The long-awaited downtown Fry’s grocery store held its grand opening at 8 a.m. on Wednesday.
The grand opening of the Fry’s store ended the food desert that has affected downtown Phoenix. The store will be the first grocery store in years in downtown Phoenix, providing residents with a place to shop for food.
“This Fry’s will be the cornerstone of the downtown community, a place where everyone who lives, works in and visits downtown Phoenix can gather to create and share more meaningful experiences,” said Monica Garnes, the division president of Fry’s.
With the addition of the new full-service grocery store Fry’s will add more than 250 jobs to the city of Phoenix, she said.
Assistant Professor at Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey Morrison School of Agribusiness Lauren Chenarides described a food desert as a construct of data based on a low-income population with an absence of a grocery retailer in their geographic region.
“Essentially, a food desert to a retailer just looks like an area where there’s not enough population to warrant an investment in that retailer locating, because there’s not enough market for the retailer to essentially get back what it needs to invest in opening a new store,” Chenarides said.
Food deserts are dependent upon the urban status of a dense population, access to transportation and different economic measures, she said.
Garnes said she was glad to be a part of the new Block 23 mixed-use center the store is located in.
“We are proud to be the anchor of Block 23, such a creative and forward-thinking mixed-use project,” said Garnes.
She said the project was made possible with help from city leaders, council members, community partners and business leaders.
The city of Phoenix and RED Development, which built CityScape, have been key partners in the project.
RED Development Founding Partner Mike Ebert explained that RED’s involvement with the project began when the company purchased the property next door in 2005. Though the company didn’t own the property that became Block 23, they became involved in the development.
“We had a chance, which was super unique, to plan three continuous blocks in the fifth largest city in the country,” Ebert said.
Since 2005, a lot has changed in downtown Phoenix.
“By 2014, we felt there was just one thing missing downtown, and that was a grocery store,” Ebert said.
The flat growth before 2014 was then changed thanks to an influx of college students and residents moving into high-rise apartments, said Chenarides.
Since 2014 Ebert and the rest of his team at RED made plans to buy the property. They planned to add a grocery store in, and they found a grocer in the form of Fry’s.
The partnership between RED and Fry’s created a new collaborative team of leaders from both sides to make the project a reality.
“The importance to downtown cannot be overstated; studies show that a downtown with a grocery store grows twice as fast as a downtown without a grocery store,” said Ebert.
Chenarides said Fry’s is looking for a dense population to support their investment to develop a store in a specific market.
Fry’s is now a grocer for that dense downtown population close by.
ASU student and downtown Phoenix resident Marguerite Hoaglan currently travels to the Safeway at 7th Street and McDowell to get her groceries.
“I’m looking forward to the proximity of it, and one that it is right off the light rail, so I don’t have to walk my groceries home,” Hoaglan said.
She said she’s excited to have access to Fry’s.
“Fry’s is a lot cheaper than Safeway and runs more promotions, so I look forward to cheaper food,” she said.
To celebrate the addition of Fry’s to downtown Phoenix, Councilmember Michael Nowakowski announced that Wednesday was Fry’s Food Stores Downtown Phoenix Day.
Garnes said that for her, her company has a bigger purpose than selling food.
“Food is important to Fry’s, but it’s more than just food, our purpose is to feed the human spirit,” said Garnes.
Contact the reporter at asalaspo@asu.edu.
