No National Grocery Chain in Detroit!

Retailers Head for Exits in Detroit
Shopping Becomes a Challenge as Auto-Industry Collapse Adds to City's Woes

ANDREW GROSSMAN

DETROIT -- They call this the Motor City, but you have to leave town to buy a Chrysler or a Jeep.

Borders Inc. was founded 40 miles away, but the only one of the chain's bookstores here closed this month. And Starbucks Corp., famous for saturating U.S. cities with its storefronts, has only four left in this city of 900,000 after closures last summer.
Detroit's Retail Exodus

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[SB124509341199516103]
Fabrizio Costantini for the Wall Street Journal

Lochmoor Chrysler Jeep on Detroit's East Side has stopped selling Chrysler products, one of the 789 franchises Chrysler is dropping from its retail network.

There was a time early in the decade when downtown Detroit was sprouting new cafes and shops, and residents began to nurture hopes of a rebound. But lately, they are finding it increasingly tough to buy groceries or get a cup of fresh-roast coffee as the 11th largest U.S. city struggles with the recession and the auto-industry crisis.

No national grocery chain operates a store here. A lack of outlets that sell fresh produce and meat has led the United Food and Commercial Workers union and a community group to think about building a grocery store of its own.

online.wsj.com...


This is an interesting article as it shows the resilient nature of Americans living in Detroit.

As you read the article you can see that entrepreneurs are filling in the gap as supply and demand change.

Dollar stores as well as Thrift stores are thriving and a low end Grocery chain is very bullish on Detroit.

We also have a very large "garden farmer" communities in Detroit.

www.geocities.com...
www.detroitagriculture.org...

Community and backyard gardens play an important role in the City of Detroit. They provide thousands of pounds of fresh, nutritious produce for Detroit families and they improve communities by connecting neighbors, providing an alternative to trash strewn vacant lots, improving property values and reducing crime.

In an effort to maximize these benefits, the Detroit Agriculture Network, Earthworks Garden/Capuchin Soup Kitchen, The Greening of Detroit and Michigan State University have teamed up to help provide access to resources and educational opportunities for community, school and family gardeners.

The last paragraph in the Wall Street Journal article is a humdinger.

Meanwhile, the former Lochmoor Chrysler Jeep is now Lochmoor Automotive Group, a used-car dealership and repair shop. Gina Russo, daughter of the dealer's longtime owner, is being groomed to take over the family business. She has agreed to start selling small pickup trucks made by India's Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

Bravo Detroit.

Wow, they really fell hard didn't they. Well, I guess I was expecting this. The weakest cities will go first. American society is on the brink of collapse, which will lead to something new. Of course, what it ultimately leads to is dependant on what the people do in the midst of collapse...

Funny, though. I misread your title and thought this was a thread about protesting a nationalized grocery chain. I need more coffee....lol

The last paragraph in the article really threw me as it seemed so odd that the former Chrysler dealer in Detroit, home of the Big Three is now selling a "Third World "vehicle!

Maybe I am showing my age as it seems to me that this is really a dramatic shift.

You are putting a pretty positive spin on this. The city of Detroit proper has had a horrible time getting chains to move in, not just grocery stores. If anything, those that are still in Detroit are pulling out more than new ones are setting up shop. It's a travesty that the residents of Detroit have to really commute to go to some shopping and dining venues. It speaks poorly of the City government's failure to develop the neighborhoods of Detroit or an business friendly plan. The vast majority of any money spent in development in Detroit is directed towards the Downtown, the neighborhoods see hardly any new development, which causes their further decline. It's sad that someone has to travel miles to go to a regular national style grocery store, when it should be in your neighborhood.

reply to post by whiteraven


I agree, it is odd and sad. I wouldn't consider India "third world" anymore, though. I have kinda wanted to see some of these cars and trucks from India here in the US, though. Our auto makers aren't making inexpensive utility vehicles anymore.

I remember reading upon how beautiful India is as well as how educated the people are. This is why I placed the third world comment in italics.

Yes I agree India is not so third world are they!

Also to Pavil...

Yes I realize my positive spin to sort of promote the idea of gardens and such in an Urban environment.

If you live in Detroit then your response on this thread would be much appreciated as this would be a first hand account.

Thanks
WR

well there are Krogers. Meijer, Buschs, ......does it need to be national? if you mean within city limits then thats the scum who make detroit unlivable's fault. I bet 99% of you people who post about Detroit have never been there or would be scared to go there. pathetic. we are the modern Vandals here, and we'll take your innocence and soul baby!!!

reply to post by Totalstranger


Thanks brother for your reply.

What is life like in the Motor City?

If you all have Kroegers then hey thats a good chain...so maybe the article is a bit biased but let us know how you view the Home of the Big Three as well as the Detroit Red Wings.

reply to post by whiteraven


India looks like a paradise COMPARED to the ghetto's of detriot.


The gangs take over specific buildings and wage "block wars" with the other residents. No BS, they actually post snipers on their rooftops and have a DMZ line! I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!!!!

Who looks third world now?

Originally posted by Totalstranger
well there are Krogers. Meijer, Buschs, ......does it need to be national? if you mean within city limits then thats the scum who make detroit unlivable's fault. I bet 99% of you people who post about Detroit have never been there or would be scared to go there. pathetic. we are the modern Vandals here, and we'll take your innocence and soul baby!!!

There are not any Krogers or Meijers in the City proper of Detroit. As for Buschs, as far as I know they are not even a local chain here. I stand corrected, they are on the western Suburbs of Detroit, which tells me where you come from.

I lived in Detroit for over 24 years and still visit there often for work and play. Any time you want to show me a bad "Vandal" (who talks like that in Detroit BTW) place, feel free, then I will take you to the Cass Corridor and we will see who is scared. Better yet, I'll show you my old neighborhood which will make you long for the Slumdogs. Please don't lecture to me about Detroit and don't try and talk all gansta on me, I'm not impressed. Also, no need to call the residents of Detroit scum, that's just rude.

Thanks

Pavil as a [former?] resident of Detroit could you shed your interpretation of the city as well as what you see as areas of hope and promise for those who live in crumbling urban environments.

Thanks
WR

I found this story on CNN today about groups of artist-types buying houses on the cheap and fixing them up...so maybe there is still some sort of hope.

(CNN) -- If an e-mail popped up in your inbox promising a house for $100, you'd expect to see it sent from a guy in Nigeria asking you to wire him several thousand dollars first. Zeb Smith lies on his front lawn and spends a quiet afternoon with his neighbors. Zeb Smith lies on his front lawn and spends a quiet afternoon with his neighbors. Click to view previous image 1 of 3 Click to view next image But this depressed housing market dream is real. And Detroit, Michigan, artist Jon Brumit and his wife, Sarah, are living it. The couple never counted on owning a home. "It's not that we have a little money," Jon Brumit said, laughing. "I'm saying we have no money." But the couple began entertaining the idea of a permanent nest when their friends Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert, also artists, started taking advantage of foreclosures in the city, where the average home price dipped to $11,533 in April, according to the Detroit Association of Realtors. Dragging down the average are homes that are long abandoned or foreclosed on that are selling for pennies on the dollar. Detroit already had the lowest market value houses in Michigan before the latest rounds of job losses at GM and other huge employers, market analysts say. "Those artists are doing a good thing; they are at least helping to stabilize neighborhoods that would be all but lost," said Mike Shedlock, an investment adviser who blogs frequently about Detroit's economy.
www.cnn.com...

[edit on 18-6-2009 by compwiz32190]

I have family in Detroit.

My cousin there used to work in a garage fixing cars and such. Well he basically got fired because hardly anyone was paying money to fix their cars. Things are getting bad there.

Originally posted by whiteraven
Pavil as a [former?] resident of Detroit could you shed your interpretation of the city as well as what you see as areas of hope and promise for those who live in crumbling urban environments.

Thanks
WR

Yes, I am a former resident of the City. The Downtown has had a lot of money put into it with the casinos, and two new stadiums and some theater renovations. Even with those draws, it's hard for restaurants and bars in those areas (ie stadiums) to thrive as they are only busy during games. Those bars and restaurants can't draw enough people at other times to be thriving, especially with all the Big 3 layoffs and the trickle down to their suppliers.
The Downtown area of Detroit has potential, but it came at the cost of basically gutting the neighborhoods of Detroit. You would think commercial and residential prices would drop enough to start bringing people back but it will be hard, there isn't the infrastucture of things, ie Grocery stores, Big Mall ect. Also the average age of a house in Detroit easily has to be pushing 30 years I bet. The houses and neighborhoods need lots of TLC before people start coming back.

Thank-You Pavil.

Your post shows the issues that Detroit faces as well as issues that many other cities will face.

We have built our cities around the ideas of cheap energy, private transportation as well as a system of just in time inventory. (food/goods)

As we look at Detroit we can see the results of greed, ignorance and pride that has guided not only our CEO's/politicians but the ideas of greed/wealth that trickled down into the very roots of our cultural viewpoint.

In other words the "thrifty' American, the "freedom" loving American is now the credit card indebted slave to the system who was conned by politicians and CEO's into this Utopian world of easy credit/money. Our Utopian Hollywood dream life style will soon resolve itself altogether with the result that North American's will wake up and realize that we have all been conned.

The pensions are gone.

Baby boomers will not retire.

North Americans will need to rediscover our forefathers resolve and determination to recreate the ideas of the Enlightenment given to us by Thomas Jefferson, Adams, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin or lose the ideas of freedom for good.

Systemic collapse is simply a part of the cycles given to systems via human nature as our British North American system is built on the ideas of fear and greed which at one time fed the system yet now it is destroying the system.

As we try to export our culture to other cultures in hope that they (Asia) would adopt our ideas and systems we have found that they have taken/adopted what they see as value in our system while discarding many of the Western ideas that have led to systemic collapse in the West over the past couple of thousand of years or more. (not that I like Asian systems over ours)

Of course this is only an uneducated opinion which may be out to lunch...yet I am still somewhat free to state some (not all) opinions in America at this moment even if they are "uneducated". lol

Maybe not within the city limits, but there are several chain grocery stores in the Detroit area. Most of the area population lives in the 'burbs, so it makes sense that the stores would be concentrated there.

We are currently hiring for over 3,000 new positions in our 77 Detroit Metro Area stores, including our 19 new Kroger locations listed below. At Kroger we are dedicated to the communities we serve and continue to invest in a strong future for Michigan. Kroger is a union shop offering great jobs with competitive pay and benefits.

Kroger.com

Are lots of stores closing? Sure! That's happening everywhere! Sign of the times, but...

Right on...

except it seems ass backwards to go from making something from scratch to selling something made or grown by some other entity.

Detroit needs to reinvent the processing/manufacturing process and come up with an idea that can thrive on cheap renewable energy.

If we can discover human DNA and map it (although I understand that the use of '___' aided this) then we can come up with a new mode of transportation that does not pollute and uses renewable energy.

Whats the hold up? lol

Come on Detroit... you can deww ett ...even if you all lost the Stanley Cup this year.

None of us here should be surprised, we saw it here years ago,..

From PTS (sorry, couldnt find the active ats link)...
Detroit is the Most Dangerous City


Detroit is, I want to say dying,..but I think I really mean,...Dead.

reply posted on 7-1-2008 @ 01:53 AM by smirkley

Was there for around a year, about two years ago.

Nothing in this thread surprises me. Nothing seems exaggerated at all.

Nothing more scary than being on 6-Mile Road. (day or night)




Glad I am gone,...

...and now I can see why our car companies in America are doing so bad, ...



..because they cant leave Detroit either.

[edit on 18-6-2009 by smirkley]

Originally posted by JaxonRoberts
Maybe not within the city limits, but there are several chain grocery stores in the Detroit area. Most of the area population lives in the 'burbs, so it makes sense that the stores would be concentrated there.

About 950,000 people live in the City proper. There are about 4.4M in the Metro Area. You trying telling me that if where you lived there wasn't a Kroger or other major grocery store for 4 to 6 miles it wouldn't be a problem?

We who live in the suburbs take for granted having big nice supermarkets and other amenities close by in our neighborhood where we can walk to them if we choose. People in some areas of Detroit don't have that luxury. It's a trip to get basic supplies sometimes and that's just not right for a urban area.

Detroit has the population to have such things, why don't they have them?

If Mahindra builds their trucks like they do their tractors they are going to be a very reliable product. If they decide to build a small diesel powered truck with the Diahatsu based engine they use in their tractors it will sell like hotcakes on a cold Detroit morning!

Zindo