The Incredible Shrinking Grocery Store
Big stores now seem to be dinosaurs, at least where expansion comes in
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Whole Foods Tries An Old Spin On Grocery Stores
When I first lived in New York City, I could not get over the tiny size of the grocery stores near my home in Brooklyn. Shops like Key Foods and D’Agostino’s easily fit into a city block. The selection was minimal. In those pre-Amazon days, you had to hope they carried what you needed. Of course, there was a reason why stores were that small: city real estate was expensive.
In suburban areas, however, grocery stores were getting bigger and bigger. By the pandemic, it was normal for major grocery stores to average around 40,000 square feet, roughly an acre. They mushroomed beyond food to include liquor, clothes, books and housewares.
But as those large stores grew, other food sellers were putting limits on size. Trader Joe and Aldi’s turned their back on the mega-store trend, and stuck to a footprint of about 20,000 square feet. That allowed them to convert vacant spaces in strip malls, or build green field stores in rapid time.
Now, Whole Foods is joining the smaller space trend. It will open its first small-format location in New York City this year, called Whole Foods Market Daily Shop, averaging about 7,000 to 10,000 square feet.
The first one will be built on the Upper East Side, in what was a Food Emporium, one of those mid-sized brands that I saw around the city. Whole Foods already has 20 stores in NYC, most notably at Columbus Circle, where the line can stretch dozens of people deep on a Sunday night.
The new-format Whole Foods will focus on takeout meals and prepared foods; seasonal produce, meat, and seafood; bread and pastry, alcoholic beverages and supplements. It already tested the idea in 2019, with a bodega competitor that customers liked. The pandemic got in the way of expanding it, but now, that step is underway.
A fast-growing trend
If Whole Foods’ idea sounds familiar, it’s already being done in Chicago. Foxtrot Market, which started in Chicago in 2013, offers coffee, grab and go, pastry, snacks, and all kinds of upscale convenience items. Its grocery and delivery network has since expanded to Dallas, Austin and the Washington, D.C. area., and it recently purchased another small Chicago store chain called Dom’s.
Basically, these brands are reverting to a time honored idea: the corner grocery. For decades, Americans shopped that way. Supermarkets only came along in the 1930s, led by King Kullen, which opened a store in Queens, NY. Its idea was to “pile it high and sell it cheap.” The real push for bigger supermarkets came in the 1950s, when house developments took off in American suburbs, and there was room to site larger stores.
For more than half a century, grocery stores got bigger and bigger and bigger. Jungle Jim’s, with two locations in Ohio, easily ranks among the leaders, with more than 300,000 square feet of selling space. In Europe, big Costco sized markets — called hyper marches in France — sprang up on the outskirts of cities, a direct contrast to purchasing from beloved small vendors and farmer’s markets.
But by the 2000s, the trend began to reverse. The big stores required time, staff and a constant flow of inventory in order to keep them running smoothly. Faced with the choice of hunting for a spot in a massive parking lot, or visiting something smaller, consumers made use of other options.
My shopping habits
I’m definitely a fan of smaller-footprint stores. Here in Michigan, I avoid the sprawling supermarkets like Kroger and Meijer, and I even find a regular-sized Whole Foods a little too daunting. I mainly go there to return Amazon packages.
The local chain where I shop most often is called Busch’s, which has a collection of medium-sized stores outside Detroit. I regularly visit Aldi and Trader Joe, and I also shop at our international markets, which are all smaller format stores.
I would definitely drop into a Whole Foods Daily Shop, to check it out. But I am already loyal to my local places and I can’t imagine its groceries will be any cheaper than those I’d find at a conventional Whole Foods.
That said, a Daily Shop might be a perfect entry close to the University of Michigan campus, and I could see one doing well in parts of town where new condos and apartments are springing up.
I’d love to hear about your grocery shopping habits. Do you go to big stores, or smaller ones? Do you get groceries delivered or do you do curbside pick up? One thing is clear: the grocery world is changing rapidly, just like the restaurant world.
The Beloved Central Park Boathouse Is Back
New Yorkers and visitors alike are rejoicing. The Central Park Boathouse restaurant is back in business.
Alternatively called the Loeb Boathouse, it originally opened in 1954, but was closed the past two years. Its previous operator cited labor costs and other expenses for the reason it could not keep it going.
Now, the Boathouse will be under the management of Legends Hospitality, which offers food service at Yankee Stadium and other places around the city.
It will be open for lunch, brunch and dinner, and the menu looks to be classic American food. It includes Oysters Rockefeller, fish and chips, clam chowder, a crab cake benedict, prime rib and quiche. Prices are on the high side, as they tend to be at these types of attractions.
But the Boathouse, with its view of Central Park and the lagoon, has always been a fun place to relax and enjoy a meal.
Goodbye To A Chicago Korean Spot, At Least for Now
Meanwhile, a ground breaking Korean restaurant in Chicago is closing. Parachute, which opened in 2014, introduced many diners to an updated version of classic Korean dishes.
Parachute held a Michelin star from 2014 to 2021. In 2019, its married owners Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes.
They plan to put another restaurant in the Parachute location, and say they are looking for a spot in downtown Chicago where Parachute can reopen.
Parachute has gone through several waves of menu changes. During the pandemic, it was one of the highest-regarded restaurants in the city to shift to takeout and delivery. It was a pioneer in its Avondale neighborhood, which has since grown to become a standout dining district.
Third Shift Bars Endure, Amid News About Alcohol
When I first worked in Detroit, I was startled at how much traffic there was at 6 a.m. I drove into the city amid flocks of factory workers and auto company employees starting their daylight shifts. Cars and trucks also flowed in the other direction, with people leaving after working overnight.
The situation gave rise to what were called “third shift bars,” which served people leaving plants, hospitals and other places where work took place overnight. These bars have been slowing vanishing, but a number of them still remain across the Motor City.
Mickey Lyons writes about the last of this breed for Punch. “Though auto manufacturing plants might not be bringing third-shifters into the bars, some industries will always necessitate having workers around the clock. First responders like firefighters and police need to work nights, as do healthcare workers. Twenty-seven percent of healthcare practitioners and 19 percent of healthcare support workers operate during the third shift, as do 28 percent of first responders.”
In another alcohol story, the Centers for Disease Control reports that there has been a stunning rise in alcohol related deaths during the past five years. According to PBS NewsHour, the CDC looked at both deaths directly tied to alcohol, like cirrhosis of the liver, as well as indirect deaths, like injuries and certain types of cancer.
The CDC found that, in just five years, alcohol-related deaths rose by 29 percent. By 2021, alcohol contributed to the deaths of more than 178,000 Americans that year. That's about 500 people a day whose deaths had a connection with consuming wine, beer, or other alcohol.
Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, says the issue is becoming acute among women. That’s because of a 25-year marketing effort by beer, alcohol and especially wine producers to attract female customers.
“Biologically, the same amount of alcohol in general actually is more damaging to women than men, partly to do for reasons of metabolism, partly to do with reasons of body size,” he said on NewsHour.
We Have A Winner For Just Try It!
Carolyn Anderson-Fermann of Dexter, Mich., is the winner of Just Try It, the children’s book by Phil and Lily Rosenthal.
Says Carolyn, “I am a fan of Phil. I first discovered the PBS show on a flight home from Europe and have been hooked ever since. Both the PBS and Netflix shows have all the elements I love: food, travel and bringing people together. Watching makes me nostalgic for the places I have been and gives me a wanderlust for the places I have yet to visit.”
Congratulations, Carolyn! She’ll get a copy of Just Try It from the publisher, Simon & Schuster. I’ll announce our new book giveaway for paid subscribers next Sunday.
Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman
I had fun last week writing about cabbage. I call it the “and Ken” of St. Patrick’s Day, because it is often overshadowed by corned beef. But, as I write for The Takeout, cabbage deserves to stand on its own. I include dishes from Chicago to Paris, and a recipe for Hour Kraut, which you can whip together quickly.
Meanwhile, Lions, Towers and Shields, the classic film podcast on which I’m a panelist, looks at one of my favorite movies in its latest episode. We talk about Dodsworth, the 1936 movie based on the book by Sinclair Lewis.
Here’s how you can follow and get in touch with me.
Website: www.michelinemaynard.com
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I’m making a quick trip to Toronto this week, and taking a little break from posting for a few days. I’ll see free subscribers again next Sunday (paid subscribers will get their usual heads up on Friday).
Have a good week, and I hope you win your Oscar pool.
I prefer small grocery stores. I share a COSTCO membership with a friend and I go there for paper products, cleaning supplies, detergent, batteries, Brita filters and condensded milk among other things that work out cheaper for me to buy in bulk. Never food items because we would never finish a gallon of mayonnaise! My go-tos are my local Safeway, Giant and Trader Joe's and Aldi's. I find Whole Foods very expensive so I go there to do what I refer to as "accessorizing" my food. As in they sometimes have specialty items that I can't find anywhere else. We also have a ton of ethnic grocery stories in this area, so as in immigrant, I check them out regularly for ingredients to make dishes that remind me of home. I see that the NYT is writing about cabbage this week. Cabbage in all its varieties is a mainstay of my cooking. We eat cabbage a lot in Jamaica. We make a wonderful breakfast dish of sauteed cabagge with bacalao (saltfish) and onions and peppers. Just delicious. Fancy that, cabbage! It's similar to a few years ago when everyone was referring to kale as a "superfood." I thought kale? When I lived in London kale was a staple of everyone's winter diet. We called it "curly kale." Always fascinated to see how humble foods that many people eat regularly because they are inexpensive, tasty and nourishing are suddenly elevated because some chef somehwere does something fancy. Love reading CulinaryWoman.
The D’Agostino store you showed is the location we used to shop at when I was growing up in NYC!
I’m lucky to live in an SF neighborhood where an excellent greengrocer and butcher are within walking distance of where I live. An independent grocery store - probably no larger than a typical NYC supermarket - is a short drive away, as are a locally-owned fishmonger, a Whole Foods and the spot where a nice year-round farmers market is held Saturdays. Whenever possible, we shop at the independent/locally-owned stores and the farmers market. They all have very good products and we want to spend as much of our grocery budget as possible with local businesses.