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From The Dispatch:
Giant Eagle for Arena District falls prey to economy
BY MIKE PRAMIKGiant Eagle has postponed plans to build a supermarket in the Arena District because of the down economy, its local developer said. The supermarket chain indicated last year that it planned to build a two-story supermarket at the northeast corner of Neil Avenue and Vine Street. The supermarket would have replaced Giant Eagle’s Victorian Village store at 777 Neil Ave.
The site is just north of a land parcel that Nationwide Realty Investors purchased last year from the city. The Arena District developer has plans to build a 220-unit apartment complex there. Those plans are still in place but Nationwide Realty is in no hurry to begin work on the apartments, President Brian Ellis said.
The VV Giant Eagle is the slowest grocery store on the planet. Trying to check out in there can be a real test of patience.
Maybe they can at least set up some self service check out lanes instead.
Do they have room for that? I think it’s one of their smaller locations other than the GV location.
I’m going to make a prediction here and now that we’ll hear news of the VV Giant Eagle closing shorly before the new revamped UA store at Kingsdale opens.
i can’t believe that they couldn’t derive a decent business in there current location. there is really no competition other than North Market. if they can work in self check out lanes in GV, then thay can do it anywhere.
walker – Kingsdale isn’t even in the same shopping radius. The Grandview Giant Eagle is much closer. You’d drive past a couple of Krogers, Whole Foods, etc… before you even got to Kingsdale. Now a Grandview Yard GE would potentially spell doom.
it will be interesting to see if the economy slows down Kroger’s plan to redevelop the WP location, as that would be serious competition. but keep in mind, the now empty storefront (former rent-a-flick) gives them some expansion options in the current location.
I’ve heard that Giant Eagle still doesn’t have as much room in their Victorian Village location as they would like for a full expansion. I agree that them opening a location either in the Arena District or Grandview Yard would spell doom for the VV store, just as Kroger closed down their Livingston store when opening the Brewers Yard location.
But I dunno… I still wouldn’t be surprised if they closed the VV store anyway just to get rid of an underperforming location when opening a new shiny location at Kingsdale, even if it is a bit further away. Just some speculation on my part.
From what I’ve heard and observed, it’s not that that VV store is a poor performer and doesn’t make good profit (afterall, GE kept it open when they moved into Columbus). It just that a much larger store in that general area (i.e. Arena District) could be that much more profitable because of increased capacity and economy of scale.
There’s plenty of grocery demand in the Short North (long checkout lines attest to that), just not many workable places aside from the AD to locate a modern “super-center” type of store w/pharmacy to meet that demand.
I really hope another grocer replaces the VV GE when they evenually relocate. As a local SNorther, I’d much rather wait in line than have to get in the car to drive to another location.
What about building out into the former video store?