Price Rite Vs Nojaim’s Supermarket: Is There a Civil War Between Neighborhoods?
Did Government Subsidies Kill a neighborhood Institution? Wakefern Food Corporation Paid half of the 5 Million Dollar Total Project Cost The opening of the 35,000 square foot Price Rite Supermarket, located at 611 South Avenue, fulfilled a mission that many residents had embraced and supported for over a decade. History shows that the South Avenue corridor, like every other Syracuse residential neighborhood, was once home to a robust commercial district. Several large grocery stores and other retail operations were located on South Ave., making it markedly similar to James Street in Eastwood, and the city’s eastside business district on Westcott Street. What do these areas have in common? They are examples of Syracuse residential neighborhoods with robust retail activity at their cores; a key element to urban living. However, over the last 40 years, the implosion of the Syracuse area economy, the South Avenue corridor business district, residential housing, and the overall neighborhood condition went into a tailspin, taking almost everything with it. What remained was block after block of blighted homes, corner stores and vacant lots. At its center remained Southwest Community Center and the few remaining retail operations on South Ave. Over the years, there were signs of life, a Rite Aid pharmacy opened at the corridor’s entry at West Onondaga Street. Longtime residents can recall living in what resembled an urban wasteland that was also classified as a food desert. A rare opportunity presented itself when Onondaga County was forced to address the raw sewage that often overflowed into Onondaga Creek. The Southwest neighborhood contained one of several sites that had been slated to have a sewage treatment facility installed. To compensate the neighborhood for having a sewage treatment facility installed in its midst, the area was designated to receive a lump sum of money. The funds were to be utilized to make improvements that would be beneficial to homeowners and the community at-large. The discussions took place over an extended period of time. Neighborhood based community groups in the immediate area were also supportive of bringing in a store. The hope was to provide a southern anchor to a neighborhood that had spent the last 25 years transforming from a cluster of empty city blocks into a functioning neighborhood. Resident-based community forums and focus groups convened to learn the desires of the neighborhood. As ideas were discussed and discarded, the need for a full-service grocery retailer was revealed as something that would benefit the area in the most impactful and meaningful way. The residents worked to articulate the need for a grocery store as there was little hope that there would be another opportunity to invest in something so fundamental to enable the community to thrive. The City of Syracuse commissioned a report to study the feasibility of the area and to ensure that it would be able to support a supermarket. Armed with the knowledge that the Southwest community wanted a grocery store, Walt Dixie, the Executive Director of Jubilee Homes of Syracuse, Inc. surveyed the area in 2006. The nonprofit agency had recently completed the construction of 95 homes in the neighborhood. Many of the decrepit rental homes that had once lined Tallman Avenue, South Avenue, Rich, and White Streets had been replaced by modern construction, ushering in a new crop of vested homeowners. The remaining structures on South Avenue were ghosts of the corridor’s retail past. Jubilee Homes assembled a team consisting of staff, community stakeholders and people with specific skill sets for assembling an economic development project. The agency communicated regularly with city, county and state departments and representatives to ensure that no steps were bypassed in the process. It would take nearly a decade to develop the Old Loblaw’s Supermarket site at 611 South Avenue and return the structure to its original use as a neighborhood retailer of groceries. The Emergence of Price Rite The original idea for a South Avenue market was to attract a locally-owned company to the site. After connecting with a few Syracuse-based grocers and receiving no interest, the supermarket team was forced to cast a wider net. Although Price Rite on Erie Boulevard was already in the works, Jubilee Homes was unaware of its development. In a conversation with Walter Dixie, Lt. Governor Robert Duffy suggested that Price Rite might be a good fit for the South Avenue neighborhood, based upon the impact that the chain had brought to an abandoned Wegmans in Rochester NY. Price Rite worked closely with Jubilee Homes of Syracuse Inc., as well as city, county and state officials to bring the new store to the Southwest neighborhood area, providing a service oriented supermarket and serving as a retail anchor tenant along the South Avenue corridor. The Price Rite model was seen as a good fit because its parent company (Wakefern) is comprised of a cooperative of Shop Rite store owners that work together to bring lower prices to consumers. They have a robust presence in urban neighborhoods and take pride in supporting the communities in which they are located. This extends to their hiring practices, too. Additionally, the company has never closed a Price Rite Store in the markets that they serve. Price Rite operates 63 stores in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland and Virginia. Price Rite stores offer customers an expanded produce department and quality food products at savings up to 50 percent less than traditional supermarkets. The typical Price Rite store is about 35,000 to 40,000 square feet in size and employs anywhere from 75 to 150 associates. The first Price Rite opened in West Springfield, MA in 1995. The store opened with great fanfare, pomp and ceremony, all of the local, state and federal political figures were there or sent surrogates. Also present at the Grand Opening was Price Rite executives, President, Neil Duffy, and Executive Vice President, Jim Dorey. Price Rite of South Ave. also made a donation of $3,000 to Sharon Owens, CEO of the Syracuse Model
