Wright' Family Grocer

[molarman]

Well, it looks like Wright's Family Grocery has held on as long as it can. I saw "closing sale" signed all along the corner of West Main & 36th. Not sure if the North Porter store is closing as well, but I would expect it to.

[kevinpate]

I haven;t heard anything about the Porter store closing. The addition of Wally World Neighborhood store and Crest was apparently too strong for the west side Wright's to compete.
Hopefully there is enough distance to lessen the impact on the N Porter location.

[zookeeper]

I know nothing about Norman, but I sure hate to hear that. It's tough on family businesses these days.

[Achilleslastand]

Besides various locales in small towns this has got to be the last IGA in the metro area.
Sad news indeed.

[Bob Loblaw]

I was in the west side Wright's a few days ago - one of the ladies in the manager's booth up front said that it was only the west side store closing, that the Porter store would remain open and that the bakery, flower and sushi folks from the west side store were all going to the Porter store - everything is 15% off as they look to close the store "soon, within a week or two" - my guess is end of the month

I've always thought Wright's overpriced their items and carried smaller sizes yet charged more than WM/Crest - but it was damn convenient when you needed just one or two things quickly - and while it's obvious that the new Neighborhood WM up the road bit into Wright's customer base, I also wonder what effect the new Cane's had on Wright's with it basically wiping out some visibility off of Main Street

Bob Loblaw

[molarman]

I heard today that Whole Foods is rumored to be opening in the old Wright's Grocery store at 36th & West Main. Not sure if this is true or not, but it would be good for that location. Not sure if it is large enough for a Whole Foods. Anyone else hear about this?

[Pete]

I heard today that Whole Foods is rumored to be opening in the old Wright's Grocery store at 36th & West Main. Not sure if this is true or not, but it would be good for that location. Not sure if it is large enough for a Whole Foods. Anyone else hear about this?

I spoke to the broker about this last week and posted about it elsewhere, but Whole Foods did look but has decided to put it's Norman plans on hold for a couple of years.

In the meantime, they are still trying to lure other grocery stores to this site.

[BG918]

but Whole Foods did look but has decided to put it's Norman plans on hold for a couple of years.

Any reason why? They could print money with a Norman WF drawing from the entire south metro and beyond.

[Pete]

Any reason why? They could print money with a Norman WF drawing from the entire south metro and beyond.

I think they want to concentrate on their North OKC and/or Edmond locations.

They can only open so many stores a year.

[mattjank]

Great. Hopefully Norman can get a TJ's instead of Whole Foods.

[FighttheGoodFight]

Any updates on this? The empty building is sad

[kevinpate]

No clue what, or when, something will go into the space on the west side that was formerly occupied by Wrights.
Their remaining store on N Porter just north of E Robinson is doing well. A rather decent meat counter at that location.

[Pete]

They have been working to get a new grocer in that space; I'll see if I can get an update.

[FighttheGoodFight]

I am thinking nothing is going in here for a while. This shopping center is kind of bare without an grocery anchor.