CLEVELAND — Should Downtown Cleveland’s next grocery store be another traditional supermarket?
A smaller neighborhood market?
A place focused just as much on grab-and-go meals as milk, eggs and produce?
Those are the kinds of questions Cleveland leaders are now trying to answer following the closure of the downtown Heinen’s.
Downtown Cleveland, Inc. and the City of Cleveland have launched a community survey asking residents, workers, students, business owners, and visitors about their grocery habits and what they would actually use downtown.
The goal is to develop a long-term grocery strategy that works both for the people who depend on it and for the business that eventually moves in.
For Lisa Faucon, who lives across the street from the former Heinen’s and does not drive, the loss has already changed her routine.
“This has been really convenient for a long time,” she said. “I have to plan a little bit more for the grocery store. I don't drive, so I live right across the street, and that was part of my wanting to move downtown. I can walk to the grocery store, so it's been a loss for sure.”
Faucon works night shifts and said her other grocery options now require considerably more effort.
“There's a grocery store by my work that if I'm coming back from night shift in the morning, I can go,” she said. “But it's a lot, after 13 hours, to walk and get the bus there and remember what I need to get from the grocery store.”
At this point, she said, almost any grocery option would be welcome, but she still wants access to both fresh ingredients and convenient prepared foods.
“I also like having my staples. I like to get my salad stuff, chicken and beef to make some nice meals at home also” Faucon says.
Natalie Tariq said having a grocery store within walking distance was one of the reasons her family chose Downtown Cleveland after previously living in Chicago.
“Heinen's was a big reason why we moved downtown,” Tariq said. “To have a grocery store within walking distance was something we were fortunate to have in Chicago, and we wanted to continue that here in Cleveland.”
Now, she said, they have to drive to buy groceries.
“The closing of Heinen's was really sad for us,” Tariq said. “We have to go further to go to a grocery store. We have to drive now instead of just being able to walk and pick things up.”
The closure has even made her reconsider the move.
“Disappointed and honestly debating if we should have moved downtown,” Tariq said. “I know Cleveland is trying to get the downtown to be a more up-and-coming area, and I think having a grocery store nearby is one of the biggest pros to that.”
For Tariq, Heinen’s also served as more than a place to buy food. She remembers attending wine tastings there and meeting other downtown residents.
“It was a great spot to be able to network and make friends, which is something that's great if you're new to the city,” she said.
Downtown Cleveland leaders say that kind of access is important as the neighborhood continues to grow.
“We're up over 21,000 residents living in Downtown Cleveland,” Michael Deemer with Downtown Cleveland Inc. said. “We're one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in Northeast Ohio, and I think we're still the largest residential downtown in the State of Ohio.”
People who commute downtown have different needs.
Kat Ochoa Parker works downtown and said one of the biggest losses from Heinen’s is having an easy place to grab a meal during the workday.
“I wouldn't say it's like a food desert, but I would say the options for quick bites to eat downtown are slim,” Parker said.
She said Heinen’s offered prepared foods that were quick without necessarily being fast food.
“To have nice, ready-made food, kind of like a scoop bowl kind of thing, was really nice and very convenient,” Parker said.
That is something she would like to see return with whatever grocery concept comes next.
“Somewhere I can get something to eat, very nutritious, very healthy, maybe not on the fast food side,” Parker said. “It's very valuable.”
She said she would be open to either a smaller operator or a larger chain, but would like the next store to retain the community feel Heinen’s offered.
Lucas Reeve with the mayor’s office said that the difference between what residents and workers need is exactly why the city is gathering data before pursuing a replacement.
“I think people's grocery needs are changing and evolving to a certain extent,” Reeve said.
He said fewer shoppers may be making the traditional once-a-week or once-every-two-weeks trip to stock an entire kitchen.
“We're hearing from a lot of folks that grocery isn't an every two weeks, you know, buy 20 bags of groceries and bring them home,” Reeve said. “A lot of folks are shopping night of, a lot of folks are shopping with ready-to-eat products.”
That could mean the next downtown grocery option looks considerably different.
“I think the city is really open to exploring any models,” Reeve said. “What's really important here is that the grocery solutions that we want to be able to help support the implementation of downtown are ones that fit the types of real estate that we have here.”
Reeve said that could include stores with smaller footprints and more prepared food.
Downtown’s older buildings can also present challenges for grocery operators, including deliveries and the amount of space needed to run a traditional supermarket.
“Some of the older buildings proved challenging in that way,” Reeve said. “So we want to be able to understand what all those challenges are and work with a broader stakeholder group to make sure that we're coming up with solutions that make sense.”
“Right now, I wanted to go buy something and I can't get nothing out of the supermarket because it's been closed down,” Cesar Escobar, who was looking for food downtown, said.
He said people who live in the surrounding buildings should be able to buy food without getting into a car.
“I think they need something here,” Escobar said. “People spend a lot of money and live a comfortable life in this building, and there's nothing here. There's no supermarket.”
Escobar said he would like to see a store such as Marc’s move in, but his larger concern is simply restoring easy grocery access.
“Something. Anything's better than nothing right now,” he said. “At least people don't gotta drive their car, go over here, go over there and look for food.”
Downtown Cleveland, Inc. and the city say the survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete and responses will be reviewed collectively rather than attributed to individual participants.
The survey is open through Aug. 28.
City leaders say they want the eventual solution to be sustainable rather than simply rushing to fill an empty storefront.
“The main thing that we're focused on right now is working from a place of understanding the real needs of folks downtown,” Reeve said, “and being able to develop long-term, sustainable, market-driven solutions that really serve those needs directly.”
Downtown leaders say there is reason for optimism, pointing to Constantino’s Market, which has served downtown for more than two decades.
“I think there's no question that there's hope, and that hope is driven by evidence and data,” Deemer said.
For the people already living and working downtown, however, the need is much more immediate.
As Faucon put it: “At this point, any grocery store would be great.”
If you want to be part of that survey, click HERE.
