HEB announces downtown store and $100M investment around it..finally. (campus, corporate)

[pr57001]

Originally Posted by Spursrock

The people strongly opposed this...just another example our mayor and city council don't listen to the people...sad it's gonna suck...oh well progress right? Seems the only people progressing in this city are big corporations and crooked politicians

It's hard to generalize that "The people" strongly oppose this. Try and do anything, in this city or any other city, and the loudest voices come from those saying "no", no matter what the project, idea or change.

[01Snake]

Originally Posted by Spursrock

The people strongly opposed this...just another example our mayor and city council don't listen to the people...sad it's gonna suck...oh well progress right? Seems the only people progressing in this city are big corporations and crooked politicians

Hmmm. Sounds kinda like the little downtown Choo-Choo train that everyone opposes except the urban folks (chuckle) downtown who think spending $20M per mile is a great idea.

[teenwolf80]

Originally Posted by Spursrock

The people strongly opposed this...just another example our mayor and city council don't listen to the people...sad it's gonna suck...oh well progress right? Seems the only people progressing in this city are big corporations and crooked politicians

Who are the people and where is the data backing up that claim?

A vocal minority isn't "the people". 90% of the city is probably indifferent or couldn't give two craps about it and if presented with the facts and asked to vote, would probably vote yes.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by TXStrat

Would think anything is better than the current nothing. Whole Foods and Trader Joes certain qualify as high end when you compare the prices of similar products to those found at HEB, Safeway, Kroger, Wal-Mart,etc.

No. "Anything" is NOT better than "Nothing." It's not about the lowest common denominator, but about evaluating what makes this a "world class city."

Despite our size, we are a city of suburbs. That;'s ok, if that's what we want to be - a series of bedroom communities tied together by roadways. If we want to be a *city,* with an urban center, we need to rethink what that means.

TJ's as "high end" is debatable and subjective. They sell processed, packaged foods. Their stock varies from store to store, but I've searched a number of stores in various cities, and I'd say Whole Foods and Central Market, and Sprouts offer much more specialty/organic, stuff like spelt flour, oat flour, flax seed...to name a few items.

It's not ONLY about a grocery store, but about the elements of daily life. Friends who lived downtown for a few years and now live in Southtown, often commented that living "downtown" was hard because SA didn't have the amenities of a downtown. Here's why you need to walk to a grocery: your parking spot is two blocks away. You don't do a week's worth of shopping at once and bring it from your attached garage into your kitchen 10 steps away. You schlep it a few blocks. To make that useful, a store needs to have enough useful items, so you'll make the trip a few times per week.

Again, it's about living urban vs. living suburban. San Antonio is still a city living suburban. Even the city planners have that mindset. It's not bad, but the city needs to decide if it wants to be a city or a suburban, bedroom community.

[geargrinder70]

Originally Posted by Chaka

No. "Anything" is NOT better than "Nothing." It's not about the lowest common denominator, but about evaluating what makes this a "world class city."

Despite our size, we are a city of suburbs. That;'s ok, if that's what we want to be - a series of bedroom communities tied together by roadways. If we want to be a *city,* with an urban center, we need to rethink what that means.

TJ's as "high end" is debatable and subjective. They sell processed, packaged foods. Their stock varies from store to store, but I've searched a number of stores in various cities, and I'd say Whole Foods and Central Market, and Sprouts offer much more specialty/organic, stuff like spelt flour, oat flour, flax seed...to name a few items.

It's not ONLY about a grocery store, but about the elements of daily life. Friends who lived downtown for a few years and now live in Southtown, often commented that living "downtown" was hard because SA didn't have the amenities of a downtown. Here's why you need to walk to a grocery: your parking spot is two blocks away. You don't do a week's worth of shopping at once and bring it from your attached garage into your kitchen 10 steps away. You schlep it a few blocks. To make that useful, a store needs to have enough useful items, so you'll make the trip a few times per week.

Again, it's about living urban vs. living suburban. San Antonio is still a city living suburban. Even the city planners have that mindset. It's not bad, but the city needs to decide if it wants to be a city or a suburban, bedroom community.

Chaka I don't really disagree with what you said here, but you can only stuff so much into the downtown area. So if the city is to grow then I would say that suburban sprawl will always win out and I'm not saying that is a good or bad thing it's just reality.

[cashcall]

It is about time. Also, this will creative some jobs for people in san Antonio

[LiveUrban]

Originally Posted by prim8

I think the idea behind a neighborhood market like this is that people would go every couple of days for stuff they're planning to cook/eat in the very near term.
Not to buy a weeks worth of groceries at a time.

That's how most people in urban environments shop. Most Europeans buy in smaller quantities and shop more frequently.
Whereas here in suburban Texas, people top their carts all the way full with Little Debbie Cakes, tortillas, and faijita meat.

A smaller HEB would cater to the urban shopper.

[Merovee]

^

They also have smaller refrigerators and eat fresher foods.

[TXEX06]

H-E-B plans to demolish, replace Nogalitos store - San Antonio Express-News

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet.

[SnappyBob]

Wow, that will be a little different. I wonder who did the artist rendition of the future store. Two of the cars in the parking lot, the one on the right side parked under the entry sign in front of the red column and another on the left side of the parking lot are translucent. Where did that green car in the lower left corner come from? What is that, a 67 Crysler? Seriously though, it looks like it will be a cool store. I like the concept. I heard someone somewhere make a suggestion to do something simular with the downtown store to avoid closing the street and use less real estate.