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Imagine a grocery store on South Street in JP
By adamg on Mon, 05/25/2015 - 6:27pm
Rob Halpin noticed this sign taped to the window of the old Harvest Co-op on South Street today.
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Comments
New trend
Is this a new trend to be putting up these handwritten signs everywhere to convey a message? The bike incident in Cambridge and now this. I'm not sure what good they do, though this one is kind of fun.
if you look
there are a lot of signs in public areas that serve a multitude of purposes.
hope that helps!
A Trader Joes in Rosi
How about a TJs in Rozzie!?!
Chain Free Rozzie?
Hey, if opening a pharmacy or a pet supply place causes a stink, think about what taking on Village Market would be like.
God, if only.
God, if only.
Stop whining
Get on your $3000 NJS-certified fixie and pedal your lazy ass to equally overpriced and equally pretentious city feed.
or ride your bike 5 minutes south
to the harvest next to forest hills.
city feed is wicked expensive
No one with a normal income could afford to shop for groceries at City Feed regularly. Of course, City Feed isn't trying to be a primary neighborhood market, either.
The Harvest Co-op bulk aisle, along with TJ's & Haymarket, is how my household survives in Boston when the money is tight.
Yes, much in the Co-op is expensive, although it's not so much overpriced as, well, just expensive. But it doesn't take much effort to shop there more cheaply than at Shaws, and about the same as Stop & Shop or a little less.
Tiresome
Anon's limp slur against the population of JP is well past its expiration date. These stupid mischaracterizations of various neighborhood populations as being rich hipsters provide no worthwhile humor or ideas, and should stop.
Well
Not all JP residents are trustafarians, but chances are, this wasn't posted by some random lawyer or architect. Now, once again, stop whining, get on your fixie and pedal your ass over to city feed for some fresh granola and kombucha. Oh, and don't forget to take that note with you.
For God's sake...
...drink some prune juice, try to get more fiber in your diet, and act your age. You sound like you're simultaneously a selfish adolescent and a cranky old fart.
Ha!
Let's toss him a bran muffin. Crankypants' weird assumption that all JPers are either architects or lawyers or "trustafarians" is beyond idiotic. But alas, some people think solely in cliches and have no sense of humor. I thought it was a cute note.
not expensive at all
It's not expensive at all; members get a dividend back, there's a "member day" where you get an additional 10%, and there are regularly sales on various items.
Dividend
That's actually a great idea - charge $4 for a 99 cent roll of toilet paper and pay back 40 cents at the end of the year. Lemmings will eat it right up, and even thank you for it.
And where do you shop, genius?
Just curious.
It's ok..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la5DBtOVNI
It's ok to not like things. When you are driven into a towering rage by the thought that someone else might like them, you're mentally ill.
Incisive as always
Yeah, the public housing project three blocks south of this location is definitely in the $3,000-fixie demographic. As is the entire swath of residential development between Forest Hills and Egleston Square, who now get to choose between a bus ride to Stop & Shop or a twenty minute walk to the new Harvest.
$3000 fixie?
I mean, do those even exist? Would anyone wanting the convenience, durability, and I dare say the "cachet" of riding a fixed gear bike eschew chromoly for carbon? I'd say that alone discredits the rant.
Easily
You could easily spend $3K+ on a steel fixed frame/fork alone.
I don't think you'd see many of these riding around the city or locked up to a coffee shop, though. People do double centuries riding fixed and generally have very nice rides.
Just sayin'
Non crabon njs stuff can get
Non crabon njs stuff can get pricey, especially some complete builds direct from Japan. Even used njs frames alone typically fetch four figures
See what I mean?
Did you pay extra not to wipe some random keirin champ's ass sweat off that imported NJS-stamped saddle?
You're awfully obsessed...
...with other people, down to the details of their bodily fluids. Maybe you should try therapy. Pointlessly ranting your insane rants on the internet clearly isn't improving your mental health.
Non-carbon?
People aren't riding organic bikes anymore?
GO RIDE YA HIPSTAH BIKE OFF A CLIFF YA FEHKIN BAHNIE /anon guy
I picture anon furiously shifting his scally cap backwards and frantically pounding out his anti-JP screeds, nearly spraining his index fingers as he hunts and pecks.
Hello Time Traveler!
Just to give you an update: The whole NJS fixie thing ran it's course circa 2005-2006 and most "hipsters" wouldn't know what the hell you are talking about since they were in middle school at the time that was the bike to own.
Also, not sure why someone asking for a supermarket in a vacant space is worthy of your rant. Perhaps they should be asking for a BOA branch or a Verizon store? Last I looked non-hipsters like having supermarkets nearby too even if there are others not too far away.
Well then
Sound like Mr Barksdale few posts above let go of his njs-stamped handlebars and swiped my time machine blueprints.
You're damaged goods
Please seek help. Really, you're not well.
Food and stuff
I personally think a modified Foodies would do well here. It's a bit smaller than their other units... But it would be a great fit.
How does Foodies compare to City Feed?
I ask because, obviously, I've never been to one of the former.
Hmmm
I can't say anything about City Feed but I used to shop at Foodie's South End alot. Roche reminds in DTX reminds me of Foodies. Smaller shop but decent selection. Some items are $$$$ but some stuff is on par in price with bigger chains. Some hot, self service foods, and 'take away' counter too. Very much like Roche but smaller.
And from what people here (and others) have said about City Feed, Foodie's would be a welcome hybrid (i.e. Stop & Shop meets City Feed) to that neighborhood since it covers both high end and regular food shoppers.
Yep
Foodie's is WAY more affordable. They also take WIC, which City Feed refuses to.
did not realize that
I am deeply ambivalent about City Feed.
Every time I think I can't stand to set foot in there again, they do something nice for JP-- donate big to a school or give a local business a hand up. Then, just as I decide that maybe the Eversource bill can wait so that I can get a City Feed sammich & some bizarrely flavored soda, I find out they don't take WIC, or I get ruded upon by the counter staff again. Or, hey, both in one day.
City Feed
City Feed is the only small grocery store/market that I have ever been to with a tip jar. I went there once and bought some blueberries and was treated to some pretty harsh stink eye when I neglected to put a buck in the tip jar. The guy made piercing eye contact with me in that awkward 2 seconds right after he handed me the change which turned to stink when he realized that it wasn't going into the jar. I am normally very generous with tips, just ask all of the bartenders that I come in contact with around the city, but not at grocery stores. Sorry.
Foodies
Kind of similar to Roche Bros, in the mix of fresh food, local food, prepared food, and general sundry groceries.
Better yet, why not open a
Better yet, why not open a grocery store there yourself instead of leaving a note.
A Different Tact
Maybe the sign writer should negotiate a fair rent for the space, assume responsibility for setting up a market, deal with ISD, hire construction labor, negotiate with suppliers, hire employees, run a store, fight back accusations of class warfare when the Anti Whole Foods mafia comes out of their Mao's Little Red Book discussion group, and try to make a living at it.
One of the worst phrases is "Someone Should Do Something". Perhaps groveling for someone to take care of you is your thing.
Perhaps getting off your arse and making a go of it because you don't feel like going to any of the other nearby grocery stores might work for you, but based on your attitude, it seems like you cannot.
Wrong Communist
Unfortunately, work is a little heavy this week, so I'm going to need somebody else to make up the bingo cards for UHub JP Hipster Bingo. We're halfway there, between the $3000 fixies, the apparently unironic use of "mafia," and the accusations of Maoism. (And John, please: Whose Foods is definitely cribbing from Marx, not Mao. You think those guys are actually going to go out and till their own soil?)
Perhaps Allende's Model Then?
You know, Well educated European descended invasive population who mingles in somewhat with the indigenous population, popularly elected Marxist leaders who seem to have the will of the people, but not of the grumpies with the guns, certain attitudes when it comes to ISD issues, lovely scenic beauty, and a tendency to try to spread the revolution to other areas southerly along Hyde Park Avenue.
All they are lacking are nice ports, rugby players who have eaten human flesh, and a surging National soccer team.
Hey, hey, hey
The rugby team was from Uruguay, as was the soccer player with the taste for flesh who Liverpool missed this year.
Part Right and Wrong
You are right on the canibal team. They crashed in Chile. Also, trust me I know all about Suarez shafting Liverpool and moving to LaLiga. He's a jackass. I spent much money to see him (not) play at Fenway and on a jersey for my son. Liverpool would have easily won the league if he hadn't left.
As far as the current Chilean team goes, they took Brazil to PKs in the WC last year. The kitchen staff at the Joes in Franklin were wrecks until the end of the game.
La Roja are my South American team
Believe you me I felt the pain, too. Of course, in hindsight I think they could have played Germany just as well as Brazil did.
shafting them?
Suarez carried them to the Championship and then they made $75m selling him? Seems fair.
BTW, Arsenal are reportedly trying to get him currently so maybe he'll come back to Liverpool in a fashion.
A Gooner?
Or at least a Gummer. He'll whine about the tight shirts and then score 29.
Whole Foods is a neo-con Texan.
He got caught pumping stock using a sock puppet name on a then popular Yahoo Finance group.
He was fined by the SEC. Ayn Rand is probably a more useful tag, sorta like Michael Dell only overpriced groceries.
Market Basket is the way.
John, are you being disingenuous?
This is probably a plea to whoever owns the business (someone or a trust in Marshfield, per the city assessor's office) to think about the neighbors when finding a new tenant.
I spent too many years working in businesses (mostly restaurants) owned by people who had no idea how to run/own said business to think that the "Hey, kids, let's put on a show!" attitude towards starting a grocery store is a great idea.
Seriously, anything that has to do with food is not a venue for the inexperienced.
My anecdotal experience with this is so vast that I can't even begin, but let me share with you one vision of the new owner of a popular Brookline deli, who got in over his head renovating the place, prepping for the breakfast shift by surreptitiously scraping black mold off the cream cheese that he pulled from the walk in freezer that died overnight.
So, yes, a new grocer would be great! Preferably experienced.
Another simpleton construct.
Whole Foods was initially started with venture capital and is about as far from the quaint 1950s Mom/Pop success story as you're likely to find.
Interior needs a lot of work
Any business moving in will need to invest a lot of money just to make the interior presentable. The people who own the space know it's a cash cow and help themselves to sucking up profit by investing little to nothing into maintaining the building. So much for low taxes that supposedly result in reinvestments.
For a Foodies or TJ's to move in they might need to gut the space. At least repair cosmetics such as replacing the gross floor tiles. The skylight near the former registers still looks terrible. Shorn of the cases and shelves the space appears at best shabby and at worst gross.
Deliveries
I'd also imagine it's unappealing in terms of dealing with local deliveries. Don't forgetl, the people who know exactly what was involved in running a successful business there left and moved to Forrest Hills to a nice, new space.
I'd think the Goodwill could be converted into a grocery store pretty well, right? Wasn't that the Foot Locker? Big, open space.
Not a bad idea.
Wasn't Goodwill originally a few doors down, maybe where the big tanning salon is now?
Have you ever heard of the
Have you ever heard of the term triple net? NNN. That usually covers maintenance. Build out is usually a renter item, not building owner issue. As for what it is zoned for, that's a city/community issue.
Nice to make claims and not anything to back it up.
I've said it before & I'll say it again.......
This spot is screaming out for a medical (medical/recreational after the ballot question is overwhelmingly passed in 2016) marijuana dispensary/smoking lounge. This would also be good for local bakeries and cafes (Fiore's, the cupcake place across the street, Dunk's, Cafe Nero, Real Deal, JP House of Pizza et al) after the customers get the munchies. This isn't rocket science. Let's do this, JP!
It seems you are screaming
It seems you are screaming out for marijuana, not the location
Nope
No thank you .
If a new grocery store moves
If a new grocery store moves in there, I hope they find a way to keep it cleaner than Harvest did. Yuck.
Also, without a proper dock (or even a loading zone), it may be hard to site another grocery here.
That depends if your goal is
That depends if your goal is operating a state-of-the-art trucking facility, or a small neighborhood food market.
"proper dock"
Not being personally acquainted with the dock in question, I can't comment as to its adequacy; however, even a "small neighborhood food market" gets its deliveries by truck, from distributors. Try telling them you don't have a dock that can accommodate their truck, and chances are they'll tell you that they can't accommodate your business. Small quaint neighborliness got fuckall to do with it.
There is no dock, and I don't
There is no dock, and I don't think they even have signage reserving a loading zone.
So, yeah
So it's pretty much a big "forget this" for any business that receives deliveries...and not some groundswell of public outrage over being forced to subsidize creeping socialism by shopping at a coop.
Plenty of small stores manage
Plenty of small stores manage just fine without a loading dock.
My point was we shouldn't rule out ever opening such a store again, and relegate all food commerce to giant stores that most people have to drive to.
No loading dock, yet they get
No loading dock, yet they get food deliveries one way or another: https://goo.gl/maps/ycTni
Nice Sentiment.
How long has the former Stah on Broadway in Winter Hill been closed, now?
The 3 greatest things about Universal Hub
1. The comments for any article about JP
2. The comments for any article about Southie
3. Adam's poems and rhymes about the T breaking down
These are the three main reasons why I always log onto UHub everyday while I slack off at work.