"Where do you shop for groceries?"
Laura Griffin, a recent downtown transplant from the St. Louis suburbs, greets the question with a certain curiosity.
It has become the No. 1 question asked of downtown residents as the long-vacant warehouses along Washington Avenue begin filling with loft dwellers.
"When I lived in Chesterfield, I still drove 2 1/2 miles to the grocery store. I didn't walk. So the question surprises me," said Griffin, who moved to the Printers Lofts at 16th and Locust streets in October with her husband, Greg.
Griffin, 55, went so far as to measure the distance her friends in Wildwood drove to the market. Seven miles. Ten miles. Pretty darn far away, she told her friends in the kindest tone possible.
She is about 3 1/2 miles from a Schnucks market on Lindell Boulevard and five miles from Straub's in the Central West End. Griffin can get to either in less than 10 minutes.
Jeff Jarrett, 25, also has grown tired of being asked where he buys groceries.
"It's a stupid question," Jarrett says from the Washington Avenue loft he has called home for 2 1/2 years. "I go to the store."
He shops at Dierbergs in Brentwood or Schnucks on Clayton Road in Richmond Heights. Both are on the way home from Contemporary Productions in Clayton, where he works.
Grocers wait and see
Retailers say downtown continues to be looked at as a place to open a supermarket, but the numbers are not there - yet.
"Typically, for one of our stores, we need in the neighborhood of 8,000 customers a week," said Paul Poe, a spokesman for Straub's Markets. "Even taking in parts of Lafayette Square and parts of Soulard, the city just has not reached the magic number yet."
Developer Kevin McGowan talked with Straub's two years ago about moving into one of his buildings. While the grocer stays away for now, the demand for property continues to grow, he said.
"In short, they're going to keep looking a long time," McGowan said. "Rent is now twice what it was two years ago."
Craig Heller, owner of Loftworks LLC, developed the Bell Lofts at 10th and Olive streets and opened City Grocers on the first floor of the building in October 2004.
He says one of the key differences between downtown living and a suburban lifestyle is grocery shopping. In downtowns, shoppers are often walking and buying a few bags at a time. In the suburbs, the markets are usually bigger and have a wider selection.
"We don't have 60,000 square feet and 30 different types of toilet paper," Heller said. The store measures 6,500 square feet and, on a recent visit, carried four brands of toilet paper.
"We don't expect people to do 100 percent of their shopping at City Grocers, but we want them to change buying habits and shop with us," he said.
Heller said he believes that as more people move downtown, other smaller markets will open, following the steps of larger urban areas where there is a small market on seemingly every corner.
Straub's is the most-talked about market moving to downtown because its a local company and the stores it operates measure about 12,000 square feet - easily doable in an existing downtown building. By comparison, Schnucks stores measure about 60,000 square feet.
For 15 years, Schnucks ran a 7,700-square-foot store at Ninth and Locust streets, next to Famous-Barr. It was housed in an old Bettendorf-Rapp grocery space. In 1985, when the lease came due, Schnucks chose not to renew.
Schnucks also closed its store on Cass Avenue north of downtown in September 2000, explaining that the chain was losing money there.
Schnucks, like other grocers with stores in the area, float hope but steer clear of any commitment to move into downtown.
"As more growth occurs, additional services will be attracted to the area," said Scott Schnuck, president and CEO of Schnuck Markets Inc. "We are watching downtown closely."
So is Dierbergs, a local chain that, so far, has stayed in suburban locations.
"We are always analyzing the St. Louis market for new store expansion and, certainly, that is one area we continue to study," said Robert Dierberg, chairman and president of Dierbergs Markets.
Equally ambiguous is Whole Foods Market, a popular Austin, Texas, chain that has a store in Brentwood.
"What we specifically look for when making store-site decisions is based on a combination of things, including the availability and cost of real estate, population density, education and income, and the interest in natural and organic foods in the area," said Whole Foods spokeswoman Amber Cerda. "No one factor is important, but the right combination is.
"I'm not aware of any plans to open any stores (downtown) We do have a team that continuously scouts for best opportunities."
Trader Joe's, which just opened its first store in New York City last week, is a newcomer to St. Louis with stores in Brentwood, Chesterfield and Creve Coeur. A spokesman was hesitant to talk about what it looks for in a location. But in that earthy, crunchy, Southern California way that is Trader Joe's, she came through with a laid back - although very vague - statement.
"Trader Joe's loves St. Louis. There are a lot of foodies there," Alison Mochizuki said. "We consider ourselves the neighborhood store and love to be part of each community we open in."
Smaller markets could be the answer
Residents and developers say the question about grocery shopping is often an excuse for people to write off downtown as a place to live.
Matt O'Leary, senior vice president for Pyramid Cos., a downtown developer, said his company's goal is to knock down the excuses that are put up to prevent people from moving downtown.
A bona fide supermarket is still five or 10 years off, he said. But smaller markets are likely to open over the next year and will give residents variety and convenience, he predicted.
Downtown is a unique area, and traditional demographic numbers should not be used to determine whether it could support a supermarket, O'Leary said.
In addition to the nearly 10,000 residents who live downtown, there are 90,000 office workers and 7,500 hotel rooms. These nonresidents need to be considered when grocers and other retailers are looking at downtown, O'Leary said.
Joe Rojek, who works as a private banker in Clayton, is used to the grocery-shopping question.
"They really ask it in a way that makes me think they live in a Schnucks parking lot," said Rojek, 30, who moved to St. Louis from Chicago and has lived in the downtown Terra Cotta Lofts since February 2003.
Rojek shops at City Grocers and the Schnucks at 4171 Lindell Boulevard, which is being remodeled for the first time since 1996.
Three years ago, when the loft district started picking up speed, O'Leary, a downtown resident, was at his 15-year high school reunion. The first 14 people he chatted with all asked where he shopped for groceries.
It's a question he can't avoid and does answer. But don't ask O'Leary where he went to high school - the universal question asked of all St. Louians who grew up here.
"I refuse to answer that," O'Leary says.
