The Gelateria Rivals City Grocers for Most Significant DT Neighborhood Contribution
After speaking to a class at Webster’s Old Post Office campus last night I headed over to meet a friend at The Gelateria for what else — gelato! A steady stream of customers came in and out during the nearly two hours we hung out. Finally around 9pm I decided it was time to scoot home.
Today I’m back at The Gelateria having a beverage while checking email and updating my site (yes, they are a free wi-fi hotspot). With weekend hours until midnight they are the late night destination place downtown.
At the end of 2004 I proclaimed City Grocers the best new thing:
A grocery store as the best of 2004? YES! Nothing else will have such an impact on the future of downtown as a grocery store. Schnuck’s Markets development arm, Desco, is busy razing the Century Building for a f*cking parking garage – they can’t be bothered with serving the real needs of downtown. But, local developer Craig Heller and grocer Rance Baker decided to fill the void by opening City Grocers in the ground floor of Heller’s Bell Lofts. Heller, Baker and the staff of City Grocers are the urban heros of 2004!
While City Grocers’ role is not diminished by the new kid downtown they are challenged for the title of most significant neighborhood contribution. I’ll call it a tie for now. However, Joe Edwards’ bowling alley, Flamingo Bowl, may be the new king when it opens this summer.
If you haven’t checked out the grocery selection at City Grocers or the hazelnut gelato at The Gelateria you are missing out.
– Steve
[UPDATE 2/23/06 @ 12:30pm – Changed headline from “…most significant downtown business” to “…most significant DT neighborhood business.” This should help clarify that I am talking about businesses that contribute to the feel of a neigbhorhood and not a 9-5 CBD. Nobody decides to spend a Saturday downtown due to ATT/SBC (unless they are putting in OT). – SLP]
Homemade gelato? There’s a good reason to visit St. Louis again! You’ll have to warn the shop when I’m on my way.
Right on. Much props to Gelateria–it’s a classy place and the product is great. I found the tiramisu gelato to be extraordinary. My girlfriend’s hazelnut was good as well. Along with the great gelato I like the newspapers and magazines spread set out before four leather armchairs, bathed in sun during the afternoon.
Much better than the trendy schlock-fests along much of Washington like LPG and Flannery’s. Hopefully Edwards’ place and Dubliners will deliver as well.
I’m more ambivalent about City Grocer. It’s nice to have a grocery downtown, but the prices are hefty. I wouldn’t be too hard on Schnucks for not building a grocery downtown. They are a business and exist to make a profit–not to provide their groceries conveniently to every single person in St. Louis metro area. The Schucks are smart business people and if a large-scale grocery store could be profitable downtown they would have built one.
Great post, Steve. I couldn’t agree more. The Gelateria is a VERY welcome neighbor to our office. I’ve actually been twice this week, once for gellato and again today, for lunch. It is the perfect fit, and it was really nice to go down there and get my lunch in under 15 minutes. Enjoy the gellato now, because once more people know about that place, there are going to be lines around the block!
Take care,
Adam
Gelato is awesome, have never been to The Gelateria, do they have more to their website than just the front page?
[REPLY – Check back to their website, I’m told more information will be available very soon. – SLP]
Helped by our unseasonably warm weather this winter, This is THE spot to go after you have lunch downtown, especially now since 1. not too many people know about this sweet heaven, and 2. its cold outside and people don’t usually think of ice cream (and Gelato) in the middle of winter. You can bet your italian ice that you wont be able to get in the door come summer! If I had one quam about the place, is it could be alot more italian in feel. Right now it just seems like a run-of-the-mill coffee shop or sandwich place. They could do something to set themselves apart a bit and keep people coming back for something other than their great treats. Also calling the gelato flavors by their italian names would be a great start.
I’m delighted to have both City Grocers and the gelateria downtown. However, I’d probably reserve the title “Most Significant Downtown Business” for its largest private employer, SBC.
[REPLY – SBC has been downtown for decades and have done little for the street life and attracting residents. Big corporations help pay the bills but they don’t necessarily help build neighborhoods. – SLP]
Based on Steve’s qualifier of improving street life and attracting residents, I’d nominate the Cardinals as the most significant downtown business.
Surveys show people like living downtown to be closer to its attractions, including professional sports.
The 3,000,000 + baseball fans pump money into downtown businesses.
And $450,000,000 more to come with Ballpark Village certainly is bringing more street life.
By comparison, the gelateria is more like the proverbial canary in a mineshaft. By size alone, it’s not very significant; but if it should die, what does it say about the health of downtown?
Interesting question, b.
It might say that downtown lacks the street vitality necessary to support such an enterprise . . . it might say that the owners were under-capitalized and failed to market or advertise . . . it might say that the product didn’t find a market . . . it might say that the owners found a better location . . .
Businesses come and go. I hope this one stays a while, but I won’t draw any conclusions about the rest of the neighborhood if it doesn’t.
Also, City Grocers does not accept EBT! More than one customer per day comes in and asks if they can use EBT cards. Many employees of City Grocers use EBT cards, and thus can’t shop at their own employer. The reality is that downtown still has many poor residents and pedestrians. Its proximity to mass transit and its numerous low-wage service jobs mean that a lot of EBT users are walking around downtown at any given momement. Some would like to shop on their way home.
But they can’t do it at City Grocers. The owners of City Grocers have offered no good reason for their policy. The rumor is that they simply don’t want poor shoppers around their place.
“However, I’d probably reserve the title “Most Significant Downtown Business” for its largest private employer, SBC.”
Yeah, they did wonders for our local economy when they moved their corporate headquarters to San Antonio over a decade ago. I agree with Steve. What’s left of SBC (AT&T) in downtown certainly pays the bills, and you can’t take that away from the company, but it’s done little besides that to encourage the renaissance that’s underway in the surrounding blocks.
Let’s not forget that SBC did its part to help tear down the Century Building.
Target does not accept EBT cards either. Repeating the exclusion rule that EBT holding people do not have great amounts of disposable income or cannot be marketed to high profitability making having EBT seem like it is not worth it for these companies. The City on the other hand could require it for stores with food for equality of the market reasons.
Questions to ponder:
Is the exclusion of EBT cards an alive discriminatory policy against low income and state dependent people?
Will having EBT usability at City Grocer’s affect their atmosphere and business?
I believe EBT is food stamps on a card.
One thing’s for sure…you can’t blame the Cardinals for the demolition of the Century!
[REPLY – True! Wonder why they didn’t get in on the “deal”? – SLP]
“Based on Steve’s qualifier of improving street life and attracting residents, I’d nominate the Cardinals as the most significant downtown business.”
On about 80 nights a year, a small percentage of baseball game attendees patronize the odd restaurant or bar. Most just drive into downtown the highways, park, attend the game, cause traffic jams for other visitors to downtown, and drive home.
In exchange for the revenue, we get, the other 280 days of the year, an empty block and unused parking garages.
There is a book called, “Major League Losers” that analyzes the costs v benefits of sports franchises for cities. You can imagine from the title of the book that the author doesn’t think cities really win, especially when taxpayers subsidize them.
I like the sports facilities downtown. I think it’s wise to keep them close to all the highways and mass transit. But I consider them to be a bit of a drag on the revitalization of downtown, certainly not an asset. As far as the baseball village is concerned, I’ll believe it when I see some residents in those proposed highrises.
awb,
Why would potential DT residents would “balk” at an address at ballpark village? Seems there might even be a premium price to live near the ballpark.
And speaking of the district around the new ballpark, isn’t it about time we come up with a new name? “Ballpark Village” is pretty lame.
Chicago has Wrigleyville. What would be good for St. Louis?
And sometime check out (the new and expanded) Mike Shannon’s, TGIF’s, Al Hrabosky’s Ballpark Saloon, the DT hotels, and ask them how much of their business comes in thanks to baseball.
Don’t forget that a lot of Cardinal Nation visits from around the country, filling hotels and restaurant on extended weekend stays.
For many out of towners and non-city residents, the Cardinals are their connection to St. Louis.
Birdman,
It’s not that I think people will balk at a chance to live in Ballpark Village. I am just cynical when it comes to believing those highrises will be developed as planned. Wasn’t there a similar village planned in the 60s to go with the Busch Stadium that was demolished?
I would not choose to live near the stadium, but I’m sure there are plenty of people who would jump at the chance. And I really hope the residential developments take off near the new stadium. I want to see the south end of downtown as populated (or more so) than the north end. It can only help the whole region and move us all toward a 24/7 downtown.
I can’t help but wonder aloud if Birdman and Publiceye aren’t the same guy, stroking two paying clients in one forum.
Fess up PE!!!!!!!!
[REPLY – Interesting concept Margie. However, I can confirm that PE’s posts and Birdman’s posts are coming from two different IP addresses. – SLP]
LOL, Margie. Stop. You’re going to scare the poor bird off — and I could use the company.
Margie,
Now that’s funny! If you think someone would actually pay for my contributions here, well, I must be in the wrong line of work!
Nonetheless, I’ll take the comparison as a compliment! Thanks!
Went to Gelateria tonight after work to check it out. Great place, good gelato, decent cappucino…no foot traffic. Granted, I wasn’t there for that long, but I was the only person coming in or out who wasn’t working there. The guy working behind the counter was very nice and polite, but I worry about this place taking off in the long run–there was a certain quality of desperation in his politeness. Apparently, the place has only been open for a month, so there’s plenty of time to grow, but there just don’t seem to be that many pedestrians around…
[REPLY – You have to stick around. I went in the other day and thought the same thing to myself. It wasn’t very long before a number of people came in and the place was full and others got their beverage and/or gelato to go. I’ll meet you there sometime, we can park both our scooters out front! – SLP]
I’m not fooled by Birdman! He’s obviously Mark McGwire.
Seriously, Birdman is more of a masked provocateur than a spin doctor. I actually appreciate his challenge and hope that he doesn’t stop posting here. His points advance discussion, however unexpected; they aren’t mere PR for the Cardinals.
On another point: I think that the city should require all stores whose primary sales are groceries to accept the EBT card. Our stores need to be blind to the source of payment. Some people that I know rely on EBT to purchase all of their groceries. None of them want to use it. All of them want choices.
I’m anxious to try the Gelateria after reviewing the positive comments I’ve seen here and elsewhere.
I don’t see anything unusual about the peaks and valleys in the level of business there. IMHO, it’s simply to early to tell, or to draw any meaningful conclusions.
Although I haven’t been to Gelateria yet- based on my experiences with other WashAve establishments- pedestrian traffic is feast or famine. Of course, the same can be said for other city neighborhoods, or your average small business in a suburban mall and/or strip center depending on the day, time of day, etc.
And I agree with PE- I don’t think we can draw conclusions about Washington Avenue or downtown based solely on the success or failure of one establishment. That said, I also agree with Steve’s premise that businesses like Gelateria are what makes downtown feel like a neighborhood, not corporate behemoths like SBC/AT&T that become virtually lifeless after 5 p.m. every weekday.
Just stopped by the Gelateria after an early dinner and it had a handful of tables occuplied. Of course, it is 40 degrees.
The chocolate mint was wonderful and my DH had chocolate and coffee, which he thought were also good.
There’s a coupon for buy one/get one free in the current Green Sheet; hurry, ’cause it expires the 12th.