Wednesday, May 20, 2015

West Point Market closing after nearly 80 years; source names Whole Foods as specialty grocer anchoring new development at West Akron site



By Katie Byard
Beacon Journal business writer


Iconic Akron grocery West Point Market is closing at the end of the year.
The nearly 80-year-old independent gourmet food emporium had an offer too good to pass up.
The West Market Street property in Akron’s Wallhaven neighborhood is to be sold to a developer planning a new and expanded shopping center anchored by an as-yet-unnamed specialty grocer.
On Friday afternoon, Ward 8 Councilwoman Marilyn Keith said a real estate agent familiar with the negotiations over the properties involved said the new specialty store would be a Whole Foods.
The nationally known West Point, store officials say, is facing increased competition in the specialty grocery business, with traditional grocers expanding their offerings and a growth in high-end grocery chains.
The sale of the store and land, the officials say, will allow them to create a new West Point business — informally dubbed “West Point II.”
Still-developing plans to keep the valuable West Point brand alive include small niche markets, “the best of West Point,” said Larry Uhl, president of the business. These small shops likely would sell West Point’s popular Killer Brownies, prepared foods, baked goods, a wide variety of cheese and wine and other items.
The sale means West Point leaders can “move a right-size West Point Market forward” without leaving Wallhaven in the lurch, Uhl said. The new development “will have a positive impact on all businesses in the Wallhaven district,” said Russ Vernon, who retired from West Point in 2000, handing the reins to Uhl, and his son Rick Vernon, the store’s CEO.
Wallhaven will get “something neat and happening,” Uhl said.
Uhl and Vernon met with employees Friday morning about the closing and future plans. West Point, which employs roughly 95 full- and part-time workers, will offer financial incentives to keep employees on hand through the end of the year.
Uhl said the hope is that many employees can be retained at the new, reformatted West Point, which could begin operations as soon as early next year.
Gift shop manager Maggie Conlon, a 26-year employee, said the plans for the revamped West Point are exciting.
She figures there’s a place for her in the new operation. However, she doesn’t know when she would begin work with the revamped West Point.
“Do I have a place to go Jan. 2?” she said. “I know things will clear up as time goes on ... [the store leaders] are being good to us.”
Friday, she said, she had several heartfelt conversations with customers, including one who called and said, “I wanted to let you know, it’s you and the people like you [that matter], and it’s not the building.”
“There’s a lot of great people here” at the store known for its customer service, she said. “We’re close to our customers.”
New kid on the block
The company that plans to buy the West Market property is S.J. Collins Enterprises out of Fairborn, Ga., outside Atlanta. The Georgia company is known for developing shopping centers anchored by Whole Foods, the large natural and organic grocer.
S.J. Collins has a Whole Foods-anchored site set to open in Dayton on June 3. The company also plans to build a center around a Whole Foods in Toledo.
S.J. Collins plans to put together a roughly 5-acre parcel for the development, buying two small adjacent properties, west of the store, facing West Market. These properties — large homes converted into offices — are not owned by West Point.
Jeff Garrison, an S.J. Collins partner, said in an email Thursday that his company would not reveal the name of the specialty grocer “at this time.”
The grocery is expected to open in early 2017, he said.
A spokeswoman for Whole Foods, based in Austin, Texas, said Thursday: “We are unable to confirm any rumors at this time. Whole Foods Market typically announces new confirmed sites on our quarterly financial earnings calls.”
Garrison, with S.J. Collins, said the new grocery to be built on West Market would encompass about 40,000 square feet of space, and there would be another 10,000 square feet of retail space.
Garrison said there will be space for four to six “specialty retailers.”
S.J. Collins hasn’t yet signed up additional retailers, but Garrison said, “interest is high from many of our repeat retail clients.”
Garrison and West Point officials would not reveal the purchase price of the West Point property. Garrison said S.J. Collins has not closed on any of the property.
The shopping center, Garrison said, “will provide a terrific mix of groceries, services and restaurants for health conscious consumers,” Garrison said.
It will be dubbed “West Point Marketplace,” Garrison said, explaining that “the history of the site is very important to us.”
Garrison said his company was attracted to the site’s proximity to city neighborhoods with relatively high incomes, as well as the University of Akron and the downtown business district.
Uhl, Rick and Russ Vernon spoke to the Beacon earlier this week. This was after the Beacon inquired about yet another West Point-closing rumor.
Uhl said that S.J. Collins’ plans were soon to begin going through various public approval processes with the city of Akron.
‘A wonderful ride’
West Point, said Uhl and Rick Vernon, has remained profitable and was never “for sale,” despite the persistent (and, for the ownership, sometimes humorous) rumors that the store is either going to be shut down or being sold.
“With our business model, we had a wonderful ride,” Russ Vernon said.
It was Russ Vernon who in the 1960s started noticing the beginning of an American gourmet food movement. He persuaded West Point’s elder partners — his father, Harold, and John Seiler — to embrace the products as a way to set their grocery apart.
But, Uhl said, “as time has gone on we’re not [essentially] the only place you can buy a decent bottle of olive oil.”
Now, Uhl and Rick Vernon said, the idea is develop a commissary where food can be prepared to serve multiple, smaller West Point Markets. These stores would not carry the overhead of a single grocer. The plan is to begin with a prototype niche West Point Market, with the first likely to open in Summit County.
Uhl said “there’s a lot to be finalized,” but he envisions perhaps a dozen smaller West Point stores in Ohio.
Competition heats up
Friday’s news comes amid intensifying competition in the local grocery business.
A few blocks away, hometown grocer Acme Fresh Markets is undergoing a $9 million renovation of its venerable Acme No. 1. The fix-up will include a larger organic section.
On Saturday, the much-anticipated Highland Square location of Mustard Seed Market & Cafe will open. It’s the third location — and first small, neighborhood location for the local natural/organic grocer. The flagship Mustard Seed & Cafe is only about 6 miles west, in Bath Township.
Late last year, Pittsburgh-headquartered Giant Eagle opened a Market District in Cuyahoga Falls, complete with a wine and beer bar, easily accessible from the west side of Akron.
The Giant Eagle Market Districts are larger than typical Giant Eagles and are stocked with such items as dry-aged beef, exotic vegetables and gelato. They’re a prime example of traditional grocers moving more into the specialty/gourmet food business.
Whole Foods is a publicly traded company that reported $14.2 billion in sales for 2014.
The company ranked 218 on the Fortune 500 list last year.
The company had 399 non-union U.S. stores as of the end of the year, with six in Ohio. Northeast Ohio locations were Woodmere and University Heights.
The company said it typically targets what it calls “premium real estate sites.”
Whole Foods has said stores typically carry more than 32,000 different products, with an emphasis on perishable foods. Approximately 30 percent of sales, outside of prepared foods and bakery, were organic in fiscal 2014.

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