My husband, Alan, and I lived in downtown Knoxville for a little more than a year, mostly in 2008, while we were remodeling our “real” house in the suburbs. Probably the question we were asked most frequently was, “Doesn’t downtown need a grocery store?” Our answer: “Not really.”
In “real life” we live in Sequoyah Hills. Have for about eight years. For the 13 years prior to that, we lived in Concord Hills in Farragut. Guess what. We always drove to a grocery store. Why should downtown be any different?
A few thoughts on this:
1. Do you really want to walk to a grocery store? Groceries are heavy! If there were a grocery store downtown, I’d probably be trying to find a way to drive to it — simply because I would have a hard time lugging all the bags home. And, especially in the summer, anything cold or frozen you buy will be melted or defrosted by the time you get home. Ice cream. Frozen peas. Even chicken shouldn’t be allowed to get warm. In the car, you have air conditioning. Or you can throw in a cooler.
2. In a pinch, you really can get almost anything you need downtown. Hint: the Hilton! Our condo downtown is in Cherokee Lofts on Church Avenue about a block east of the main library. It was just great to live almost across the street from the Hilton. Why? Run out of milk for your coffee or cereal? Hilton restaurant sells it in little cartons. Orange juice, too. Run out of coffee or forget to make it? Starbucks is in the Hilton. Need deodorant, disposable razer, toothpaste, toothbrush? Hilton has those, too. Can’t get these items across the street from your house in the suburbs!
3. For fresh local organic produce, eggs and meat and fresh baked bread and pastries, you can’t beat the Market Square Farmers’ Market. Open more than half the year on Saturdays and Wednesdays, shopping there is just so much fun.
So, although it would not be bad to have a grocery store downtown, it certainly isn’t any more necessary than it would be to have one within walking distance of a house in the ‘burbs. In fact, it’s less necessary.
When I lived in NYC, I walked to the grocery store, which was about 5 blocks away from my apartment (think walking from Mast General Store to the First Tennessee Bank on Gay Street). I didn’t own a car, so I pretty much walked everywhere (or took the bus or subway).
I was not one of those NY foodies who went shopping every other day for ultra fresh meats, produce, cheese, flowers, and other delights always available in the Big Apple. I was single and didn’t enjoy cooking yet (or cleaning up). I ate out/ordered in a lot. But of course I had to buy things like toilet paper, milk, eggs, sugar, and other staples. So I did go grocery shopping 2-3 times a month. Usually my cart was pretty full.
The difference was DELIVERY. In New York, I could get everything – and I mean everything – delivered. Usually for free (apart from a courtesy tip). At the grocery store checkout, I’d write my last name and address and phone on a piece of paper, and the cashier would leave it with my grocery bags. They would be at my door within 30 minutes (not bad when the walk was 10 minutes anyway).
I would always carry home myself the most perishable or fragile items like a loaf of bread, a bag of potato chips, a dozen eggs, ice cream (especially in summer!), and other things I didn’t want crushed or melted. This was always no more than one light bag per hand.
When people ask me what I loved most about living in NYC, besides the amazing diversity of people, my next answer is always the fact that I had everything I needed for a basic day-to-day existence within a 10-block (half-mile) radius of my home. Unless I was going mattress shopping, wanted to see a play or visit a museum, there was really no reason to leave my neighborhood.
The point to my story, and to Cynthia’s, is that you have to be adaptable, and plan ahead a little more. The trade-offs are more than worth it. That’s one thing downtown Knoxville and NYC have in common.
Ah. Yes. If only one were in each other’s shoes. In downtown Knoxville people pay for parking, if they can get it. So, a short hop for an item means a lot of grief. Once, living on Gay Street, I needed baking powder. Yes, being “connected” I was able to ask the Tomato Head to supply some to me as a neighborly gesture.
The point about a downtown market is that one could have a less car urban lifestyle. A strong deli with groceries and dry goods is really all that matters. No one really needs a Mega Market in the middle of downtown.
What most people miss is that downtown can offer a truly different experience than living in the suburbs. When they are one and the same, it kind of defeats the purpose. Might as well have a pool, a gardener, help, and a smashing comfortable automobile with its own out of the rain parking.
Downtown was a truly unique experience – one that we loved and hope to repeat again some day. It didn’t detract from the experience to drive to the grocery store every now and then. I was pleasantly surprised at how much actually was available when we needed it.
Parking. That’s another issue. We didn’t have a problem with it. In the daytime, we parked at our regular garage, since we also work downtown (our company pays for its employees’ parking, btw). At night and on weekends, there always were plenty of on-street spaces available for us and for our visiting friends. (And we had more friends visit when we lived downtown, too!)
But, again, it wouldn’t be a *bad* thing to have a market there. It’s just that folks aways brought it up as if it were just awful to not have one. And it wasn’t.
The best option for a downtown “grocery store” is actually something very different. I lived in DC for a number of years and travelled to NYC extensively. I frequented stores that in the morning had fresh coffee and bagels, at lunch had a Boar’s Head deli and salad and hot bars, and at dinner had little… perhaps a repeat of lunch. But they always had very high shelves full of grocery like items… some staples, some typical gourmet items, some unique and unusual things that perhaps only appealed to one or a small group of customers. Does downtown need a grocery store? Nope. Does it need a place like I used to encounter daily in DC or NYC? Hilton notwithstanding, you bet. The Nashes and others proposed just such a solution, and our community didn’t give them the boost they needed to make this concept a reality. It will happen, but as a follower, not a leader as it could have been.
That sounds wonderful, Patrick. Much better than the Hilton (although I’m not complaining!).
I love Knoxville- to me there is a romantic element to the area due to my family ties. I see a lot of poetical here, but Knoxville is not an authentic city until it has a downtown urban market. Even if there were a farmers market like Pike’s Place in Seattle, or even the market area in downtown Little Rock.
It obviously comes down to opinions… and we’ve been presented with a lot of ideas why Knoxville is fine without a downtown market; but what about entertaining the opposite view? For the sake of a constructive enlightening dialogue, what would Knoxville be like with an urban market of some kind?
What would the urban landscape look like? How would it be installed? Could it be a new building on one of the many parking lots? Is there anyone savvy enough in Knoxville to conceive an out of the box solution? Maybe new construction by a store with a tower of offices, condos and apartments above to build in it’s customer base? There are so many ways to frame the possibilities.
Food is romantic, cities are romantic, walking across a wind swept bridge spanning the Tennessee River is romantic, restored building are romantic; downtown needs romance and excitement if it will move toward being a vibrant place to live, work, play, and SHOP… maybe even without a car! Oh but cars are also romantic!
Also, has anyone considered the benefits of having a grocery store on campus? Students constantly travel through Sequoia Hills to Bearden to get groceries. UT Students do not go to the market in Mechanicsville as much as the urban planners planned. They go to Kroger in Bearden. They should collect zip code data at local markets to see where the customer base is living and subsequently study the consumer patterns to understand the psychology of the Knox Shopper. Who wants to drive through derelict-ville when you can drive through elegant-ville?
I’m amazed more from downtown or UT don’t shop at Mechanicsville Food City.I think it just isn’t on the radar screen for whatever reason.That was true for me, but after I “discovered” it, I started shopping there fairly frequently.
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