A quite recent posting on the Capital Area Community Voices website has me intrigued. I have no doubt that a grocery store should be placed in a more central location for those who have difficutly making it out to the extremities of the Lansing city limit. However, the issue of whether a Trader Joe's or a Whole Foods has me a bit, well, torn up. While the idea for low-income families to have access to healthy affordable food does not include either of those upscale retailers, the thought of being able to bring the suburbanites into downtown Lansing is compelling. Lansing, with 30% of its population living in poverty, needs a way to harness the economic resources of its nearby suburban neighbors. Maybe then downtown Lansing wouldn't shut down at 3 every afternoon.
There is also the employment incentive for bringing a grocery store downtown. One grocery store can't boost employment rates, though the growth of downtown can. However, if an upscale retailer moves in, will they hire the neighbors? Places like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's offer desirable benefits and decent wages, but they may be looking for employees who have a greater knowledge of, say, whole (health) foods. So the question is, who will get these jobs? A Meijer or a Kroger (or whatever retail chain or independent grocer moves in (possibly)) will not have the need for a staff skilled in the yuppy foods industry and will, thus, be more likely to hire those most in need of employment.
Finally, am I giving the suburbanites too much credit? Can downtown Lansing become vibrant (or at least remain open past sunset) without the resources from East Lansing and Okemos? If a low-income-accessible grocery store moves in, will the crowd it invites be enough to revitalize the district? Am I even giving too much credit to a grocery store? So many questions.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I'd like to amend the post by saying that Tony has told me Whole Foods would, in fact, hire the downtown neighbors. He worked at several of the chain's establishments, so I suppose he knows the types of people they hire. He probably hired some of them, as well.
I guarantee that a TJ's or Whole Foods would have folks coming from all over. There are solid, "it" brands. I'd hope that L-town would go with a TJ's, b/c it's way more affordable than Whole Foods, but either would be a watershed for downtown retail. I just hope they don't construct some brand new big box to do it. There'd have to be tons of capacity in the area to house such a deal.
They're discussing putting it in the Knapp's building on Washington Ave. That way it would be quite close to the CATA station, making it easier to get to for those who rely on public transportation.
Good for people to know.
Post a Comment