Good Morning List,
I believe that Jon's idea is a good one. Back in the day, when my children were small, I remember there was a grocery delivery service. I cannot remember who ran it, but for a young single mom with no car and a limited budget it was great. I could call in my order, even WIC foods, and for a small fee, have quality food and service delivery. I lived in south Minneapolis at the time. It saved me time, and I did not mind the small fee as I would have had to take the bus to the store and pay for a cab ride home, anyway.
I was lucky in that my kids were pretty well behaved in public, but some parent's have children that think stores and the like are simply large playrooms for them, and shopping becomes an unwanted experience to be relived weekly. So it could be a lifesaver in thart aspect for some as well.
I remember when I lived on Plymouth Aveneue in the late '80's. There was a hood store on the corner of what I think was Plymouth and Russell or thereabouts, and they too, frequently changed hands and charged more than they should. One day I sent my children to the store, and I am a stickler for getting reciepts. Well, they came back without a reciept and with less money than they should have after purchasing the item I needed. When I asked what had happened they told me they had been basiclly browbeaten, told the item cost more than what I knew it cost, and the cashier refused to give them a reciept. Now, my children were well trained, and they do not lie.
So I went back to the store with my children and demanded that the store refund the money they overcharged for the item, issue a correct recipt and give my children the respect they deserved by apologizing to them. To be honest, the store owner did not really want to comply, but I promised him I would make quite a public stink over the incident, and that he would look worse than he already did, so he did. And from that point on, no matter how much I might have needed something last minute, I did without rather than go to that store again.
Unfortunately, other folks still utilized the store, and a lot of them, IMHO, seemed to do nothing other than loiter and carry-on other questionable activities, in pretty much plain sight. When I moved from the area, after one year, they were still there. I hope that is not still the case.
Pamela Taylor
(Tampa)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
In a message dated 11/17/03 7:46:49 AM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
I am interested in developing relationships among retailers, developers, and community residents/organizations so that A) Communities have greater control over the direction of retail development in their neighborhoods; B) Retail availability in lower-income neighborhoods is higher quality, reasonably priced, and accessible; and C) Neighborhood residents, entrepreneurs, and community groups have opportunities for ownership, employment, and a business stake in those retail ventures.
I grew up in the projects on the dole without any spare income or car. My mother used to take the bus downtown to the Great Northern Market and lug two bags back to southeast and then walk two and a half blocks home. This was obviously not a perfect shopping situation especially in winter. The Hood Stores of yesteryear were not so cr iminally inclined but they were tiny and understocked and expensive. Not a viable situation either.
Then Delmonicos, a tiny Italian store over Nordeast decided they would offer free call-in shopping services and free delivery. They almost instantaneously had 176 new families as customers. If youi've ever been in the place that's a little hard to believe as it doesn't look much bigger than your average corner store; but there's large storage in back and with only a couple of employees shopping at any one time, no need for display cases or fancy coolers. Matter of fact half the stuff you get even when there in person has to come from "the back". I seem to remember they would have designated delivery days in our neighborhood but that was a hell of a lot less inconvenient than any other option.
Personally I'm a lousy businessman but I don't see why this can't work again. You trade the huge expense of massive square footage and blo cks of coolers and racks for the expense of order pickers and delivery people. Also keep a little store front operation going for convenience. There are few places with the concentrated housing of the Project any more so you would probably have to consider opening such stores in many neighborhoods to cut down on the expense of delivery.
As for WIC and welfare fraud, prostitution, fencing, drug dealing etc..... well, it takes two to tango there. If there were easy legitimate shopping options for the mass of legitimate shoppers then the "Hood Stores" would be reduced to little criminal crannies and pretty easily focused upon and busted.
Jon Gorder
Loring Park
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