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Cheap groceries and walkability

Posted: March 11th, 2017, 10:18 am
by pannierpacker
Has anyone else noticed that many of grocery stores that are both cheap and within walk-able regions are few and far between? There are only 3 Aldis within the city limits. The one on Lake is fine if you are coming from the south or west directions but from the north or east it's difficult due to the interference of Hiawatha and all of the industrial uses that abut it. The ones in North and on Franklin seem like they would be easily accessible to the immediate surrounding areas.

The Target/Cub locations in Seward aren't easily walkable given the presence of Hiawatha and massive parking lots surrounding the building. The same issue also exists at the Quarry locations (confluence of highways and parking lots). The Cub Foods in Uptown and North seem like they would be fairly easy to get to.

The Lunds in downtown and NE are extremely easy to walk to. Whole Foods has a location downtown very accessible to the North Loop. The 3 Kowalskis seem pretty easy to get to (especially the one right in the heart of uptown). Eastside Food Co-op, The Wedge, and Seward Co-ops all seem to exist in very walkable areas.

Is there a correlation here? Is this something that we see in other cities as well?

Re: Cheap groceries and walkability

Posted: March 11th, 2017, 5:37 pm
by mattaudio
On the far south side, it seems many R1A neighborhoods have somewhat walkable groceries. I'm close to Bergan's, and I can easily bike to Oxendales on 34th or Kowalski's on Chicago. But if I'm getting on my bike, I now go to Seward Friendship.

Re: Cheap groceries and walkability

Posted: March 12th, 2017, 3:07 pm
by QuietBlue
Well, Kowalski's is known for being expensive, and IME, Bergan's was always more expensive than Cub or Target when I went in there (my SO used to live up the street from it).

Re: Cheap groceries and walkability

Posted: March 14th, 2017, 11:54 pm
by mplser
I live in a very walkable area and There are probably 3 different cheap grocery stores i can walk to from my house.

Re: Cheap groceries and walkability

Posted: April 28th, 2017, 9:09 am
by cooperrez
I'm very interested to see what small grocery goes in the Rainbow building at East Lake and 27th Ave S. That will be a walkable grocery for those coming in from the east. Of course there is already Longfellow Market, but I wouldn't place them in the cheap category. They have reasonable prices for many of their products, but not like Aldi, for instance.

Re: Cheap groceries and walkability

Posted: April 28th, 2017, 9:24 am
by Mooglemuffins
I'm very interested to see what small grocery goes in the Rainbow building at East Lake and 27th Ave S. That will be a walkable grocery for those coming in from the east. Of course there is already Longfellow Market, but I wouldn't place them in the cheap category. They have reasonable prices for many of their products, but not like Aldi, for instance.
I'm excited since I'd only have to walk half a block to a grocery store in the old Rainbow instead of two blocks to Cub :D Less reason to change out of sweatpants.

Re: Cheap groceries and walkability

Posted: April 28th, 2017, 9:44 am
by cooperrez
Yes, it's so nice to have a grocery store that close. Longfellow Market almost serves as our pantry. I love that I don't have to drive to a grocery store and can be there in a minute or two. I frequent Longfellow knowing that I will pay more for some products, but also knowing that I am supporting a valuable asset to my neighborhood.

Re: Cheap groceries and walkability

Posted: September 18th, 2017, 11:20 pm
by Susan Jake
I live in a very walkable area and There are probably 3 different cheap grocery stores i can walk to from my house.
It is one of the main advantages of this place. When I came to this place, I was so happy...Because it is such a beautiful place with good aesthetics.

Re: Cheap groceries and walkability

Posted: September 20th, 2017, 7:49 am
by Biggydrink
In the last three places I've lived around Minneapolis, the closer grocery store was always more expensive.

Kowalski's/The Wedge in the north part of Uptown vs. the Uptown Rainbow/now Cub
Lunds downtown vs. ... still the Uptown Cub? Broadway? Does DT Target count?
Lunds NE vs. Quarry Cub. Actually Whole Foods and even Target are closer as well.

This is obviously just my own experience, so take that for what it's worth - if I lived closer to Lake in Uptown instead of Franklin, the Cub would've been more convenient of course.

I'm guessing this either comes down to real estate (more walkable locations are probably more expensive, so the fancier grocery stores move in) or a difference in strategy. Other than the one in Uptown, which used to be a Rainbow, has Cub ever really tried to have walkable or small locations? They are always massive with big parking lots, designed for people to drive in and buy a huge load of groceries that you couldn't carry home anyway. Compare to the downtown and NE Lunds, which genuinely have a smaller selection but would seem to invite a lot more frequent, smaller trips. I would think that this might also affect what's carried in the store, not just because of lack of space in the smaller locations, but probably also a difference in what sells, based on the different use cases.

So yeah, I would say that this is at least partly by design.

Re: Cheap groceries and walkability

Posted: September 20th, 2017, 9:06 am
by amiller92
I'd love to trade Bergan's SuperValu for the downtown L&B (which we used to live close enough to walk to). Yes, it would be more expensive, but I'd gladly pay more for better quality produce and meat.

Obviously, not everyone would.

Re: Cheap groceries and walkability

Posted: September 20th, 2017, 9:30 am
by Tcmetro
The Uptown Cub is a logistical nightmare because they can only load from the alley. The storage space is very small, so they have daily deliveries. Other Cub stores get deliveries once or twice a week. I think the only reason the Uptown location works is the high volume it does.