It's unfortunate that mixed-use development works the way it does in metro Los Angeles. In San Diego, there is a huge Albertsons on the first floor of an apartment building downtown (East Village, to be exact), a Jimbos' (think Whole Foods) in the old Horton Plaza mall, also downtown, and at least one VONS (Mission Hills/Hillcrest) that's not exactly mixed-use, but a large store was built on what was a parking lot.
Chicago has had large supermarkets on the first floors of apartment buildings going back to the 1960's. The older ones were probably in the 40K square foot range, but more recently Jewel, Whole Foods, and Dominick's built very large (I'd guess >60K square foot) stores. Actually, Mariano's has two that are probably close to 100K square feet (Illinois Center and Greektown). Target has opened some large stores, too, including one in the historic Carson Pirie Scott building on State Street. The City of Chicago actively lobbied for many of these stores. Even Walmart opened a handful of stores in underserved neighborhoods where residents were open to having a store there.
I'd say NYC was late in catching on to this practice (except in the case of K Mart), but at least they did. Part of that was due to local sentiment and habit - they had crappy little grocery stores. It was a New York "thing." That changed, of course, once the big Whole Foods opened in Columbus Circle. New Yorkers hated it at first until they realized that shopping at a nice, clean grocery store was not so bad. Also, NYC (like Chicago) has large former department stores, which lend themselves well to a K Mart or a supermarket.
To @storewanderer's point, these areas are more densely packed and public transit is better than in LA.
storewanderer wrote: ↑August 1st, 2023, 11:40 pm......(except in San Francisco- and even there that public transit system has exorbitant pricing compared to similar systems in other US cities).
Not really. At $83 a month, Muni is pretty inexpensive compared to other cities. Chicago's (CTA) is $75, NYC is $127, Philadelphia is $96, and Seattle is $99 (for unlimited standard $2.75/trip rides). BART is priced more like commuter rail, but the Muni pass includes BART rides that begin and end in San Francisco. The system is creaky and in need of maintenance, but it is extensive.
Yeah, Walmart did themselves no favors by doing that. Their crappy stores haven't helped them, either. The sad (for them) thing about Walmart is they have been at the forefront of recycling, building stores with solar panels on the roof and over parking lots, and implementing energy-saving practices in their stores, but they don't publicize it in a way that they can change public opinion. Then again, anti-anything zealots who make decisions based on emotion instead of facts will not change their minds.
The failure of that store has more to do with the location than being a large-format store. Trinity Plaza has been a crime-ridden location for decades. Had they opened that store in or near the Target-anchored development on Geary (the old Sears) or around Stonestown things would have worked out differently.storewanderer wrote: ↑July 29th, 2023, 12:38 pm...Whole Foods has (well they tried a large format in San Francisco but now that store is now closed)....