Readers Grocery Shop at Schnuck’s & Trader Joe’s
Local grocery chain Schnuck’s received the largest number of votes in the poll last week.
Q: What are the three (3) primary places where you shop for groceries?
- Schnuck’s 116 [24.89%]
- Trader Joe’s 47 [10.09%]
- Big Box (Target, Walmart, etc) 42 [9.01%]
- Shop-N-Save 37 [7.94%]
- Farmers’ market (Soulard, Tower Grove, etc) 33 [7.08%]
- Dierberg’s 32 [6.87%]
- Local/small grocer (Local Harvest Grocery , Vincent’s, etc) 24 [5.15%] (DiGregario’s added from an “other” answer)
- Aldi 26 [5.58%]
- Culinaria 23 [4.94%]
- Whole Foods 20 [4.29%]
- Straub’s 14 [3%]
- International grocer (Jay’s, etc) 12 [2.58%]
- Drug Store (CVS, Walgreens) 8 [1.72%]
- Other: 8 [1.72%] (see list below)
- Food Co-op (Old North Co-op, etc) 7 [1.5%]
- Costco 5 [1.07%]
- N/A – I eat out 4 [0.86%]
- Save-A-Lot 3 [0.64%]
- Other (not listed) 3 [0.64%]
- Convenience store (7-11, QT, etc) 2 [0.43%]
- Mail order (Amazon, etc) 1 [0.21%]
- Food Pantry 0 [0%]
As you can see Trader Joe’s came in second with big box stores like Target & Walmart a close third. Readership is primarily in the city of St. Louis but a fair amount is in St. Louis County, the rest of the region & Missouri.
I soon realized after the poll started I hadn’t included a “warehouse club” choice. Costco was entered by readers five times so I grouped these and put them above. The one Sam’s answer was left below:
- Dollar General
- Country Mart
- Sappington Farmer’s market
- FairShares CSA
- Giant
- Sappington Farmer’s Market
- Bigger Box – Sam’s Club
These results tell me a few things about the readership and the grocery market. Readers are mostly middle class .
Trader Joe’s? These poll responses demonstrate an embarrassing ignorant understanding of business and market forces. “Foodland can’t make it (due to woeful pedestrian access,) but Trader’s Joe’s is a better idea!”
Trader Joe’s? These poll responses demonstrate an embarrassing ignorant understanding of business and market forces. “Foodland can’t make it (due to woeful pedestrian access,) but Trader’s Joe’s is a better idea!”
I’m the one who is ignorant. I thought the poll was linked to the Foodland posts. My reading comprehension is embarrassing. Carry on.
Don’t believe Trader Joe’s and what was Foodland are in the same league in terms of their business models and abilities/capabilities as a business, Trader’s Joe from my account and experience (an avid shoper of the one in Brentwood before my move to California, now an avid shopper in Lafayette & Walnut Creek stores) excels at attracting its own clientele and drawing from a larger area then your typical grocery store. The Foodland site with its direct access to and from I-44 as well as being on Jefferson Ave seems like an ideal location to attract people from South City as well as Lafayette Square/Downtown if you can put something different then your typicall supermarket. Can’t speak for Foodland but it seems to me that Trader Joe’s has found a niche that works, prices that are competitive for basic items (and wine and its no name beers), doesn’t depend on a large footprint and definitely not dependent on pedesterian access.
On the other front, I think Lafayette has matured and is definitely an anchor for the area. Throw in the fact that SLU is not that far away and I think Green Street properties sees an opportunity that didn’t exist ten years ago, maybe not even five years ago.
Now put a Schnucks there, or even their niche store or a Walmart Marketplace and would agree wholeheartedly with you, whats the difference? Put in a Whole Foods and would laugh at the suggestion that the demographics can support grocery store that also goes by the name Whole Wallet.
I’m the one who is ignorant. I thought the poll was linked to the Foodland posts. My reading comprehension is embarrassing. Carry on.
Would Trader Joe’s make it in the Foodland location?
Would Trader Joe’s make it in the Foodland location?
I argue yes in my reply to Fozzie. Can I think of another place in the city that might be better – Anywhere near Barnes Jewish/Wash U Medical that has car access from Forest Parkway would be my answer. But most of the Trader Joes I have seen are located in strip malls/stores and sometimes following a failed store in that same location. Think of the Trader Joes in Creve Creour. Why? I assume cheaper rents/leases play into it and visibility from main arterial road is part of their business model. The lease might be a lot more favorable at the old foodland site if Green Street properties get the desired tax incentives, while betting that they are able to get cars to pull off I-44.
The challenge with many suburban style shopping centers is that they’re anchored by supermarkets that probably have no desire to see a Trader Joe’s move in – TJ’s two locations here are both notable for not having supermarket anchors. That’s why someplace like Hampton Village, which would probably be a great location, probably will never happen. And it’s not just TJ’s, you’re not likely to see Dollar Tree or a Dollar General, either.
Trader Joe’s is the grocery anchor at their four locations in St. Louis County. The Chesterfield location once had a Wild Oats.
Don’t believe Trader Joe’s and what was Foodland are in the same league in terms of their business models and abilities/capabilities as a business, Trader’s Joe from my account and experience (an avid shoper of the one in Brentwood before my move to California, now an avid shopper in Lafayette & Walnut Creek stores) excels at attracting its own clientele and drawing from a larger area then your typical grocery store. The Foodland site with its direct access to and from I-44 as well as being on Jefferson Ave seems like an ideal location to attract people from South City as well as Lafayette Square/Downtown if you can put something different then your typicall supermarket. Can’t speak for Foodland but it seems to me that Trader Joe’s has found a niche that works, prices that are competitive for basic items (and wine and its no name beers), doesn’t depend on a large footprint and definitely not dependent on pedesterian access.Â
On the other front, I think Lafayette has matured and is definitely an anchor for the area. Throw in the fact that SLU is not that far away and I think Green Street properties sees an opportunity that didn’t exist ten years ago, maybe not even five years ago.Â
Now put a Schnucks there, or even their niche store or a Walmart Marketplace and would agree wholeheartedly with you, whats the difference? Put in a Whole Foods and would laugh at the suggestion that the demographics can support grocery store that also goes by the name Whole Wallet.
I argue yes in my reply to Fozzie. Can I think of another place in the city that might be better – Anywhere near Barnes Jewish/Wash U Medical that has car access from Forest Parkway would be my answer. But most of the Trader Joes I have seen are located in strip malls/stores and sometimes following a failed store in that same location. Think of the Trader Joes in Creve Creour. Why? I assume cheaper rents/leases play into it and visibility from main arterial road is part of their business model. The lease might be a lot more favorable at the old foodland site if Green Street properties get the desired tax incentives, while betting that they are able to get cars to pull off I-44.
The challenge with many suburban style shopping centers is that they’re anchored by supermarkets that probably have no desire to see a Trader Joe’s move in - TJ’s two locations here are both notable for not having supermarket anchors. That’s why someplace like Hampton Village, which would probably be a great location, probably will never happen. And it’s not just TJ’s, you’re not likely to see Dollar Tree or a Dollar General, either.
Trader Joe’s is the grocery anchor at their four locations in St. Louis County. The Chesterfield location once had a Wild Oats.