Fry's Food Stores coming to downtown Phoenix (Mesa, Scottsdale: apartment, house)

[observer53]

It's about time!


Officials: 55,000-square-foot Fry's grocery store coming to downtown Phoenix - ABC15 Arizona

[Ponderosa]

Amen! A super market is critical. My own development languished for years and then took off after the Safeway store opened (along with a McDonalds).

[Ztonyg]

Fry's has been pretty aggressive recently.

They're scheduled to open 6 new (non-replacement) stores now:

Fry's Marketplace (Signal Butte & Guadalupe) – 2724 S. Signal Butte Rd. in Mesa. Scheduled opening: Summer 2016.
Fry's Marketplace (Camelback Rd. & Litchfield Rd.) – 13830 W. Camelback Rd. in Litchfield Park. Scheduled opening: Fall 2016.
Fry's Marketplace (Gilbert & Ocotillo) – 2929 E. Ocotillo Rd. in Chandler. Scheduled opening: Fall 2016.

Fry's Marketplace (Lake Pleasant & Happy Valley Rd.) – 25401 N. Lake Pleasant Parkway in Peoria. Scheduled opening: Fall 2016.
Fry's Marketplace (North Valley Parkway) – 2800 W. Dove Valley Rd. in Phoenix. Scheduled opening: Fall 2016.
Fry's Food and Drug (Downtown). Scheduled opening: To be determined.

Also, they're replacing the store at 7th St. / Bell Rd. with a Marketplace at 13th St. / Bell Rd.

They're also expanding their store at 20th St. / Highland and supposed to be expanding their store at Miller Rd. / Indian School.

[new2colo]

According to a more in depth article by AZCentral, the store is scheduled to open in 2018. Given downtown's track record with projects that never come to fruition, I won't hold my breath until there's actual food being stocked on the shelves. Central Station was supposed to house a grocery store, but nary a peep about that store nor Central Station, for that matter, has been uttered for months. Fry's was supposed to retrofit its Scottsdale location at Miller and Indian School into a two story "urban" grocery store several years ago, but the old one remains with no sign of construction equipment anywhere. Hopefully this development goes somewhere, though. Downtown needs the investment.

[grmi66]

I'm hoping that the Fry's goes in. But if it's 2018 I may be in a newer 'hood further north. Right now my only option within a 10 minute drive of 7th Street and McDowell are a Safeway and a Basha's. The selection and prices make me hate walking in. So now I have to stock up at the Fry's on Highland on the weekends and try to go to Safeway only if I really, really need something during the week.

[elcajones]

It seems in quite a few parts of town there's a Frys every 2 miles or so. They are expanding quick. Thankfully, I'm a fan.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by grmi66

I'm hoping that the Fry's goes in. But if it's 2018 I may be in a newer 'hood further north. Right now my only option within a 10 minute drive of 7th Street and McDowell are a Safeway and a Basha's. The selection and prices make me hate walking in. So now I have to stock up at the Fry's on Highland on the weekends and try to go to Safeway only if I really, really need something during the week.

I do the same thing, even though I don't live downtown and both stores are a lot closer to me (and Basha's as well) I do hope this comes to pass.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by new2colo

According to a more in depth article by AZCentral, the store is scheduled to open in 2018. Given downtown's track record with projects that never come to fruition, I won't hold my breath until there's actual food being stocked on the shelves. Central Station was supposed to house a grocery store, but nary a peep about that store nor Central Station, for that matter, has been uttered for months. Fry's was supposed to retrofit its Scottsdale location at Miller and Indian School into a two story "urban" grocery store several years ago, but the old one remains with no sign of construction equipment anywhere. Hopefully this development goes somewhere, though. Downtown needs the investment.

The difference is most of those other stores were small relatively unknown stores with little to no presence in the Valley. This is a Fry's store with a large presence in the Valley so this is one store that I can realistically foresee happening. Also, we have to keep in mind, this is a grocery store. It's not like they are announcing a new sky scraper on the spot.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by new2colo

According to a more in depth article by AZCentral, the store is scheduled to open in 2018. Given downtown's track record with projects that never come to fruition, I won't hold my breath until there's actual food being stocked on the shelves. Central Station was supposed to house a grocery store, but nary a peep about that store nor Central Station, for that matter, has been uttered for months. Fry's was supposed to retrofit its Scottsdale location at Miller and Indian School into a two story "urban" grocery store several years ago, but the old one remains with no sign of construction equipment anywhere. Hopefully this development goes somewhere, though. Downtown needs the investment.

What do you mean by "Central Station"???? You mean the project that was previously announced for the property where the Central [Bus} Station is? I haven't heard about that lately either, but that was/is a lot bigger project than just a grocery store. That said, we will know more when ground actually breaks.

[new2colo]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

The difference is most of those other stores were small relatively unknown stores with little to no presence in the Valley. This is a Fry's store with a large presence in the Valley so this is one store that I can realistically foresee happening. Also, we have to keep in mind, this is a grocery store. It's not like they are announcing a new sky scraper on the spot.

Just because this Fry's is in a prominent area does not guarantee that it will move forward. As you pointed out, this is not an announcement for a skyscraper, so Fry's pulling out between now and 2018 is a very real possibility. This is also part of a larger, mixed-use development that from my understanding could include residential and retail. There are clearly moving pieces here than could potentially have a domino effect on one another.

I am hoping that the grocery store moves forward. Downtown Phoenix certainly needs this. As I have stated in previous posts, I used to live downtown and one of my primary gripes was the distance to the nearest full-service supermarket. The Safeway on 7th Street and McDowell is there, but it is really small and congested compared to suburban Safeways around the Valley. If I wanted to pick up one item, it wasn't unusual for it to take me 15-20 minutes from the time I entered the store to the time I left due to the absence of self-checkout and because only one or two checkout lines were open at a time. The closest realistic option was the Safeway on 7th Avenue and Osborn or the Fresh and Easy on 7th Avenue and Indian School. The only Fry's locations that I frequented were the ones on 20th Street and Highland or 44th Street and Thomas. The other locations on Camelback and Thomas were filthy, old and sketchy. All this is to say that I recognize there is a true need for a chain grocery store, specifically Fry's, downtown. I hope this moves forward.

Originally Posted by observer53

What do you mean by "Central Station"???? You mean the project that was previously announced for the property where the Central [Bus} Station is? I haven't heard about that lately either, but that was/is a lot bigger project than just a grocery store. That said, we will know more when ground actually breaks.

Central Station is the 34-story apartment building that was proposed two years ago after the City of Phoenix put out a solicitation to transform the area into a more active, mixed-use area. The project was initially supposed to break ground last spring, was pushed back to last fall, then was pushed back to this spring. The last I heard was that the Federal Transit Administration, who oversaw the construction of Central Station, required the City and the developer to come up with a means of maintaining full transit operations while the tower was under construction. I haven't heard a peep since then, which leads me to believe that this is yet another project that is completely dead.

You are right. We will not know what's going to happen until ground is actually broken, or more realistically, ribbons are actually cut.