At least one potential grocer has expressed interest in opening a grocery store in downtown Fort Smith.

64.6 Downtown Director Talicia Richardson announced at a Central Business Improvement District meeting Tuesday that the grocer, who was not named, reached out to her with the intent of better understanding the needs of the downtown community. This interest comes after the entry "Grocery Store" polled the highest of six service needs in a CBID survey sent in May to downtown players.

Richardson in response to this interest gathered information from 147 residents and workers in downtown Fort Smith about what they would like to see in a grocery store in the area. The information will be made available to any person or company who expresses interest in opening a grocery store in the area.

Nearly 85 percent of survey respondents said they would like to see a "small, traditional grocery store" in downtown Fort Smith as opposed to a bodega, boutique or ethnic market. About half of the respondents said they would "very likely" shop at a grocery store during their workdays or lunch hours, while more than 31 percent said they "likely" would use a grocery store at those times.

More than 86 percent of respondents said they would purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. "Quality of produce" was listed in the survey as the most important element or aspect that would influence the respondents to purchase at a downtown grocer.

"The majority of the people wanted to see fresh produce downtown. That was the big thing for a lot of the people who are willing to purchase groceries downtown," Richardson said. Other popular items in the survey were deli meats and cheeses and sweet or salty snacks. More than 70 percent of respondents said they would either "very likely" or "likely" shop at a grocery store that carries ethnic foods or products.

Richardson said high-end health food stores such as Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Sprouts aren't interested in opening a store in Fort Smith because the city doesn't meet demographic requirements such as median income and percentage of residents with college degrees. Even so, panelist Phil White said grocery stores such as these could be used as models for how a store in downtown Fort Smith could be constructed in light of the respondents' feedback in the survey.

In light of the interest, CBID Chairman Bill Hanna said CBID panelists need to take steps to ensure a grocery store comes to downtown Fort Smith.

"I know we have a desire for this, but we need to figure out what the next step for that incentive is and make that tangible," Hanna said. "It’s something we need to work on."