New Meijer, other grocery stores vital to Detroit's comeback

John Gallagher | Detroit Free Press

People gotta eat, right?

That simple truth explains why grocery stores like a planned new Meijer on East Jefferson near downtown Detroit have become key to the city's revitalization efforts.

Dozens of new food-related spots have either opened in Detroit recently or are planned, like the urban-style Meijer slated to open sometime next year. .

From the Whole Foods grocery in Midtown that opened in 2013 to the many grab-and-go coffee and sandwich shops, these food businesses create jobs, enhance street life and power urban revitalization here and elsewhere.

Mark Nickita, a partner in the Detroit urban planning firm Archive DS, said a neighborhood that offers easy access to a multitude of food options is a neighborhood that will attract residents.

"It's a matter of convenience and quality of life," Nickita said. "The last thing we want in a neighborhood is to have to be going long distances to get your basic needs met."

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Sadly, walking to a corner grocery or neighborhood farmers market is no longer an option for many Americans, particularly those living in suburbia. Millions of Americans now have to get in their cars to drive once a week to a Costco, Walmart, Kroger or a Meijer superstore to stock up for the week.

The best urban neighborhoods offer more walkable options. The revival of Detroit's Eastern Market over the past dozen years has played an important part in the greater downtown story.

"Most cities have options that are close by," Nickita said, "and in many places people go to these stores and restaurants multiple times a week, which is very different from the way a lot of Americans function."

Defining a neighborhood's vibe

Beyond a mere convenience factor, restaurants, groceries and other food businesses go a long way toward defining the cultural vibe of a neighborhood. Where would Detroit's Mexicantown be without Mexican restaurants?

Downtown Detroit's leading landlord, businessman Dan Gilbert's Bedrock real estate arm, actively recruits food operations as part of its mix of storefront businesses and office tenants. Jennifer Skiba, Bedrock's vice president of leasing, said food-related offerings help knit together the greater downtown community.

"Food brings people together," she said. "It's just something you can't create online. For us, bringing to market those unique food and beverage operators is a part of the growth and the vision for Detroit."

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Among the latest newcomers planned for Detroit is the urban-style Meijer on East Jefferson, a project under development by Lormax Stern Development Co. of Bloomfield Hills and its partners, along with 213 apartments. Not as large as the more familiar Meijer superstores like one near 8 Mile Road and Woodward, the Jefferson store would feature less parking and a smaller footprint.

But city officials welcomed the idea.

“This beautiful new development is going to help us meet two critical needs in our city,” Mayor Mike Duggan said earlier this year. “First, the residential development will help us meet the increasing demand for new housing while adding more affordable units in a very popular area of the city. Second, the new Meijer’s market will give east side Detroiters who may currently leave the city to get their groceries another option to keep their dollars in Detroit.”

Sue Mosey, director of the civic group Midtown Detroit Inc., said there is still plenty of room for more new entrants in Detroit, including at least a couple more groceries roughly the size of the Whole Foods in Midtown to serve neighborhoods like Corktown and New Center.

Specialty food emporiums — wineries, distilleries, food halls, and the like — are also beginning to show up in Detroit, Mosey said, and the city could use more of those, too. And she sees the need for more "New York-type bodegas" like Marcus Market on 2nd Avenue in Midtown "serving locals who just want to walk over to pick up items."

Independent vs. national chains

Nothing exists in a vacuum. Even while recruiting new entrants, Detroit needs to take care that smaller independents that have served their neighborhoods for years don't get driven out by the big national chains. Detroit already has a lot of smaller independent groceries like the popular Honey Bee Market on Bagley in near southwest Detroit.

The arrival of national chains has sparked complaints from local independents that they can no longer compete with the chains' economies of scale. When the small independent Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe on Woodward in Midtown closed in 2014, it blamed the opening of nearby Whole Foods the year before for taking away most of its business.

That's a real concern, but it demonstrates how the simple word "food" evokes so much — price, selection, convenience, sustenance, culture. Everyone agrees that food is essential to Detroit's comeback, even if there's plenty of disagreement on how it should be served up.

Contact John Gallagher: 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jgallagherfreep.