December 15, 2006

Too many grocery stores in Evergreen?

Some community members say no to the idea of building another grocery store at EVC campus site

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

Traffic isn’t the only thing in ample supply in Evergreen. To some in the community, there are far too many grocery stores as well.

So it came as no surprise when a number of the public speakers at the Dec. 12 City Council meeting voiced their opposition to adding another food store as part of the Evergreen East Hills Visioning Task Force. There has been some talk, much of it at Task Force meetings, about the possibility of a new market near Evergreen Valley College.

One speaker, Todd Williams, who is the outside counsel for Evergreen Village Square, said adding a new supermarket on the Evergreen Valley College campus site would be followed by blight. He noted a number of stores within the Evergreen area, including Cosentino’s at Canyon Creek Plaza and Lunardi’s, also nearby at Evergreen Village Square.

“Another supermarket in the area would cause Cosentino’s and Lunardi’s to go under, creating business failures at their respective shopping centers [and] reducing the shoppers at those two areas, resulting in other business failures, dilapidation and blight,” he said.

Williams is concerned, he said, that the grocery stores are the draw to the centers and that without them, other businesses would likely suffer financially or fail altogether.

Another public speaker, Ed White, who is the outside counsel for Canyon Creek Plaza, said he drove in a five-mile area and found five stores: two Albertsons, a Savemart, Cosentino’s and Lunardi’s.

“If you go another mile, there’s a Safeway [too],” he said.

District 8 Councilmember Dave Cortese agrees. He told the Times that if a market goes into the campus area it “needs to be limited. There should be a moratorium on building a full scale supermarket that’s over 20,000 square feet in that area.”

Cortese suggested that other more complimentary retail could be put into the area until there is enough population growth to sustain a “full service supermarket,” which he expects to happen in the longer term. Instead, a small boutique grocery like Trader Joe’s or convenience retail should be built.

“We don’t want to drive anyone out of business, and a 55,000 square foot store would suck the life out [of the other stores],” Cortese said. “One of the task force principals is to do no harm.”

“It’s a great location for a grocery store,” he added, “but Cosentino’s and Lunardi’s are already there. We have an obligation to make sure we don’t do anything that’s reckless.”