Thoughts on a Downtown grocery store

hubbub
n.
1. Loud noise; din.
2. Confusion; tumult.

Now that Downtown Syracuse is officially (or unofficially?) on the upward swing of things in regards to development, residential population (at much-touted 99% occupancy rate), and positive growth, some hubbub is being made about how badly Downtown Syracuse needs a grocery store - a move some see could really put the proverbial stamp in showcasing the true progress of the little urban neighborhood on a comeback.

Just about every blog, organization, and news outlet seems to be chiming-in and clamoring for a grocery store for Downtown Syracuse. So, I thought maybe I'd bring my 2 cents to the table, as 1 of about 2,000 residents. Mind you, this is just one man's opinion and I can only speak for myself. Who am I?

It was never easy for me. I was born a poor, black child...

No, I won't bore you. I'm a guy who moved back here from Boston - who, in 2007, decided he wanted to give urban living a shot in Syracuse (which was kind of an oxymoron at that time). I was sold the day I moved into my first apartment, a small studio in a very historic building near Downtown, and I've been living both in and around Downtown since that time (3 apartments in 6 years). I'd rather not toot my own horn, but... Alright... I will. I know Downtown Syracuse frontwards and backwards. I know where just about every restaurant and shop is. I know what time most businesses are open until and on which days (if you live Downtown, you generally know what's open and what's not open on Saturdays and Sundays). I know the best times to beat traffic. I know where the ridiculous the one-way streets are. I know how to avoid parking tickets and when you will never get them. I know how and when to get the best parking spots. I know what lights to avoid while driving. I know all of the new construction projects that have happened here since 2007. I know just about everything that has left since 2007. I know most of the parking garage and parking lot rates. I know what streets to walk down and which ones not to walk down at at which times. I'm not saying I know EVERY-SINGLE-THING-EVER-LOLZ-OMG, but as a resident of about 6 years, I know this neighborhood just as well as anyone does who lives in a neighborhood for that amount of time and who has spent just about every morning, noon, and night of his or her life in it.

And I know a thing or two about getting groceries. Downtown currently does not have a true grocery store. So, while the neighborhood surges onward, its residents have had to get by the best they can. I live on a third floor walk-up and my parking lot is about a 3-block walk from it. This means that in order for me to do a normal round of grocery shopping during the week (at say Price Chopper, Nichol's, or Wegmans), I have to walk down my stairs, walk to my car, drive to the store, shop, drive back, try to find an on-street parking spot within a respectable distance from my apartment, go up and down 3 flights of stairs to bring up my groceries, in some cases several times, move my car to my parking lot, walk back to my apartment, and go up 3 flights of stairs again. Then I'm home.

PHEW. I'm tired just by writing it, but that's my life. And I'm OK with it. Is it different than living in the suburbs? Yup. Does it suck? I don't think so. I've carried groceries on the T when I used to live in Boston. THAT sucks. The routine of getting groceries is basically a force of habit depending on your living situation. I'm sure other Downtown residents have similar or maybe slightly different ways of doing things. This has been my routine for about two and a half years and it hasn't phased me from moving away - or anyone else for that matter (that 99% rental rate statistic never seems to go down).

Granted, as a resident, you can get a few odds and ends around Downtown without having to drive anywhere. The farmers market is helpful in the summertime, Vinomania has wine, Columbus Bakery and Pasta's have bread and other goodies, Thanos has cheeses, olives, and other pantry items, Rite Aid provides those things you need in a pinch, and yes, A-Plus and Hess even have beer (though it's a terrible selection and can be a fairly sketchy experience at times). But it is possible to get by. And the stores that are here are great in most aspects. But sooner or later you'll need to drive to go get real groceries. And that is not the way that a walkable, urban neighborhood should be functioning. Basically: Downtown needs to provide more grocery shopping options for its residents. And there's very minimal debate about it.

That all being said, here are my two major, pressing issues and questions that I have since everyone seems to now be making a huge deal about Downtown needing a grocery store...

- If Downtown does indeed need a grocery store (which is probably does), how large does it have to be and what types of options are out there? (the good and the bad).

- If Downtown does indeed get a new grocery store, will we be using our recent positive momentum incorrectly and end up getting a design or concept that we (a) don't need, (b) don't like, or (c) both?

Think about that. Like really think about these two things and what could happen from any one of their chain of possibilities. Think of how many bad and decade-regretting decisions have been made in Syracuse. And just think of what could happen if we let a bad decision slip by us this time, with or without positive momentum.

This is how precious and delicate of a decision is. Really, the only other issue that I see as more fragile than this one right now is what will happen to I-81 (a topic for another time, I promise you).

For the first time in probably 60 years, Downtown now has a light at the end of its tunnel and it has been amazing to see the changes first-hand these last 6 years. But Syracuse as whole has had a long and sad history of either jumping on the first ship that comes to shore, taking the quick and easy way out, or just getting shit-on in general; depending on how you want to look at it all.

Carousel Mall was built on the cheapest, non-taxable land one could find and as far away from the actual city as possible, the baseball stadium location is ridiculous and... almost sadly comical, and I-81 destroyed a neighborhood, sliced Downtown in half, and made it just as easy for people to drive away. Those are the three major boo-boos. What do they all have in common? They all somewhat come at the expense of Downtown Syracuse. They've all either used Downtown as some accessory to other neighborhoods or towns or they flat-out ignore the neighborhood altogether and even dampen its possible potential growth. This cannot afford to happen again. And it cannot afford to happen over the simple decision of bringing in a grocery store to a neighborhood that doesn't have one yet. The result can't be something that will have focuses on other parts of the city or region. And the result can't be something that diminishes or stuns its current growth. It has to set-out what it's intended to be: a grocery store providing basic and daily needs for the immediate neighborhood.

As I've fussed about before, I'm a firm believer in what is good for Central New York may not be necessarily good for Downtown Syracuse and vice versa. What works in say, Fayetteville, may not necessarily work for Walton Street and vice versa. And I guess that's where my fear arises with this whole topic; that we're going to make some awful, brash decision when we had the opportunity to make a really smart one. If we're going to add a grocery store to this neighborhood, if that indeed is what's really necessary here, then it should be geared towards the neighborhood and not towards somewhere else or because we're trying to entice or trying to appeal to a different type of demographic than the one that's there.

I'll shut-up with my rhetoric and show three examples that demonstrate a small range of what my greatest fears and my greatest aspirations are in regards to a Downtown grocery store.

Example 1: Auburn, NY

Auburn New York has a grocery store in their Downtown. Yes. They have one despite being able to fit about 5 Auburns inside of 1 Syracuse. AND it's a Wegmans. And it's not one of those ghetto ones like you find near Rochester sometimes that are leftover from the 1960's. It actually looks really nice inside of this one.

Outside is a different story...

Downtown 'cuse has enough drab concrete and surface parking and doesn't need more of this shit.

The Wegmans building is flat (and looks ridiculous when you compare it to a building just around the corner), takes up roughly 50,000 square feet of space, and has roughly 230 surface parking spaces. It also turns a pleasant walking experience from the city's main street, Genesee Street, into an annoying one as you try to traverse around cars, up a hill (the parking lot is elevated up several feet from the sidewalks), and just in getting to the entrance in general (which really is not close to the street at all). The city's epicenter and this grocery store are separated by maybe half a block.

Example 2: Brighton, MA

Brighton has a Shaw's Supermarket located right on their main street, Commonwealth Avenue (or Comm Ave, as the locals say).

This Shaws location is basically where most of the Boston University students and local residents do their grocery shopping. It's easy to walk to and very accessible by train and bus. The building itself is very large, fits tightly with other nearby low-level buildings along the avenue, is situated right against the sidewalk, and has ample parking hidden in the back.

Is the parking being hidden because we're ashamed of it?
You go away, parking. You smell. You stay over there near those access roads!

Example 3: North End: Boston, MA

The North End, Boston's Little Italy, has a variety of Italian markets, delis, and small grocery stores. This one, The Golden Goose, is housed in a mixed-use and historic building, is surrounded by other on-street parking, and has its own surface parking with about 20 or so spaces tucked right up against the sidewalk.

So quaint. So Boston.

So those are my three examples. Three examples of ways to do it poorly, not so poorly, and well-done. Sure, there are other examples, but I think these three represent a small spectrum of possibilities in regards to space, parking, and neighborhood needs.

My greatest fear for a Downtown grocery store is some kind of combination and/or embellishment of Examples 1 and 2. I truly fear this. I fear that we're going to continue to work ourselves up into saying we need a grocery store and not really focus on what the neighborhood needs realistically. I fear that we're going to go beyond our means for space; especially in a neighborhood that is already very small and already walkable. I fear that we're going to allocate more parking than we'll actually need; especially when there's already enough on-street and surface parking within Downtown's confines. And I fear that we'll be left with whatever the end result is for the next x amount of years; where x could equal 10, 25, or 40.

OK. So what are the benefits of Example 3 and why am I so in love with it?

In order for me to explain, I have to describe the North End. Bear with me.

When I was living in Boston, I was dating a girl in Boston's North End for a bit. My actual apartment was in a different neighborhood, but for all intensive purposes, I was living, commuting, shopping, eating, and drinking in the North End for about a year and half. If you've never been there, you should make a point to visit next time you're in Boston. It's an old, beautiful, and unique neighborhood. It's about as European as you can get as far as city-living in present-day America goes. Small, winding streets with very small sidewalks, tons of alleys and walkways for shortcuts, thousands of small apartments essentially stacked on-top of one another, shop-keepers sweeping sidewalks in front of their businesses in the early mornings (I kid you not, this shit still happens there. You swear you're living in 1940), residents who care deeply about the goings-on of their districts and streets despite it being a very busy and very touristy place, it's a completely safe neighborhood at all times of the day (with plenty of "eyes on the street", as Jane Jacobs would say), and a place where the pedestrians - not the cars - own the road.

That's me watching a parade. I miss those Celtics shorts.

I became so attached to the lifestyle offered by the North End within about a year that it single-handedly changed my entire outlook on how I want to live, the ways in which I want to exist within a neighborhood, and the ways in which I want a neighborhood to exist around me. For me to say I miss living there would be a huge understatement.

One of the many things that changes within you while living in a very dense and completely functional neighborhood like this is when you get things, they become much more valuable. And I mean valuable not in the monetary sense, but in the symbolic sense. Like being able to rent a DVD and get Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream at a small bodega by only having to walk one block. Or being able to buy delicious bread, proscuitto, and olive oil by only walking two or three blocks and then being able to go hang out in a park nearby on a sunny afternoon. Or needing a late-night sandwich and going to one of the few 24-hour spots in Boston that's conveniently just around the corner. It's an endless list of positive walkable convenience at practically all hours of the day on every day.

I mean, just to say it like it is, it's almost the exact opposite of Central New York. BUT. If there were a neighborhood here to compare it to, the closest one would honestly be Downtown Syracuse.

Mind you, the two neighborhoods have mounds of differences: Downtown has less residents, Downtown has less people (debatable, but definitely less after 5 pm and on weekends), Downtown is less crowded, Downtown has more cars, Downtown has more cars per-person, Downtown has more parking, and Downtown's space is not quite as densified.

Population of the North End: ~10,000
Population of Downtown Syracuse: ~2,000

OK. Not so similar. But they do have one relatively close similarity: neighborhood size. Or to a further extent, the similarities in walking from point (a) to point (b). Or to an even further extent, the distance from your home to the grocery store.

Size of the North End: ~2,500 feet x ~2,000 feet.
Size of Downtown Syracuse: ~3,000 feet x ~3,000 feet.

Not exact, but close enough for a comparison.

And yes, you are reading those relative numbers correctly. A neighborhood roughly the same size as Downtown Syracuse has less parking and almost 5 times as many residents in it. So in that regard, Downtown may not need something as ambitious as Examples 1 and 2. It might need something closer to Example 3. I mean, if the North End has 5 times as many residents and something like this is working, Downtown may want to take some notes and not do anything much further beyond this.

What Downtown needs specifically from a grocery store is a place to get meat, fresh produce, canned goods, boxed goods, cleaning supplies, bathroom supplies, beer (gah, I sound like an alcoholic), and other kitchen odds and ends. Things that any Average Joe needs. Now, I may be partial to the Golden Goose concept because I'm familiar with it and used to shop there, but the beauty in a concept and place like that is that it takes up such a little amount of space and has SO much inside; thereby not decreasing the quality of life around it - only enhancing it. Here are some interior pictures if you're curious...

And this only takes up about 1,000 square feet of space. 20 parking spots and 1,000 square feet of space for a store that serves literally thousands of residents.

Quite frankly, it's the quintessential urban-style grocery store. It doesn't take up an inordinate amount of space, it isn't obtrusive in regards to the other buildings nearby (in this case it enriches them), it provides not only the basic necessities, but also higher-end shopping, and its parking necessities do not go beyond what it needs.

I really do believe that something like this would be the best option for Downtown Syracuse - either in a pre-existing building or constructing a mixed-use building on a surface parking lot, a trend that has recently started to gain steam around Downtown. Doing anything else, say something similar to either Example 1 or Example 2 above, could drastically change the neighborhood makeup. Worse, if it takes up too much space than what is actually needed, it could end up being a detriment.

And if Tops or Wegmans or whoever comes to Syracuse and says: "We want to build a grocery store in Downtown Syracuse and need 70 surface parking spots and 20,000 square feet of space in order to do it.", we need to prepare ourselves of the possibility of saying no. We need to be prepared to wait for a better option than that; one that will boost the quality of life and not dampen it.

As much as Downtown needs a grocery store, it can't afford to make a careless move just for the sake of making an important decision. It needs to be a well thought-out plan and needs to take into consideration all of the long-lasting effects of space (both internal and external), parking (is there a need when the whole neighborhood is about 3,000 feet in length and covered in about 43 surface parking lots and 15 garages), and demand (what hours will work and what hours won't work considering the demographics).

Amongst all the hubbub that we're making about a Downtown grocery store, we need to be sure that we will make the right decision with it. It's an important move and one that really needs to have all of the possible pros and cons assessed before taking any sort of quick or hasty action. In the meantime, its residents will plug along just as they've been doing amidst Downtown's sudden resurgence, patiently waiting for an upgrade to their way of life.

If you have any examples of urban grocery stores, good or bad, please feel free to list them in the comments.