Inner city residents irate over losing Whole Foods, gaining a Black-owned discount grocery store
Whole Foods opened a store with city tax breaks and encouragement and kept it open for six years in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. Residents claimed the prices were too high. Whole Foods closed the location on Nov. '22 without giving a reason why. Save-A-Lot, which signed a lease for the property,, is a Black-owned discount grocery headquarted in Greater St. Louis.
The neighborhood was formerly a food desert but now has an Aldi and a community-sponsored produce market.The average annual household income in Englewood is $35,479, while the median household income sits at $23,019 per year.
The residents are irate they were not consulted in the decision. Some are offended that the chain is associated with low-income income neighborhoods and raised issues of cleanliness and product quality. They pointed out that you would not see a Save-A-Lot in Lincoln Park on Chicago's North Side. The average annual household income in Lincoln Park is $191,363, while the median household income sits at $117,251 per year
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 85 | February 12, 2023 5:59 AM
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Reviews suggest Save-a-Lot is a dump but the chain owner vows to do better..
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 1 | January 27, 2023 8:58 PM
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[quote]Some are offended that the chain is associated with low-income income neighborhoods and raised issues of cleanliness and product quality.
Call me boujee, but I would be mad as hell if they did this shit, too.
One of the biggest problems in lower income neighborhoods are grocery stores that sell poor quality and unhealthy food because, only the wealthy get to be healthy in this country. You'll also see liquor stores every block, but god forbid a Trader Joe's or farmer's market. It's on purpose. This is a bad move.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | January 27, 2023 9:04 PM
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R2 thinks money grows on trees and businesses are charities.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | January 27, 2023 9:06 PM
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If you've ever visited a Save-a-Lot, the stores are often dirty and the selection is quite limited. It will struggle to survive in an area that already has an Aldi, as Aldi offers a comparatively luxurious experience in the budget grocer category.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | January 27, 2023 9:08 PM
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damned if you do, damned if you don't.
This Save a Lot is BLACK OWNED and priced suitably to the neighborhood.
These complainers need to shut the fuck up about some imagined insult about the bougy Whole Foods cutting its losses.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | January 27, 2023 9:10 PM
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So they can shop at Aldi. Everyone wins. Except the black grocery chain that can't get its shit together and prefers ripping off poor folks.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | January 27, 2023 9:11 PM
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I can see how Save-A-Lot would be objectionable. I think the residents' attitude that a grocery store has to ask their permission before moving in and sign a community benefits agreement is problematic, too. it may be good customer relations but it sounds high-handed. The city is already paying the chain 13.5M to rehab its existing stores.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | January 27, 2023 9:13 PM
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Some of us have very few grocery options within a reasonable travelling distance. I'll be thrilled to have an Aldi's within a few mile driving distance.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | January 27, 2023 9:15 PM
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"Thes neighborhood has an overall crime rate of 9,551 crime per 100,000 people, making it twice the Chicago average. The violent crime rate in West Englewood is 2,773 violent crimes per 100,000 people, making the chances of becoming a victim 1 in 37."
No grocery is going to move into this area without city incentives. You can tie the crime to redlining and a lack of investment, but when a business is interested in investing, the response should not be "You're not good enough for us." It ought to be, "well, thiis isn't ideal but let's work together. Low quality isn't going to cut it."
by Anonymous | reply 10 | January 27, 2023 9:31 PM
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R2 thinks supermarkets are food pantries.
They can complain all they want, but clearly no one in the neighborhood was actually shopping at Whole Foods. Otherwise, it wouldn't have closed.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | January 27, 2023 9:44 PM
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How is the Ruth's Chris in the neighborhood doing? And the Salon Yoshiko?
by Anonymous | reply 12 | January 27, 2023 9:52 PM
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Or maybe the sales were good but the shoplifting was eating up the profits, R11.
I heard the Walmart in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Center in LA (previously a Broadway Department Store) closed shortly after it opened because of uncontrollable shoplifting.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | January 27, 2023 9:52 PM
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Why was there a Whole Foods there at all? I've heard that Whole Foods only opens new stores in neighborhoods with high average income, several years ago I heard the figure of 75K/yr average, it's probably up to 100K now. So what were they doing in a genuinely poor neighborhood? Publicity stunt? Experimental cheaper version? Wanted something so big from the city of Chicago that they were willing to lose money on a branch for several years?
I live in a prosperous town, and the Whole Foods here closed. In this case it wasn't because people can't afford to fill their carts with overpriced luxuries the way grocery stores need them filled, it was because people preferred the local co-op and family-owned local chain. WF lost the competition for the luxury dollar in my town, which definitely wasn't what happened in Chicago.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | January 27, 2023 9:55 PM
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Let shoppers decide.
If they don't like this Save A Lot company, then they won't shop there and it will close.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | January 27, 2023 9:59 PM
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I find Whole Food soul killing and inauthentic. I would prefer Aldi if those were the only 2 shops in my neighborhood.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | January 27, 2023 10:00 PM
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Stores don’t close just for shits and giggles. They were being subsidized by the city and still left. I guarantee it was some combination of low sales and inability to provide a safe working environment for employees. It says something when Walmart and Target won’t touch a neighborhood.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | January 27, 2023 10:05 PM
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Resident Association of Greater Englewood (RAGE) wants Save-A-Lot to break the lease and not move into the space.
Whole Foods promised significantly lower prices but they were not low enough. Other chains have not wanted to open stores in the area.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 18 | January 27, 2023 10:06 PM
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The neighborhood’s association acronym is RAGE?
Jesus.
by Anonymous | reply 19 | January 27, 2023 10:31 PM
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[quote]is problematic, too.
*eyeroll*
by Anonymous | reply 20 | January 27, 2023 10:32 PM
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[quote][R2] thinks supermarkets are food pantries.
Umm, no. They were receiving subsidies from the city to be in that neighborhood. I'm guessing it's a combination of a lot of different things:
1) They weren't making a profit due to the fact that too many people in that neighborhood don't shop healthy to begin with due to cultural ignorance.
2) They were hemorrhaging money due to crime
3) Thanks to high crime, their insurance rates were probably sky-high which most of the city subsidies went to in the first place.
4) Local vendors/suppliers were raising their prices due to inflation and combining that with everything above it wasn't sustainable from a business standpoint.
That said, I would still be pissed because at the end of the day, ignorant people in low-income areas always make things harder for the low-income individuals who do want to do better for themselves but just don't have the means to do so. The criminals and hoodrats keep the well-meaning low-income residents down, and the system can only do so much. THAT'S why I would be pissed. Because I know some slave mentality bullshit helped contribute to this in a major way. The system helps those who help themselves. Too many people in areas like this don't help themselves and hurt those who are trying.
This is why someone would have to drag me kicking and screaming at gunpoint to move back to the hood. I refuse. I don't care if I have to work 11 damn jobs and sell my ass on the side to maintain my peaceful suburbanite existence, I'm not going back. And it's because of unfortunate situations like this. These neighborhoods were built to be prisons, and too many of the residents help to maintain that destructive status quo.
/end rant
by Anonymous | reply 21 | January 27, 2023 10:46 PM
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Problematic is probably not the best way to describe it.
I think the residents have a legitimate interest expressed in an antagonistic and unsophisticated way. Anger is a characteristic response and understandably so but it's not going to attract outside investment.
This is a tough one to solve. Ideally, Chicago could write a check to lure a company like Safeway or Kroger to open a store but it doesn't have the money. Someone needs to ask who does and figure out what's needed to attract the kind of investment the neighborhood wants. Demanding the same stores as one of Chicago's wealthiest neighborhoods is a nonstarter.
by Anonymous | reply 22 | January 27, 2023 10:48 PM
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r22 Opportunity zones were supposed to be the answer to this, frankly, very complex and multilayered issue.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | January 27, 2023 10:50 PM
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If Whole Foods was making money at that location they wouldn't have closed the store.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | January 27, 2023 10:54 PM
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Exactly r25, stores that make money stay open. If they really wanted a Whole Foods store, they should've shopped there. NEXT
by Anonymous | reply 26 | January 27, 2023 11:17 PM
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Whole Foods wasn’t a good fit for the neighborhood
by Anonymous | reply 27 | January 27, 2023 11:23 PM
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Take the fucking bus to the grocery like MANY people have to.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | January 27, 2023 11:25 PM
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Oh! The underclass is dishonest, irresponsible and unrealistic?
How shocking.
by Anonymous | reply 29 | January 27, 2023 11:36 PM
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A broke ass Chicago neighborhood ain’t getting Whole Foods and the resistance to accept this fact just shows the disconnect from the reality that not every entity put into a bad neighborhood is a social service required to serve you.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | January 27, 2023 11:37 PM
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R30 is a moron who didn't read the link. It WAS a Whole Foods.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | January 27, 2023 11:51 PM
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R31 I do know it was a Whole Foods, and it ain’t coming back. SO THERE!
by Anonymous | reply 32 | January 27, 2023 11:58 PM
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I wonder how Food Circus would do there.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | January 28, 2023 12:18 AM
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Have they considered those fabulous Japanese food vending machines?
by Anonymous | reply 34 | January 28, 2023 12:21 AM
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Aren't there chains of dollar stores that sell fresh produce and dairy nowadays?
by Anonymous | reply 35 | January 28, 2023 12:22 AM
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I WISH there was a save a lot within 40 miles of where I live. The closest is Wal-Mart which is 20 miles away or family dollar. I'd be happy with Aldi too.
by Anonymous | reply 36 | January 28, 2023 12:25 AM
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A Sav-A-Lot SCREAMS ghetto and will bring housing prices down
by Anonymous | reply 38 | January 28, 2023 1:00 AM
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[quote]A broke ass Chicago neighborhood ain’t getting Whole Foods and the resistance to accept this fact just shows the disconnect from the reality that not every entity put into a bad neighborhood is a social service required to serve you.
It seems more like a moderate income neighborhood, not a broke ass one. Whole Foods would never have opened in a ghetto
by Anonymous | reply 39 | January 28, 2023 1:01 AM
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The median Chicago house price is 329K. The median Englewood house price is $148k. 77 percent of neighborhood housing is occupied by renters.
Only 13 percent of the households don't have vehicles so residents can drive to other stores.
Maybe the store should remain empty until the community comes up with its own solution.
by Anonymous | reply 40 | January 28, 2023 1:22 AM
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No R39, Englewood is definitely a ghetto.
by Anonymous | reply 41 | January 28, 2023 1:29 AM
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R41 they’ll see how moderate income it is taking a stroll after dark. Lol
by Anonymous | reply 42 | January 28, 2023 1:30 AM
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[quote]Whole Foods closed the location on Nov. '22 without giving a reason why.
I can't IMAGINE why. It's a total mystery.
by Anonymous | reply 44 | January 28, 2023 1:43 AM
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[quote]A Sav-A-Lot SCREAMS ghetto and will bring housing prices down
So does the endless crime.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | January 28, 2023 1:43 AM
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Lol you know what screams ghetto? Not being able to keep a grocery store in your neighborhood.
by Anonymous | reply 46 | January 28, 2023 1:44 AM
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R21 "I don't care if I have to work 11 damn jobs and sell my ass on the side to maintain my peaceful suburbanite existence, I'm not going back."
Is your ass worth buying? Give us a look.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | January 28, 2023 1:47 AM
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Whole.Food.probably had to.deal with losses from thefts.
by Anonymous | reply 48 | January 28, 2023 1:49 AM
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So the WF prices were too high, and they complained. WF closed and an affordable store opened, and they complained. I sympathize that they're living in a poor neighborhood with few amenities, but this doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
by Anonymous | reply 50 | January 28, 2023 2:55 AM
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Whole Foods opened in Englewood in 2016 and managed to hang on for six years. It seems like the company tried to make it work, but the store was probably bleeding money for a while.
by Anonymous | reply 51 | January 28, 2023 3:39 AM
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Here's what the chain is planning to do with existing stores, combining its own funds with 13M from the city of Chicago. According to Yelp, it's like Aldi in that you bag your own groceries and there are mostly Save-a-Lot brands rather than name brands. The savings are substantial. Apparently, the meat is not all that great but the produce is okay. A number of customers complained that store personnel was rude. I can see how it would feel like a big comedown from Whole Foods.
Rather than insult this chain, work with them. Jeesh.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 52 | January 28, 2023 3:52 AM
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[quote] Whole Foods would never have opened in a ghetto
It did.
by Anonymous | reply 54 | February 9, 2023 9:15 PM
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Have you visited Whole Foods recently? A cup of grapes cost 8 dollars in that store.
by Anonymous | reply 55 | February 9, 2023 10:56 PM
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The major grocery chains do not want to move into that space because of retail theft and gun crime. It's not even attractive enough for Walmart to open a store. Last time I checked, higher-end grocery stores in your neighborhood are not a birthright.
There are multiple answers here--go to Aldi's. and the other grocery store in the neighborhood. Put pressure on Save-A-Lot, a city funding recipient, to upgrade its store. Get on a bus or use your car, which more than 2/3 of the families in this neighborhood have, to go to a chain more to your liking. Subsidize food delivery for the aged and disabled and farmers markets during the summer. Ask for increased police patrolling the grocery area to encourage investment.
by Anonymous | reply 56 | February 9, 2023 11:16 PM
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"I buy what is CHEAPEST!"
by Anonymous | reply 57 | February 9, 2023 11:18 PM
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I would NEVER shop at a store owned and staff with people like myself!
by Anonymous | reply 58 | February 9, 2023 11:20 PM
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I'm going to write a STRONGLY WORDED LETTER to be published in Groceries Today about how racist and hateful this is!
I bet Andrea Riseborough is somehow involved!
by Anonymous | reply 59 | February 9, 2023 11:25 PM
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These neighborhood activists are bullshit. City Council Member Kristin Richardson Jordan chased a development deal out of her Harlem district because she wanted the apartment building to be 50% affordable units and the developer only wanted to make 12% of their building affordable unit.
That space will now be a truck depot.
by Anonymous | reply 60 | February 9, 2023 11:26 PM
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The developer is taking another shot with 50 percent affordable housing.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 62 | February 9, 2023 11:39 PM
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I hope the new colored store will carry canned potatoes with parsley. They were a favorite of Ike and mine and they just aren't as widely available these days.
by Anonymous | reply 63 | February 10, 2023 12:14 AM
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I live near several Save-A-Lot stores. They're not *that* bad. They're just smaller format grocery stores, and they are seldom busy, so you can get in and get out quickly. None of them near me require you to use a quarter to get a cart or bag your own groceries. Some of them even have liquor stores as well, which are far cleaner and less seedier than going to your typical local state liquor store.
Their store brand products are generally sub par (pantry items, sauces, spices, canned goods, etc), but everything else has been fine in my experience. Produce is limited but fresh. Fresh meats are generally cheaper and they have an adequate frozen section.
I get the "stigma" with a name like Save-A-Lot, we had a similar problem when two Bottom Dollar Food locations opened up around here and didn't last long at all. They were actually even better and carried hard to find products that the larger grocery stores near me don't even carry.
If the residents are this irritated, why don't they push for opening a Trader Joe's there instead?
by Anonymous | reply 64 | February 10, 2023 1:24 AM
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[quote] If the residents are this irritated, why don't they push for opening a Trader Joe's there instead?
they weren't consulted... some paternal dogooders made the decision for them by ignoring local residents and thinking what does market research tell us black people want?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 66 | February 10, 2023 3:42 AM
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I’m shocked they had a Whole Foods to begin with. I’m in Southern Brooklyn and we can’t even get a Trader Joes and the median income is a hell of a lot higher than $34,000.
by Anonymous | reply 67 | February 10, 2023 3:49 AM
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R67
There's that giant ass Wegmans in Brooklyn Navy Yard, how much more upscale do you want?
by Anonymous | reply 68 | February 10, 2023 4:01 AM
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So did those people expect to have a WF that charged .99 for a pint of organic blueberries while the rest of us pay 4.99? Look, you're low income. that doesn't mean you're getting fed dog food, but it also means there are certain things you can't afford and people have to get paid. I can't afford an Aston Martin, that doesn't mean I expect them to lower the price because I want one.
by Anonymous | reply 69 | February 10, 2023 4:02 AM
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Save-a-Lot is too good for them eh? Let them go back to lining up for government cheese.
by Anonymous | reply 70 | February 10, 2023 4:33 AM
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When was the last time you were consulted about a grocery store going into or out of your community?
Besides no one else wanted to move in there, according to the mayor.
by Anonymous | reply 71 | February 10, 2023 4:47 AM
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The opposite happened in South Dallas when a Sprouts grocery store was proposed to replace an aging Chinese Buffet and redevelop a large corner lot. The thoughtful proposal was deemed "too suburban" and rejected after numerous reworkings, none to the satisfaction of the commission.
The stated reasons were that the plans of the developers were not adhering to some 2006 zoning plans regarding the placement of the store. Another concern mentioned at the time was that the development would result in gentrification and that longtime residents would soon find themselves priced out of their neighborhood. "Too suburban" was code for "nicer than the neighborhood."
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 72 | February 11, 2023 5:49 AM
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[quote]Ask for increased police patrolling the grocery area to encourage investment.
Black people are constantly complaining that their neighborhoods are "over-policed". That's how saints like George Floyd end up dead when they get caught stealing from a store.
by Anonymous | reply 73 | February 11, 2023 8:39 PM
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Save-A-Lot is TOO GHETTO for us!
by Anonymous | reply 74 | February 11, 2023 8:41 PM
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[quote]Have you visited Whole Foods recently? A cup of grapes cost 8 dollars in that store.
They don't cost nuthin when you steal it.
by Anonymous | reply 75 | February 11, 2023 8:42 PM
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[quote]I get the "stigma" with a name like Save-A-Lot, we had a similar problem when two Bottom Dollar Food locations opened up around here and didn't last long at all.
Not enough bottoms in the neighborhood to support it?
by Anonymous | reply 76 | February 11, 2023 8:48 PM
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They wanted a Walmart or another Aldi or a local chain, Mariano's. That wasn't happening. None of those chains wanted to go to that location. Now they're discussing calling Save-A-Lot something else. They're also angry that Whole Foods just left without a lot of notice or consulting the community. Whole Foods. which was there for six years, has no comment.
by Anonymous | reply 77 | February 12, 2023 1:59 AM
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[quote]They're also angry that Whole Foods just left without a lot of notice or consulting the community.
I'm sure Whole Foods asked them to stop shoplifting multiple times.
by Anonymous | reply 78 | February 12, 2023 2:01 AM
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Albertsons opened a new-construction, beautiful, full-service market in a bad neighborhood in downtown Long Beach around 20 years ago because the city provided unbelievable incentives. I lived down on Ocean Blvd. at the time and at least once a week I stopped there to pick up stuff on my way home. Within 18 months, it was a shit hole. By then the service meat counter workers wrapped up your stuff and walked it to the checkout because so many hoodrats stuffed steaks and crab legs down their pants and walked out without paying. Department by department closed (service meat and deli, floral, bakery, etc.) until the store closed in 2014. Now it is now an El Super market.
I would wager that Whole Foods claimed the Englewood store was "underperforming," just like what Albertsons said about their downtown Long Beach store. In reality, theft and vandalism did it in. You get what you show that you deserve.
by Anonymous | reply 79 | February 12, 2023 2:44 AM
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I love Aldi. I hear Lidl is even better, but I doubt they'll make it to the West Coast in my lifetime. Same for Wegman's.
by Anonymous | reply 81 | February 12, 2023 3:57 AM
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I wish the Whole Foods near me would shut down. I hate that place, it’s douchebag clientele and surly, pretentious staff and sky high prices for mediocre food. I’d welcome a store where I’m not made to feel like I’m not good enough to shop there by the smug, sneering, self-satisfied customer base.
by Anonymous | reply 82 | February 12, 2023 4:55 AM
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In a lot of cases, the thieves aren't living in the neighborhood, so it's not like the community is the problem. In my city we get a lot of large-scale theft at hardware stores, and nearly every time someone is arrested, it turns out to be someone from at least an hour away, sometimes even from another state.
by Anonymous | reply 83 | February 12, 2023 5:19 AM
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There are a lot of celebrities from sports and entertainment who come out of West Englewood. Why aren't they investing in these communities once they get out?
by Anonymous | reply 84 | February 12, 2023 5:36 AM
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Save-A-Lot is fucking GROSS. It's worse than a day-old bread store (remember those?). It's worse than a food pantry. It's worse than buying dusty canned goods from an overpriced bodega.
Shopping there isn't just atrocious for your diet, it's downright insulting to customers. They sell "frozen dessert product" instead of actual ice cream. They sell "assorted poultry parts" instead of whole or split chickens. They sell TV dinners where the label is primarily in Spanish or French, illustrating how the company bulk-bought discounted goods meant for foreign markets. And since they pay less than Burger King, good luck getting an employee to show up sober - or to show up at all.
by Anonymous | reply 85 | February 12, 2023 5:59 AM
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