Crest

[bchris02]

Does anybody know if Crest plans on opening any more of these Crest Markets? I just moved here from Charlotte and live on the north side. While I have been very impressed with OKC and think it even edges out Charlotte in some areas, nice grocery stores are hard to come by here compared to what I was used to back in Charlotte. Some regular Crests are nice, a few Homelands are nice but most Homelands are run down and dirty. Of course there is Wal-Mart that I avoid like the plague. Whole Foods is nice but its a niche market. So I happened to be on the south side tonight and stopped into Crest Market at 104th and May and it felt like I was walking into a Harris Teeter back home or an H-E-B. I think the metro area could use a few more of these, especially on the north side. Does anybody know if Crest plans on expanding that concept?

[metro]

Welcome to OKC! Try Sprouts Market at 63rd and May or 2nd and Broadway in Edmond. The Uptown Grocery Co. In Edmond at Danforth and Kelly is real nice too. The Buy For Less at NW Expressway and Hefner Parkway is decent too. These are all on the north side. OKCs grocery store scene is just now being discovered on a national scale and is turning around quickly, be patient.

[adaniel]

I second a welcome. Glad to hear you are enjoying OKC. Can't say I've seen too many east-coasters here.

I agree the grocery scene in OKC is only now starting to improve and Crest is the local chain leading the way. Unfortunately the only store they are planning to build is going to be in Norman.

If you are in North OKC, have you tried the Crest off of Rockwell and Hefner? That was the store I went to when I lived on the north side of town. Not as nice as the one off 104th and May but its nice, clean, and carries about 95% of what the Fresh Market store carries.

[metro]

adaniel, why is Crest leading the way? They aren't anymore than BFL with their new Uptown Market concept.

[boscorama]

There's a Crest in Edmond, at 164th & Santa Fe. I don't get why anyone goes to Walmart for groceries if there's a Crest nearby. In my opinion, Crest is the Best!

[adaniel]

adaniel, why is Crest leading the way? They aren't anymore than BFL with their new Uptown Market concept.

I'm only saying that because Crest is already planning on Fresh Market store # 2. Plus, outside of Uptown Grocery and their flagship store on NWX, most BFL's are lacking. Whereas, I would have no problem going into a normal Crest.

Uptown Grocery is very nice, so I will give BFL credit for trying to right the ship.

[Questor]

brchris:

• You're actually talking about a "Crest Fresh Market."
• Crest stores are owned by the same company, but they are the crappy 80s version of the chain and while people are going to yell at me I'm sure they're nothing like what you are looking for. You want their Crest Fresh Market concept, nothing else.
• Right now the one on the SW side is the only one in existence. Crest has also announced plans for a Fresh Market in Norman, but I am unsure of when it will be built. I have heard of no plans for any more stores after that one.
• People are going to tell you about how nice Store X or Store Y are... don't believe them, they are "Oklahoma quality" 90s style stores. The only real options for the type of store you are looking for in your area are Whole Foods and Uptown Grocery. Thought it was getting better but new development seems to have stalled out. (Slapping new paint and fake wood floors on a dingy 30 year old store but keeping the same wilted veggies doesn't impress me Homeland).

As you can tell, I am fed up with many quality of life issues in OKC, this being one of them. OKC is a nice place to live, but it is behind the times in a lot of things and every day is a struggle against the hordes to keep it that way. I hope the quality of grocery stores will improve, but if past is any indication it is going to happen at a snails pace compared to everywhere else.

[stdennis]

What about sunflower market? They are very nice too

[ljbab728]

What about sunflower market? They are very nice too

Sunflower is now Sprouts which was mentioned earlier.

[zookeeper]

Homeland at May and Britton is the nicest regular grocery store on the northwest side. Unfortunately it's about their only really nice store.

[soonerguru]

Homeland is terrible, although they've improved their store on May and Britton, and it's decent.

[ljbab728]

Homeland is hardly terrible.

[bchris02]

brchris:

• You're actually talking about a "Crest Fresh Market."
• Crest stores are owned by the same company, but they are the crappy 80s version of the chain and while people are going to yell at me I'm sure they're nothing like what you are looking for. You want their Crest Fresh Market concept, nothing else.
• Right now the one on the SW side is the only one in existence. Crest has also announced plans for a Fresh Market in Norman, but I am unsure of when it will be built. I have heard of no plans for any more stores after that one.
• People are going to tell you about how nice Store X or Store Y are... don't believe them, they are "Oklahoma quality" 90s style stores. The only real options for the type of store you are looking for in your area are Whole Foods and Uptown Grocery. Thought it was getting better but new development seems to have stalled out. (Slapping new paint and fake wood floors on a dingy 30 year old store but keeping the same wilted veggies doesn't impress me Homeland).

As you can tell, I am fed up with many quality of life issues in OKC, this being one of them. OKC is a nice place to live, but it is behind the times in a lot of things and every day is a struggle against the hordes to keep it that way. I hope the quality of grocery stores will improve, but if past is any indication it is going to happen at a snails pace compared to everywhere else.

Thanks for the replies everybody. I actually do most of my shopping at the Crest at Rockwell and Hefner because its close to where I live. It's pretty nice, though not near as nice as the Crest Fresh Market. It's nice enough though and its clean and well stocked. Still wish there were a few more Crest Fresh Markets or a concept similar on the northwest side. I'll have to check out the Buy For Less on NW Expressway. I have been in a few nice Homelands, most notably the one on N May and Britton, but I have two other Homelands within a mile of where I live and they are both nasty.

Having lived in OKC as a child, I have to say the lack of quality grocery stores here is not completely the fault of OKC. The first reason is Wal-Mart deployed their saturation strategy in this market in the early 2000s and were much more aggressive than they were in most other markets. This resulted in many local grocers going out of business and some national chains like Albertson's leaving the market. This was able to happen because unlike most cities across the US, OKC never had a dominant grocery retailer prior to Wal-Mart's deluge on the market like Houston (H-E-B), Charlotte (Harris Teeter), Little Rock (Kroger), Tulsa (Reasor's), etc all had. The closest thing OKC ever had was Homeland which in Charlotte would be about on the level of a Compare Foods; definitely bottom tier. This allowed Wal-Mart to very easily come in and become that dominant grocery retailer because for the most part it was an improvement upon what was here before as sad as that is.

Fortunately, there are companies now like Crest that are stepping up to the plate and improving things, if ever so slowly. I was also reading that Reasor's may open a store in Edmond making it the first OKC metro store for them. If it does well, its not too far fetched to think the chain will expand their presence in Central Oklahoma. Personally, I would rather see an Oklahoma company like Crest or Reasor's expand and become a greater force in the OKC market than a national chain like H-E-B come in. Supporting local retailers benefits everybody.

[Buffalo Bill]

Homeland is hardly terrible.

You need to stop into their "store" at 18th and Classen. Unbelievably bad.

[Buffalo Bill]

brchris:

• You're actually talking about a "Crest Fresh Market."
• Crest stores are owned by the same company, but they are the crappy 80s version of the chain and while people are going to yell at me I'm sure they're nothing like what you are looking for. You want their Crest Fresh Market concept, nothing else.
• Right now the one on the SW side is the only one in existence. Crest has also announced plans for a Fresh Market in Norman, but I am unsure of when it will be built. I have heard of no plans for any more stores after that one.
• People are going to tell you about how nice Store X or Store Y are... don't believe them, they are "Oklahoma quality" 90s style stores. The only real options for the type of store you are looking for in your area are Whole Foods and Uptown Grocery. Thought it was getting better but new development seems to have stalled out. (Slapping new paint and fake wood floors on a dingy 30 year old store but keeping the same wilted veggies doesn't impress me Homeland).

As you can tell, I am fed up with many quality of life issues in OKC, this being one of them. OKC is a nice place to live, but it is behind the times in a lot of things and every day is a struggle against the hordes to keep it that way. I hope the quality of grocery stores will improve, but if past is any indication it is going to happen at a snails pace compared to everywhere else.

+1

The Oklahoma City grocery market, save for a few niche stores, sucks big time.

[CuatrodeMayo]

You need to stop into their "store" at 18th and Classen. Unbelievably bad.

+1

[betts]

You need to stop into their "store" at 18th and Classen. Unbelievably bad.

I agree that it's bad by suburban standards. But, it's really not bad compared to a lot of urban grocery stores. They'll fix it up once they get some competition downtown. Right now, it's our only option. I buy all my staples there, for which it's just fine. But, I'm waiting for Urban Roots to be my best option for meat and vegetables.

[G.Walker]

We live right down the street from a Walmart Neighborhood Market, and its not that bad, which we go there to pick up light things, but if we really want to do some serious grocery shopping we go to Sam's....But for the record Crest's Fresh Markets are the best everyday grocery shopping in the city. Moreover, Norman's Crest Fresh Market plat was approved a couple weeks ago, so they should be breaking ground anytime now.

[Jim Kyle]

duplicate!

[Jim Kyle]

This was able to happen because unlike most cities across the US, OKC never had a dominant grocery retailer prior to Wal-Mart's deluge on the market like Houston (H-E-B), Charlotte (Harris Teeter), Little Rock (Kroger), Tulsa (Reasor's), etc all had.

I think "never" is a bit of an over-statement. Back in the 40s and 50s, and even later, Humpto-Dumpty was a pretty dominant figure in OKC grocery retailing. Its founder, Sylvan Goldman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvan_Goldman), invented the shopping cart back in 1937 and that led to the supermarket concept.

Unfortunately, his sons (Al and Monte) weren't all that interested in the grocery business; they preferred real estate. After his retirement, the Humpty chain just sort of evaporated. Many of its locations later became Albertson stores.

The original Safeway chain, which morphed into Homeland through a rather extended series of bankruptcies and buy-outs, was the other dominant player in those days.

However, the Walmart saturation is, as you said, what really marked the end of top-level grocery outlets here.

[Buffalo Bill]

I agree that it's bad by suburban standards. But, it's really not bad compared to a lot of urban grocery stores. They'll fix it up once they get some competition downtown. Right now, it's our only option. I buy all my staples there, for which it's just fine. But, I'm waiting for Urban Roots to be my best option for meat and vegetables.

It's horrible by any standard urban, suburban, or otherwise. Flaccid rejected vegetables from their other stores, employees hanging out front smoking girts and discarding them in the parking lot, no lighting. Shameful. It needs to be dozed. I only go there as a last resort. Super Cao has great produce, seafood and pork. Braums has dairy staples. This place is godawful.

My idea of an urban grocery store is the King Soopers at 14th and Speer in Denver. Not great to look at, but functional. It's been there maybe 20 years.

[bchris02]

I think "never" is a bit of an over-statement. Back in the 40s and 50s, and even later, Humpto-Dumpty was a pretty dominant figure in OKC grocery retailing. Its founder, Sylvan Goldman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvan_Goldman), invented the shopping cart back in 1937 and that led to the supermarket concept.

Unfortunately, his sons (Al and Monte) weren't all that interested in the grocery business; they preferred real estate. After his retirement, the Humpty chain just sort of evaporated. Many of its locations later became Albertson stores.

The original Safeway chain, which morphed into Homeland through a rather extended series of bankruptcies and buy-outs, was the other dominant player in those days.

However, the Walmart saturation is, as you said, what really marked the end of top-level grocery outlets here.

In other markets though, some smaller than OKC, other chains can compete against Wal-Mart. Think back to the late '90s when Wal-Mart started building Supercenters everywhere in OKC. I was living here as a child then and I don't remember very many top-tier grocers at that time. There were a few nice Albertson's which today are the nice Homelands, but not much else. Crest at that time had a sole location on Reno in Midwest City and it was dirty and had molded meat for sale. It's great to see that place has turned itself around and become a reputable chain in this area. I do remember a lot of independents and IGAs. The problem started before Wal-Mart, but the Wal-Mart saturation just prevented any other big player from coming in and turning things around. Today's OKC grocery market is better than its been in decades despite still needing quite a bit of improvement.

[ljbab728]

McCartney's had at least a couple of grocery stores in OKC which were very nice for the time. I believe it's been about 30 years ago, though.

[metro]

Homeland is hardly terrible.

You're right, it's beyond terrible, minus the flagship store.

[metro]

Also, SuperTargets are not bad, have higher quality, clean and don't have the Walmart crowd.