A new grocery in Manchester--update from the DDA

The Manchester Market closed its doors in February. Negotiations are continuing to attempt to find a replacement grocery store for the community.

submitted by Ray Berg, Manchester DDA

In February, the Manchester Market closed due to the retirement of the owners, and the market building was listed for sale. The Downtown Development Authority (DDA) took on the project of recruiting a replacement full-service grocery store to fill a critical community need.

The DDA developed a 10-page “site analysis packet” for marketing our need and property options that are available. The packet contained a description of Manchester, its population and location in the county, our industries, and our need for a grocery store. We included demographic data on Manchester’s population, actual grocery spending levels, and other statistics as determined in the Gibbs Retail Study performed in late 2014. This included the square footage size, annual revenue and various types of stores we could support (grocery, specialty foods, beer/wine, etc.) based on actual spending levels in the Manchester area, as well as a summary of previous Manchester Market revenues and traffic.

We also included information on the current Manchester Market building and the adjacent vacant lot to the east of the store, available parking spaces and road access, as well as several vacant parcels on M-52, should the prospective owner wish to locate on M-52. We advocated for reuse or rebuild on the current market site, but our Gibbs Retail Study consultant advised that a new store may choose an M-52 site.

We conducted community surveys and collected approximately 80 responses, indicating community desires for types and brands of store, products to be offered, preferred location, and other matters. This information guided us in selecting store brands to be approached and in preparing the site analysis packet.

To date, we have contacted eight grocery store chains with a request to be considered, an invitation to visit Manchester and meet with community leaders, and the chance to present our proposal. We’ve also recently added the need for a pharmacy in our discussions.

The current status of these inquiries follows:

1. Kroger’s – We ranked Kroger our first choice to approach based on community responses, and we used Kroger’s recent rebuild of their Milan store, which opened in January, as the model for a “small-
   town” Kroger store featuring a large selection of fresh foods. We visited the Milan store and met with their manager about the market’s success and appeal. Our application and packet have been filed with Kroger’s Michigan regional real estate office, and we maintain contact with two persons there. Our proposal is “under review,” and we remain cautiously optimistic there will be further discussions. They have advised us, “these things take time.”
2. Aldi – We filed our application and packet with Aldi’s Michigan development office. We received a quick but polite response that a Manchester store was not in their current plans, but that they liked our site analysis packet, and would keep if for future review, as they “are always evaluating their markets.”
3. Meijer – We filed our packet with Meijer’s head real estate office in Grand Rapids, using the Meijer “Bridge Street Model” as our goal. The “Bridge Street Model” (named after their first location of this model in Grand Rapids) is a food-only Meijer store, designed for “food desert” locations, where there is a lack of grocery stores within a certain mile radius. They have acknowledged receipt of our application and are reviewing it.
4. Trader Joe’s – Although many question whether Trader Joe’s would ever come to Manchester, their website does encourage applicants to tell TJ about themselves, their town, why we would like a Trader Joe’s market, etc. So we went ahead and filed the packet along with answering their questions. We received a prompt response thanking us for the submittal and that they would review it.
5. SpartanNash – This firm “brands” and franchises individual supermarkets. We used the SpartanNash Frank’s ShopRite grocery store in Grass Lake as our model, and submitted our packet to their regional real estate manager. We’ve had several discussions with him, as it turns out they were already working with the Manchester Market owners to find a buyer prior to their closure. They have continued throughout 2019 to seek a buyer for the Manchester Market store, and appreciated receiving our site packet. We will keep in touch with each other.
6. Borchardt Brothers – Another SpartanNash franchise, they operate stores currently in Blissfield, Morenci and Onsted, and until 2015, in Napoleon. We submitted a packet to them with our request to meet. The packet was acknowledged but there has been no further response. We are not optimistic about this one proceeding.
7. Busch’s – Although some may question why Busch’s, being in Saline and Clinton, would consider Manchester, their website offered encouragement to submit our site analysis packet, for which we received acknowledgment of receipt and statement that it’s under review. We made an argument that Busch’s infrastructure and distribution network is in place in the area, and that Manchester’s location would be a natural fit. We’ll see how it develops.
8. Country Market – We submitted our packet with the note that although Country Market had closed their Dexter and Saline locations, there would be no competition from other brands in Manchester as there had been in these two towns. We have received acknowledgment of receiving our packet, and we’ll continue pursuing a meeting with Country Market.

So, we continue to keep investigating what the possibilities may be. This will take time, as we’ve been
told, and we’ll keep you posted through the Mirror as things develop.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.