Upscale Grocery Shopping in Edmond?

[cjohnson.405]

I moved to Edmond last summer from the North Dallas area. About the only retail outlet I miss is Market Street which is a small chain of upscale grocery stores in that area.

They have an outstanding meat market, deli, and bakery. Onsite fresh prepared dinners include sushi, seafood, salads, pasta, and chicken meals. And, everything I had was great.

The even have a live lobster tank. Most importantly, their beer selection was huge and they had 100 different beer singles. So, instead of buying a 6 pack of some german beer you want to try, you buy a few singles of different beers and figure out which one you like the best.

Edmond has Wal-Mart, Homeland, and Crest which are great for the basics. But, if you want a great steak, the best deli meats, unusual spices, beer singles, or really nice flowers, you go to Market Street.

Would Edmond support something like this?

[bucktalk]

At this point I'm not sure a store like Market Street would go over in Edmond. If perhaps the northen side of Edmond continues to grow with upper end housing then a higer end store might fit will some where north side - somewhere around Kelly and Covel?

[progressiveboy]

I think that Market Street would work well for Edmond. Living in Dallas, and a former OKC resident, it is a good grocery store with an excellent deli, bakery, olive bar and artisan breads. Not to upscale but very clean and wide aisles. It would do fine in Edmond. I also could see Edmond supporting a Tom Thumb or a Kroger "Signature Store". I could even see a Trader Joe's working well there.

[okclee]

I am very surprised that Edmond of all places have the same grocery options as the entire Okc metro. Never given it much thought because I don't live and I rarely visit Edmond, but if I did live there I would expect to have an upscale grocery store.

[redrunner]

Homeland at Santa Fe and W. Edmond Rd. (2nd St) removed their letter signage on the facade of the store. Probably due for a refresh. If Homeland remodeled their two older stores in Edmond the city might be better served. But like Bucktalk said, I wouldn't be surprised if a grocery store came to Kelly & Covell soon, let's just hope a grocery store new to Edmond beats Walmart to it.

[Debzkidz]

If you want great steaks, drive to Nichols Hill and go to the Crescent Market, they have a great meat counter/butcher shop. Also, The Beef Jerky Emporium on Danforth carries dry aged steaks. Very good quality. Believe it or not, for flowers, the best we've found anywhere is Walmart. We buy them regularly there and they seem to be very good quality and they are cheap. They last a long time, and when arranged in a nice vase, they look like they came from a florist, for a fraction of the price. When guests come into our home and see an arrangement we've done they always are shocked when we say we bought them at Walmart. We actually discovered their flowers while living in Houston. We had a Kroger Signature store, HEB, Randalls and Super Target all within a mile or so from my neighborhood but we still went to Walmart for flowers.

I agree Edmond needs something better. I'm personally boycotting Homeland due to several really bad/unhealthy things I've seen in one of their Edmond stores recently. So, I'm limited to Walmart or Target on my side of town. I drive over to Crest when I have to buy a bunch of things, but its too far to drive when I just need a few things.

[cjohnson.405]

If you were going to write and visit with United Grocery (who owns Market Street) what would you say to them to advertise Edmond as a great place to grow their business?

[hipsterdoofus]

I don't know that it would go over too well. As much as Edmond gets labeled as having fabulously rich people, it really isn't that much different from the other suburbs... Seems to me something "upscale" would do better near Nichols Hills than in Edmond.

[okcpulse]

I disagree. More than 50% of all adults in Edmond have a college degree, with the largest percentage being bachelor degrees. The average household income in Edmond in 2000 was over $65,000, and that was ten years ago. Edmond is a higher income suburb no matter how you try to argue statistics. I believe a Market Street would go over VERY well in Edmond, especially if we get our liquor laws changed so that grocery stores can sell wine. It would definitely make a grocery store more lucrative, but for the time being a Market Street would do very well.

The problem is, even Oklahoma's own people undersell Oklahoma all the time. It happened with the NBA, and now look. With the arrival of Whole Foods, we may see a drastic shift in the grocery market. It is what it is.

[cjohnson.405]

I got on linkedin.com and found almost every executive at United Grocery which owns Market Street. So, I have contact information.

I emailed Edmond's City Planning Manager two days ago to ask if there was a standard set of demographics or information that Edmond uses to recruit businesses. No reply.

@hipsterdoofus - according to city-data.com, the average incomes for the two main zip codes in Nichols Hills and Edmond are not wildly different. Additionally, there's just no real competition in Edmond. Nichols Hills has Crescent, Kamps Meat Market, and a Whole Foods on its way. The nicest grocery store in Edmond is Target. It's kinda sad.

[adaniel]

I'm from Dallas--Plano specifically--and the lack of decent grocery stores is by far the biggest complaint I have about this area. As far as demographics is concerned Edmond isn't the lock for upscale retail/shopping as it would appear. If you go the the New York Times Mapping America page (I put a link at the bottom), enter in a Edmond zip code, and select income under the "view more maps" button you will see that while North Edmond has a lot of wealth, it is concentrated in areas that are best classified as semi-rural. Maybe when that area develops more in the future it will justify having the density and demographics to support such stores. This is a problem all over OKC metro. This area for better or worse simply doesn't have large unbroken swaths of wealth like South Tulsa or North Dallas.

I think it will change for the better in the future. The "Wal Mart efffect" that has gripped this area seems to be wearing off. And when Whole Foods opens up on Classen Curve and becomes wildly successful, which I know it will, I think a lot of upscale retailers and grocers will get over their inital jitteriness about this area and its ability to support upscale stores.

http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer

[hipsterdoofus]

I just don't think that Edmond compares to some of the places where "upscale grocery" does well. I know several on here think it does, but i'd prefer to see actual data.

[Jettmiester]

Edmond Would support this. And I am shocked one like this doesn't exist yet. I def would shop there.

[cjohnson.405]

I just don't think that Edmond compares to some of the places where "upscale grocery" does well. I know several on here think it does, but i'd prefer to see actual data.

The average household income in Edmond last year was $94,998 which is almost exactly equal to McKinney and Allen, TX...two cities where Market Street currently has stores.

http://www.orenusa.com/upld_fls/affi...a/Abstract.pdf

And, I don't think anyone here is suggesting that Edmond is full of fabulously wealthy people. But, it is different from the other burbs.

[Soonerman]

Wichita Falls has a Market Street as well. I believe it was the first one.

[metro]

Edmond couldeasily support one. Also don't forget they have a Super Target in Esmond and it carries some nice gourmet items.

Cjohnson, don't forget Nichols Hills also has Forward Foods nearby.

[gilmartiny]

When we moved here 3 years ago it was a disappointment to not have a upscale grocery store. However, that led me to look into the Oklahoma Food Coop & now we get the best food! I have never had such great steaks, bacon, pork, eggs... the local food here is much better than anything you get at a chain store.

[cjohnson.405]

Last week, I emailed a large number of people at United Supermarkets, which owns the Market Street brand, to tell them about Edmond.

Yesterday, I received a phone call from the Director of Real Estate. He said that he appreciated the information about Edmond and did not previously know about Edmond. He noted that they were focused on the North Texas market right now and had recently opened a Distribution Center at Alliance airport. They do not currently have Oklahoma on their radar.

However, when I mentioned that Whole Foods is going into Nichols Hills, his tune kind of changed. Then, he wanted to know more specifics about the Edmond market which I happened to have thanks to the Edmond Economic Development abstract. He was going to take the information back to his company for consideration.

He also mentioned that someone from Edmond had written the week before I had written and it was interesting to receive two notes. I'm wondering if a write-in campaign would get more attention from them. What do you think?

[okclee]

You actually got a call from a director? That is amazing!

Good work cjohnson405, I will put you in for a pay raise.

Also it is amazing to find out how clueless retail executives can be. I would think that if I were in the high end grocery business I would know where Whole Foods is and where they plan on opening soon. This goes to show that all of the times many of us email or call in to companies for them to consider Okc as a site location, most just file that call or email away into the recycle bin.

[onthestrip]

I was told the Edmond Crest sells prime beef. Sounds like thats where you should get your steaks.

[metro]

SuperTarget on Memorial and on 2ndcarry prime as well.

[Debzkidz]

I was just in the Homeland on Danforth & Bryant. Looks like they are trying to up their game. They are now dry-aging their own beef. They have a glass refrigerator case at the butcher counter with several slabs of beef hanging in it. The butcher told me that the first of it will be ready in about a week. They are advertising it as 14 day dry aged beef.

[redrunner]

Homeland at Santa Fe and W. Edmond Rd. (2nd St) removed their letter signage on the facade of the store. Probably due for a refresh. If Homeland remodeled their two older stores in Edmond the city might be better served. But like Bucktalk said, I wouldn't be surprised if a grocery store came to Kelly & Covell soon, let's just hope a grocery store new to Edmond beats Walmart to it.

I received information from a company insider that they are building a new supermarket/grocery store west of Covell & Kelly in Edmond. It's going to be on the same corner where Walgreens, Lowe's and Prime Bank are currently located. Land is already being cleared. I can't say who the company is because they haven't made it public but news should come out soon. It's not Walmart but it's a company with stores currently in the metro. They say it will be an upscale store.

[Dustin]

I'm amazed Edmond doesn't have better grocery options.. Raze that Neighborhood Walmart on 2nd Street and slap a Whole Foods there...

[Debzkidz]

Please, oh please, let it be something better than a Walmart Market or a Homeland.