[Summit] supermarkets, etc.

Sun Aug 8 19:36:26 UTC 2021

In the more distant past there was a small A&P where the ballet is now.

So much for nostalgia, but do we know of any neighborhoods supporting
successful small general grocery stores?

-- Art

On Sun, Aug 8, 2021 at 2:51 PM Kate Sanders via Summit <
summit at sna.providence.ri.us> wrote:

> Christopher Buechler wrote:
> > > It's not essential that Summit have a small general grocery store ...
> > > but it sure would be nice!
>
> Totally agreed!
>
> If you expand your thinking from "easy walk" to include "short trip on a
> single busline", there were several more neighborhood grocery stores in the
> not-so-distant past. The Thayer Market on Thayer Street (where the CVS is
> now) and the Almacs on East Avenue in Pawtucket (where the medical complex
> and CVS are located now) were both a short trip from Summit on the Hope
> Street busline, putting them within easy reach of all the hundreds of
> people within a couple of blocks of Hope Street / East Avenue. Then there
> was the Shaw's (where the Job Lot is now, off of North Main) -- you'd have
> to change to take the bus, but it's walkable (if hilly) from Summit. And
> the Almacs at University Heights, where the Whole Foods is now.
>
> Almacs, for those who don't remember it, was a local RI chain. They had
> maybe 5-6 (??) stores, including the two near Summit. Both of these two
> stores were busy and seemed to be thriving at the time they were closed.
>
> When the Shaw's opened, a few blocks from the North-Main-Street Almacs, it
> made the Almacs look old and small; when the Stop n Shop opened on Branch
> Avenue, it made the Shaws look old and small. Meanwhile the Almacs was sold
> and bought and re-sold, each time for a higher price, until the buyers
> found they'd paid too much for it to be viable and closed the stores down.
>
> In three of these cases -- the Thayer Market, the store where the Hope St.
> CVS is now, and the Almacs on East Avenue -- a supermarket was replaced by
> a CVS (though the East-Avenue CVS is only part of what used to be the
> Almac's parking lot). No fresh produce, no meat, lots of packaged food, and
> substantially higher grocery bills.
>
> Reminds me of the consolidation going on now in healthcare ...
>
> Kate
>
> Sent with ProtonMail Secure Email.
>
> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
>
>
> >
> > Message: 1
> >
>
> > > On Thursday, August 5, 2021, 06:21:31 PM EDT, Christopher Buecheler <
> > >
> > > cwbuecheler at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > I appreciate all the suggestions for grocery stores (seriously!), but
> my
> > >
> > > point wasn't that there aren't any alternatives to the big two, it's
> that
> > >
> > > none of those alternatives really qualify as a "neighborhood" grocery
> > >
> > > store, and certainly none of them are walking distance the way the
> > >
> > > firestation is.
> > >
> > > Not Just Spices is great. We shop there all the time. It's not a place
> > >
> > > you're going to buy your week's worth of groceries. Ditto Bubbies, and
> > >
> > > Stock, and so forth. During the summer we do a ton of shopping at the
> > >
> > > Lippit market, but even that doesn't provide anywhere close to
> everything
> > >
> > > we use in a given week (and during the winter, it's a drive, just like
> any
> > >
> > > other groceries).
> > >
> > > It's not essential that Summit have a small general grocery store ...
> > >
> > > but it sure would be nice! That's all I was trying to say.
> > >
> > > -Chris
> > >
> > > On Thu, Aug 5, 2021 at 4:36 PM James Kelley jameskelley4444 at gmail.com
> > >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > If you are looking for a full service grocery store and are less
> > >
> > > interested in the many small independent purveyors of meat, fish,
> chicken,
> > >
> > > duck, vegetables, spices, grains, etc. (including ethnic stores), have
> you
> > >
> > > tried Market Basket? They are regional based, good to their employees
> and I
> > >
> > > get flyers from them (my mother swears by them though I haven't visited
> > >
> > > them).
> > >
> > > On Thu, Aug 5, 2021, 10:37 AM Christopher Buecheler
> cwbuecheler at gmail.com
> > >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if there's been any plan made
> for
> > >
> > > what to do with the defunct fire station on Rochambeau?
> > >
> > > For the record, I think it'd make a terrific small, independent,
> > >
> > > high-quality grocery store, which this neighborhood could definitely
> use.
> > >
> > > Right now our choice is giving money to Stop & Shop or Jeff Bezos,
> which is
> > >
> > > ... not great.
> > >
> > > -Chris
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> > > Christopher Buecheler - @cwbuecheler https://twitter.com/cwbuecheler
> > >
> > > http://cwbuecheler.com | Web, Writing, and More
> > >
> > > Summit mailing list
> > >
> > > Summit at sna.providence.ri.us
> > >
> > >
> http://sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us
> > >
> > > SNA Website: http://sna.providence.ri.us/
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> > > Christopher Buecheler - @cwbuecheler https://twitter.com/cwbuecheler
> > >
> > > http://cwbuecheler.com | Web, Writing, and More
> > >
> > > Summit mailing list
> > >
> > > Summit at sna.providence.ri.us
> > >
> > >
> http://sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us
> > >
> > > SNA Website: http://sna.providence.ri.us/
> > >
> > > Summit mailing list
> > >
> > > Summit at sna.providence.ri.us
> > >
> > >
> http://sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us
> > >
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> > Message: 2
> >
> > Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2021 15:06:58 -0400
> >
> > From: Graham Jelley gjell at necoxmail.com
> >
> > To: Summit Neighborhood summit at sna.providence.ri.us
> >
> > Subject: [Summit] Exterior house painters
> >
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> > Anyone have enthusiastic recommendations for exterior house painters?
> >
> > Thanks for your help,? Graham
> >
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> > End of Summit Digest, Vol 197, Issue 4
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