safeway, they charge me rent to have it there for maybe 6 months. A cost to me of maybe $15000.00 for that 6 months. I could probably go talk to the owner of Zanatto’s and ask him if I could put lets say my salsa in his store. It would cost nothing. He would also take the discount I gave him and pass it on to you the customer. Everyone wake up. It is becoming a monopoly and now that all the small grocers are disappearing you are wondering why. This is just the begining, you will see pricing starting to soar. Where else will you go. Stores like my fathers and Zanatto’s are not making a killing. They are lucky if they make enough to give the owner a wage for the year. Go look at the books. They are making just enough to feed their own family. Everyone please shop locally and not give big business your dollars. Bring back small town USA. We can still make a difference. It just might cost us our Latte’s and cell phones.
27, 28, 29, etc.
Economies of scale favor Wal-Mart, Safeway and others that play in the world market.
Size matters. Look at Trader Joe’s, the larger they become, the greater their buying power increases and their competitive position becomes; same with Costco, Starbucks and all the big box stores that we can not live without.
As for supporting local suppliers of fresh healthy foods, that is in your hands. We have the need. We spend the money. We decide what is good for us, the community and the environment. The choices are out there for most of us. The choices are ours.
As for who get the subsidies, the nod, the favored position for building or locating in San Jose? Yes, you guessed it. Anyone who can influence, persuade or buy those council members we voted into office. Again… the choices are ours. Besides… you already know this. So what’s all the whining about?
No one has mentioned farmers markets. Buy your fruits/veggies there (and have lots of them), occasional meat where ever (since this should be a smaller part of your diet), and pantry items at one of the many available outlets (and you can really stock up on this stuff). Problem solved!
What is the barrier to more farmers markets? Shouldn’t cost the city hardly anything.
Population is a begining part of a grocery store`s decision to locate at a particular site.
Population is a segment of an all important “demographic report”. Household type, income levels, married couples vs single population, ethnic make up of the neighborhood, blue colar vs. white colar population, unemployment stats,education,household age, household by income (family & median),fixed income, disposable income. They all tell the type of grocery store which is going to be best located in a neighborhood.
There is an Asian market close to Lunardi`s and Cosentinos at Silver Creek that is very busy seven days per week.again the demographics report would have told these two grocers this location is not their type.
Walmart doesn`t build in Los Gatos but does very well in south San Jose on Monterey highway. Hispanic markets do well on Alumrock ave. and Savon would do better on Foxworthy @ Meridian than PW.
Whole Foods and Trader Joes both do very well on Bascom Ave, Bascom @ Hamilton Ave have the best demographics in Santa Clara County. The demographic mix and education level and balance between married couples and singles is good, No single ethnic group dominates this area. Whole Foods and Safeway do the best at using demographic studies.
Lunardi does very wll in Los Gatos, Walnut Creek and Belmont, high incomes and high education levels.
The density of the stores radius is important too.
Safeway, Starbucks, Macy`s are all over building and are hurting themselves. Bigger isn`t always better.
I would agree that a grocery store in a neighborhood is a good thing.
I think most of the poeple who shop at Zanotto’s really don’t know what that store has really done to some of the residents in the neiborhood. They really don’t care about the neighborhood. They only care about themselves and $$$. Trust me. Residents alwasy complain about Zanotto’s, but the owners just ignore the residents.
Is this a good store to have in a community?
I think there are much better stores than Zanotto’s.
It is not a good thing when a grocery store has no reguard for the neighbors of a community. Yes, a certain grocery store CLAIMS to be concerned about the communtiy in which they seve. But in reality, they do not.
So the next time you are in the Rose Garden area, stop by and ask some of the neighbors around Zanotto’s. You might be surprised to find out what kind of grocery store Zanotto’s really is.
There are much better grocery stores out there. Stores that really do care about the community they serve, not just talk like they do.