Why are there no quality grocery stores in OKC? (Oklahoma City: groceries, shop)

[debzkidz]

I heard something about it a few weeks ago. I want to say it is set for sometime in the fall.

[okcpulse]

Whole Foods is set to open this fall. Sunflower Farmer's Market is opening up a location sometime later this year or early next year inside the former CompUSA location at May and NW 63rd. Sprouts is in the process of scouting for a location, and the owners of Buy 4 Less is opening a new upscale grocery store on the corner of Kelly and Covell in Edmond called Uptown Grocery. Edmond City Council just granted a variance for Uptown Grocery's sign.

That will make four really nice supermarkets in the OKC area, as opposed to zero just two years ago.

[Zachj7]

Thats great! We need something down in Norman! Maybe a trader joes Whole foods in Tulsa seems always packed, hope the one out in OKC is successful!
Thanks for the update okcpulse!

[mcca7596]

Natural Grocers is Coming to Norman this Summer:

Natural Grocers coming to Norman | NewsOK.com

[irishlover]

Originally Posted by okcpulse

Whole Foods is set to open this fall. Sunflower Farmer's Market is opening up a location sometime later this year or early next year inside the former CompUSA location at May and NW 63rd. Sprouts is in the process of scouting for a location, and the owners of Buy 4 Less is opening a new upscale grocery store on the corner of Kelly and Covell in Edmond called Uptown Grocery. Edmond City Council just granted a variance for Uptown Grocery's sign.

That will make four really nice supermarkets in the OKC area, as opposed to zero just two years ago.

Good for OKC. I really think high quality grocers add a lot to a city. The house I still own there is literally 1.5 miles from the Classen Curve/Whole Foods development...great for property values! If I still lived there I know I'd be one of the first customers through WF doors.

OKC is a city that, for the most part, recognizes it's shortcomings. Bravo to civic and city leaders for trying to bring the city to 2011 standards!

[Rasero]

The Buy 4 Less on NW Expressway and Council just closed a few weeks ago, does anyone know if a new grocery store is going to be taking that over?

[Zachj7]

*Bump*

I found an older article from 2010 discussing future high end grocery stores in Oklahoma City worth reading if you are curious about good grocery stores in Oklahoma.

Doing OK | Whole Foods' pending arrival signals change in Oklahoma City's discount-heavy grocery market | Retail & Financial content from Supermarket News

Among those who have looked but not yet committed to Oklahoma City are Sprouts Farmers Market, Sunflower Markets and Tulsa, Okla.-based Reasor's.

Thankfully we did get Sunflower Markets! And of course we did get a Whole Foods! I must say, I am impressed that OKC is finally pulling out of the Walmart cesspool which has plagued the metro (and state) from decent to high end grocery stores.

Essentially, our incomes are in the suburbs, and with 1.3 million people Whole Foods didn't view it as a two-store town, so they had to find real estate that could pull all the incomes into one place,” he explained. “That can be a struggle.”

So does that mean OKC metro wont have a second Whole Foods? I would be very interested seeing Sprouts make its way into the metro. I wonder how long it will take Trader Joe's to see potential in OKC. They are already about to open up several locations in Texas, with several in the Dallas region. Kansas City area already has two Trader Joes. They can't possibly skip over OKC which has been changing for the better in the past 10 years.

It would also be nice if we had a good grocery store in Norman. We have a huge university with a diverse population and crapland isn't cutting it.

[debzkidz]

I read somewhere a while back (can't remember where) that Wholes Foods was already looking for a second location. Apparently they were quite surprised by the response of the people in OKC. Just my guessing here, but I would think they would be looking hard at Norman. Sunflower is opening their second store, in Edmond, next month. Also next week, Buy 4 Less, is opening their new concept, Uptown Grocers, in Edmond. It's supposed to be a cross between Whole Foods and HEB. I am anxious to see just what it is. Heck, even if its just a dressed up Buy 4 Less I will be better than Homeland and Walmart.

[flyingcat2k]

I think there was not a lot of in-depth studies on what the market is and is not in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. There are a considerable amount of high income and medium income earners in each metro area and they don't want to shop at Wal-mart. If you listened to Wal-Mart's last earnings call, it was pretty depressing. More sales at lower margins and the average customer has lower real incomes. When all you do is sell on price, it will result in crappy or substandard merchandise and customers with more disposable income will flee as they can afford higher quality. If I just want to buy the store brand, I'll go to Aldi.

I'm glad to see that OKC is getting something better than crapland. In Tulsa, Reasors and Whole Foods have taken a good chunk of the higher incomes and even Food Pyramid has better stuff than the Wal-mart Neighborhood Markets. I think more and more retailers are interested in Oklahoma but they need the state government to quit doing crazy things to cater to individual companies. Now if we could just convince Costco to come here.

[debzkidz]

Originally Posted by flyingcat2k

I think there was not a lot of in-depth studies on what the market is and is not in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. There are a considerable amount of high income and medium income earners in each metro area and they don't want to shop at Wal-mart. If you listened to Wal-Mart's last earnings call, it was pretty depressing. More sales at lower margins and the average customer has lower real incomes. When all you do is sell on price, it will result in crappy or substandard merchandise and customers with more disposable income will flee as they can afford higher quality. If I just want to buy the store brand, I'll go to Aldi.

I'm glad to see that OKC is getting something better than crapland. In Tulsa, Reasors and Whole Foods have taken a good chunk of the higher incomes and even Food Pyramid has better stuff than the Wal-mart Neighborhood Markets. I think more and more retailers are interested in Oklahoma but they need the state government to quit doing crazy things to cater to individual companies. Now if we could just convince Costco to come here.

There was actually an article in the Oklahoman several months back concerning our state liquor laws. Costco was specifically mentioned. The article said that Costco had stated they would not come to OK until we changed our liquor laws. The article went on to that the company could open 6-10 stores in the next few years, but they wont' until it's changed. So I guess until we can convince our state government to join the 21st century and allow us the ability just to buy a simple bottle of wine at the grocery store, we're out of luck. I tried to add a link to the article, but couldn't get it to work.