Lynhburg or Roanoke: who will get that wholefoods first? (Lynchburg: movers, house)

[Mr.VAquestions]

Roanoke still doesnt have that Whole Foods Market that should have located here years ago when they located in Charlottesville... Or better yet before Ukrops came. I feel like Ukrops not making it scared off other Grocers like Earthfare,Trader Joes, and last but not least Whole Foods. Roanoke has the economic draw to house a Whole Foods, Fresh Market, Trader Joes, Earthfare, and world Market at the same time! Charlottesville can do it. I know that your thinking that Charlottesville is much denser but the demographics to pull in all these are close to the same if not more with Roanoke. A problem with Roanoke also is the fact that The city doesnt seem to have enough space. Now when I look at Lynhburg I see a city that is far behind Roanoke and Charlottesville but the time spent on getting Lynchburg this far is going to eventually push Lynchburg past Roanoke and Charlottesville. With the Fresh Market opening in Lynchburg this is a tester store for the area. If the fresh market works in Lynchburg depending on what the level of effectiveness it will alarm other stores such as Whole Foods and Trader Joes that maybe they can work it out in this area. With Lynchburg fast growth in population it could be a city to watch. Which city do you think will roll in a Whole Foods first?

[roanoker 4]

I have heard a lot about Whole Foods and it continues to amaze why they ignore our area. They did turn down
locating in the old Ukrops store recently but that fell through. It seems that Ukrops location is cursed! It seems to have all of the right ingredients of population, center of town, income, etc. If someone had managed that property correctly from the beginning we should already have a Whole Foods and other more upscale shops not seen here. Fresh Market is also a great store! Their selection of fresh meat, fish is hard to compare with Kroger, Food Lion, etc. Lynchburg will love Fresh Market and it will be very successful. I hope Lynchburg can draw in stores not seen in this region, maybe by osmosis they will come to Roanoke eventually. Also, a big problem in Roanoke is the popularity of local stores, restaurants which do an excellent job. Charlottesville must have some "movers and shakers" that do not look at Lynchburg, Roanoke when considering new stores. I don't believe it is strictly demographics, I believe we in this region are isolated. Roanoke, Lynchburg, New River Valley should form a committee to see how we can market ourselves to the outside world. We can start in Virginia!

[badger74]

I would much prefer a Costco. I have many WFs within a close drive and hardly ever use them. Go to Costco twice a month. They have US Prime beef, great fresh seafood cheap and just about anything else you need. All great quality too.

[springgrl]

I think the Fresh Market is going to get L'burg closer to Whole Foods, and supposedly the new [locally-owned] grocery going in downtown is hoping to be a smaller scale WF Market (including a cafe). While more grocery options along these lines would be on my wish list, for now I'm willing to wait it out and will support the existing local businesses (e.g., the Bedford Avenue Meat Market, Blue Marlin Seafood and the different farmers who sell @ the Community Market) for organic and, where possible, fresh meat.

A year ago I would have agreed about Costco, but since they're now putting in a Costco along with a Wegmans in Charlottesville (as well as an apple store) and the centers of both Charlottesville and Roanoke are fairly equidistant to the center of Lynchburg, if I were the employee looking for places to put a Costco, I'd put it in Salem or even Christiansburg. It seems they like to put them not too far off major interstates, and both those locations offer that.

(I'm willing to drive to Costco because if I'm going there I'm planning to buy in bulk or get new tires at a substantial discount. Even when I lived close to one, for me it wasn't a place I went to biweekly.)

[badger74]

Going to Cville for Costco will be fine for us.

[Kreutz]

Trader Joes>Whole Foods.

[Cville2RoanokeWahoo]

Originally Posted by Kreutz

Trader Joes>Whole Foods.

I would disagree only because of the eat-in option that comes along with Whole Foods. The location in Charlottesville (and probably most WF's) has ample indoor/outdoor seating to enjoy a meal from large food bars ranging from hot fare to salads, fruits, soups, etc. Trader Joe's, while awesome, doesn't yet offer such amenities (at least the one in Charlottesville doesn't).

The Fresh Market in Charlottesville has seating as well, which I wish they'd add to the one here in Roanoke. Obviously space limitations are prohibitive.

[Cville2RoanokeWahoo]

Originally Posted by badger74

Going to Cville for Costco will be fine for us.

Wegman's and Costco will be fairly convenient, too, as they will be easily accessible from 64-E, and won't require you to really even go very far into Charlottesville.

[Kreutz]

Originally Posted by Cville2RoanokeWahoo

I would disagree only because of the eat-in option that comes along with Whole Foods. The location in Charlottesville (and probably most WF's) has ample indoor/outdoor seating to enjoy a meal from large food bars ranging from hot fare to salads, fruits, soups, etc. Trader Joe's, while awesome, doesn't yet offer such amenities (at least the one in Charlottesville doesn't).

The Fresh Market in Charlottesville has seating as well, which I wish they'd add to the one here in Roanoke. Obviously space limitations are prohibitive.

Hm, the TJ's in NY (Commack+Yonkers) had a small area to sit and eat by the deli.

Guess it varies.