Grocery Downtown!

[Rory Bowman]

The "Day & Nite" market site at Sixth and Washington has been a
grocery of some sort pretty much since the time of Esther Short, when
it was a ferry landing. Owned by the Alpenrose company, this location
was on the list of possible sites for VFC and (in exchange for
promoting Alpenrose products) there was an excellent chance of getting
the store at a favorable rate for VFC, had there been will or skill.

Although I was expecting a high-end private grocery to lease this
space, this morning's Columbian notes that the remodeled buildings
shall instead house a Plaid Pantry, as per http://www.columbian.com/article/20090622/BIZ01/706239984

Watch for another quarter-century of lottery tickets.

[Anja Larson]

Having read through a bunch of the old directories going back decades,
looking specifically at what was once and what is now, this is
incredibly predictable. Each of the smaller, independently-run
groceries gave way to a Plaid Pantry or a Minute Mart. While these
sometimes have or had an ethnic tilt, they don't usually last beyond a
generation. The existing "convenience" just keep people addicted to low
quality food at extremely high mark-ups.

The conclusion of the recent organic food conference out at Skamania
Lodge as reported in the Capital Press:
http://www.capitalpress.com/main.asp?
SectionID=106&SubSectionID=852&ArticleID=52209&TM=60670.11

Recent ethnic immigrants will go out of their way for something similar
to what they knew back home, which may muddy how far people are
actually traveling to get reasonable bulk foods. All of our food is of
immigrant, ethnic origin, and offering the generic, now-acceptable
foods that a Plaid Pantry offers just caters to an increasingly small
segment of the population. It's always been hard to have a food co-op
offer what's affordable to a complete cross-section of the locals -

I think the objection to that space Rory's referring to was that it
didn't have enough parking. What with the MAX line going practically by
the front door, there may be a more friendly place for the co-op that
has space for a rain-garden - like tearing up the ground in front of
the neato mural facing where the "Vancouver Food Store" used to be and
persuading the wedding place it's painted on to let a food co-op either
share space with it or build a catering kitchen inside - except that
may also be on the MAX line. Washington and Broadway couplet, was it?

[Glenna Rose]

On Jun 23, 8:38 am, Rory Bowman <MacR...@macrory.com> wrote:
> The "Day & Nite" market site at Sixth and Washington has been a
> grocery of some sort pretty much since the time of Esther Short, when
> it was a ferry landing. Owned by the Alpenrose company, this location
> was on the list of possible sites for VFC and (in exchange for
> promoting Alpenrose products) there was an excellent chance of getting
> the store at a favorable rate for VFC, had there been will or skill.

It is my understanding that Alpenrose was very receptive to working
with a food co-op for that location.

I personally gave contact information to a new board member whom I
trusted to make an honest effort to follow through. In the past
several years, the customers for the location had gotten more and more
"upscale" rather than being primarily lottery ticket or liquor
customers; that information from someone who worked in that store for
decades and would know first hand. That board member left the board
many months ago, perhaps partly because of refusal of others to
consider such an ideal location.

I suspect no board member ever contacted Alpenrose or in any way made
an attempt to negotiate anything. The store didn't close for lack of
business; it closed because Alpenrose wanted a different tenant, maybe
a food co-op?

Someone said parking was a problem to which I say bull manure, and
fresh at that! With the advent of the Washington State Lottery, that
store was the highest selling store in the state of Washington for
lottery tickets for years; the money made there was even a prime
reason Oregon started their lottery. If it could handle the thousands
who went there to buy lottery tickets each week (all by car!), it
certainly could handle the few hundred that would shop there for
groceries, many of who would use public transit or even, God forbid,
walk! It actually has much more public parking available than Alberta
or People's Co-op, yet somehow those stores have been very successful.

That location was available and would have resulted in a very
successful store as it would draw from Vancouver and north Portland as
well, especially the Jantzen Beach and Delta Park area.
Unfortunately, the people on the board who made the decisions are NOT
long-time residents and do not understand the dynamics of west
Vancouver et al. A co-op can do very well in this area and be
patronized by people from all over the county; history has proven that
with Valley Farms when the population in west Vancouver (and Clark
County) was considerably less than it is now.

One of the main reasons I requested my money back was the lack of
interest in the Day N Night Market location or the Tee Pee Market
location. Both locations were available to VFC, both had full meat
departments at one time with the refrigeration, cutting areas, etc.
That neither location was explored told me that the interest was not
in west Vancouver lending credibility to a rumor that east of 164th
Avenue was being considered and discussed by a particular long-time
board member (with NO business background). Either would have been
perfect, but someone who "called the shots" was looking in east
Vancouver, way east Vancouver. Then, the credit problem hit our
country and the development where she wanted to locate likely won't be
happening any time soon if ever.

If anyone on the current board cares, they will get in touch with the
owners of Tee Pee Market and see if there is a chance of locating
there - no one seems to know what is going on with the store since its
fire. One thing for certain, the building is there and is in a prime
location. 39th Street is right off the freeway and entirely
accessible to everyone, by car, by bus, by bike, and even by foot.
39th Street even has its own freeway exit and entrance just a few
blocks from the store.

Maybe the current board can think for themselves and set aside old
ideas and move forward with a fresh and receptive perspective and make
business decisions based on facts and the west Vancouver history and
support. If it locates in that building, it will be successful but
one thing for sure - if there is NO store, there will be NO customers!

Looks like the faraway corporate offices of Plaid Pantry have more
intelligence and good sense than the VFC board who live in the
community. I wish them as long and profitable existence at the
location as was enjoyed by Day N Night Market for decades. It's a
shame it isn't VFC instead.