Musings on a Downtown Grocery Store

I spent the better part of a decade in England. Specifically Brighton & Hove. (Population: 260,000). In the 'downtown' area, there were three 'supermarkets'. All were frequented by customers primarily on-foot or travelling by bus. By people who either lived or worked downtown.

I know that Toronto now has a Loblaws store at Maple Leaf Gardens. When I lived in The Beaches, having the IGA on Queen Street West was great.

And I've shopped in Whole Foods in Manhattan.

Hamilton? What has downtown Hamilton held over the years?

Well, my research and recollections have suggested three. I'm being told there was one on Main Street just opposite First Place. There was an IGA on James Street South at Duke (now Adam's Marketplace?). And of course, The Barn at Hess and York.

But there's never been one...at least going back to the 60s...in 'the core'.

So with the announcement of the City of Hamilton's 'prize' for the person or company locating a grocery store downtown, I got to thinking about the notion. In terms of the relevancy of one going in there, the history of such in the area, and about 'corporate' vs 'community' priorities.

I'll admit, I've been torn about the idea of a supermarket in the core. I'm old enough and have a sufficiently intact memory to understand the past 50 years of the downtown pretty accurately. And in its various 'heydays', there was never a 'grocery store'. Never a food supermarket. (Yes, the Farmers' Market was always there, always providing meat, produce, baked goods and dairy products...but that's not what we're talking about here.) So I'm a little hesitant to get on-board with the idea that having one there is such a potential lynchpin to revitalizing the downtown. In fact, I'll admit to a sort of cynicism when it comes to just about any development whispers there: I'm very, very wary of desperate appeals and flights of fancy.

And at the risk of being pilloried, I'll add this: I would not want to see a 'Food Basics'-type store in the core to complement the Bingo Hall, the Money Marts and other such establishments.

I get all the arguments about food choices being vital to good health. About people who don't have broad food choices being unable to make good ones. But I'd hate to see the wrong movement take place in the core. If this paints me as 'elitist', so be it. Because if we want to get our downtown back to the way it was either before Jackson Square opened or when the mall was at its peak, then we have to be cognizant of the differences in 'synergistic development appeal' between a cut-rate grocery store and one on the level of a Sobeys. We need to strive for more than just the lowest common denominator. My suggestion? Something along the lines of a 'Metro'.

I'm also curious as to where the shoppers would be coming from. What's the catchment area? Who'd be shopping there? People who live in Beasley and Corktown? Currently, if we're talking the broadest sense of 'downtown', the closest grocery store is 'Food Basics' on Barton at Mary. After that, it's Fortino's at Dundurn, and 'No Frills' on Main close to Wentworth. Would people working in offices downtown shop there? I remember when commuters on buses and in cars brought back their bounty from Jackson Square at the end of the day, from the retails stores as well as the Farmers' Market. So while I know we've come to believe that 'people won't shop downtown', I also know this is malarky.

Tied to this discussion is the fact that we 'lost' a downtown grocery store when Metro Inc bought up The Barn, Dominion, A&P, Loeb and Ultra stores in Ontario in the last decade. It closed the flagship 'Barn' store at Hess and Main.

I drove by the location this morning. It's now a 'Premier Fitness' complex. And remains a great location for a supermarket. maybe the best potential location in the downtown, all things considered...save maybe for the old Eaton Centre addition to Jackson Square, which would automatically be seen as a 'Farmers' Market Killer'.

While I understand that companies have the right to make the business decisions they feel are best for their stockholders, I'm wondering what the reasoning was for closing this location, given where it was drawing customers from: the North-end, Central, Durand and Beasley neighbourhoods. I'm not going to claim that I'm privy to why the decision to close the store was made (the closest Metro Inc outlet is the aforementioned Food Basics store on Barton at Mary, so it can't have been in trying to forestall internal competition). But I am going to suggest that it's this kind of thinking (and the apparent 'hands-off' reaction of anyone at City Hall in response) that contributes to what we're currently seeing extant in the downtown...James Street South and James Street North above Cannon Street notwithstanding: there's no there, there.

I'm trying to imagine what piece of property would provide what's required for a 'downtown supermarket'. And I'm not coming up with much. Save for maybe the current Bingo Hall location, or the empty lot on James Street South there Robinson's used to be, two entirely different approaches.

But then, this is precisely the sort of conversation that should be happening in Hamilton, as I've mentioned previously.

It would be great if we could get more voices involved in the dialogue than just bureaucrats and developers, doncha think...?

M Adrian Brassington