Last week, RED Development LLC announced plans to bring downtown Phoenix its first grocery store, relieving the area of its food desert status. A Fry’s Food & Drug store location will be built at CityScape, within a mile radius of the ASU Downtown Phoenix Campus.
The USDA defines food deserts as areas with very little fresh fruit, vegetables or nutritious foods available due to a lack of grocery stores. Downtown Phoenix has historically fallen under that category.
According to downtown ASU freshman Saarth Shah, the new development expands possibilities for fresh food access for on-campus students.
“I feel like that would help a lot because it would be a lot easier and convenient to get groceries and things (if) you don’t have to take the light rail or something to Safeway.” Shah said.
Shah plans on living in an apartment downtown for the next few years and admits he would appreciate the cost-effectiveness of having a grocery store within walking distance.
Although the new store will benefit residents like Shah, other community members can expect to feel the impact in more negative ways.
Sun Valley Bees, a family beekeeping business, sells raw honey, bee pollen and royal jelly at Phoenix Public Market’s Open Air Markets. The owners project that the new Fry’s will be great for the community nearby, but expect that it will cut into local vendors’ profits.
“I don’t think it will necessarily affect our business, because customers already know that eating raw and unfiltered honey from an actual beekeeper is the way to go,” said co-owner Daniel Ciurdar.
Businesses like Sun Valley Bees count on niche audiences to stay in business. In the case of Sun Valley Bees, they say customers who end up utilizing the new Fry’s store will remain loyal to them because of their products’ quality.
“They know that grocery store honey is usually not good and it’s processed and doesn’t have all the benefits that you would get from eating it raw like all the honey that we carry,” he said.
Local vendors have time to build up their customer base before the commercial products hit the shelves in 2018.
The Fry’s Food Store will be approximately 55,000 square feet in size, but the developers say that it is still too early to determine the total cost and scope of the project. These factors are still considered “fluid,” according to Jeff Moloznik, vice president of development for RED Development.
“This Fry’s location would provide a full-service grocery store experience, to serve the everyday essential needs of not only residents and daytime employees in the core of downtown, but those in surrounding neighborhoods and all along the light rail as well,” Moloznik said.
Because the project is still in its preliminary stages, the total number of jobs brought in by the new development cannot yet be defined. However, the space could include offices, residential units and business establishments.
RED Development predicts companies currently in CityScape will see a boost in traffic, including businesses like Charming Charlie.
Lissa Perdomo, a manager at the fashion store in CityScape, said she hadn’t heard anything about the Fry’s store or the plans for a new development.
“We spoke to the head of construction and stuff, but they don’t tell us everything that’s going on up there,” Perdomo said.
Charming Charlie is located on the corner of Washington Street and Central Avenue and has already undergone changes.
What used to be two floors of color-coded clothing and accessories has downsized to just one in order to make room for the new Downtown Phoenix Inc. office spaces. Downtown Phoenix Inc. will be working closely with RED Development as their landlord. Perdomo said that since her store moved out of the top floor space, there has not been much contact with the developers.
“It’s good for all of the downtown residents,” Perdomo said. “I’m just guessing that it will drive new people in our store.”
According to Moloznik, Fry’s Food Store at CityScape will be opening in 2018. He said the development team is still in the process of defining the cost and magnitude of the final project.
Contact the reporter at Lisa.Travis@asu.edu.
