Des Moines Register
09-14-07
Grocer plea to downtown residents: Give us a try
Owners of River Bend Trading Co. hope a letter to folks who live nearby helps
business
By PATT JOHNSON
REGISTER BUSINESS WRITER
Owners of a fledgling downtown food market are putting out a call to neighbors:
They need their business.
Sales at River Bend Trading Co. have been below expectations since it opened
June 27 at 208 Court Ave. in Des Moines, said Andy Massoth, one of the seven
owners.
"The whole purpose in going in there was to serve area residents," Massoth said.
That apparently is not happening.
In a letter to downtown dwellers being sent this week, River Bend owners said
about 150 of the estimated 1,000 who live within three blocks of the grocery store
shop there regularly.
"This volume will not allow us to be here very long," the letter stated. "The only
way we can exist is if you, the downtown resident, shop here on a regular basis."
The 3,000-square-foot store is the second local, new market to struggle to bring
in customers. The Market at Jordan Creek, a gourmet grocer at Jordan Creek
Town Center in West Des Moines, closed Thursday after being open six months.
Market at Jordan Creek owners said poor sales led to its closing.
Massoth said his research showed a store like River Bend Trading - which
combines specialty foods with traditional groceries - was what downtown
residents wanted.
River Bend Trading is not meant to be a supermarket, Massoth said. It is a
neighborhood market where shoppers would visit two or more times a week for
essentials or specialty items, he said.
The store's saving grace right now is the wine shop on the lower level. Both
nearby residents and downtown workers have supported the wine business, he
said.
Massoth said the letter to neighbors had two objectives: to alert residents about
the store's presence and its offerings; and to ask for suggestions on providing
better or expanded service.
Sending potential customers a direct appeal could be a good marketing
technique, if it hits an empathetic audience, said Russell Laczniak, a marketing
professor at Iowa State University.
"It's called an involvement device where you get people to try to think in a
broader scope about their shopping decisions," he said. "It could work, especially
if they've gotten their market defined well."
Ad executive Aaron Kennedy said that because River Bend Trading owners are
appealing to a specific group to help make the whole area a success, the grassroots effort could work.
"The only risk is that this could be perceived as desperation," said Kennedy,
executive vice president at Flynn Wright.
For neighbor Carla Johnson, shopping at River Bend Trading is about
convenience.
She does not have a car and can walk to the market from her home in the Civic
Center Court Apartments, two blocks away. She has been there three or four
times since it opened.
"It's a great place," Johnson said. "I feel bad they are struggling."
Another market neighbor, John McClellan, said Wednesday was the first time he
had been in the store. He normally shops at Hy-Vee and probably will continue to
leave downtown for groceries.
"The selection is limited but there might be one or two things I might buy," he
said.
Downtown grocery store development "is seeing a resurgence nationally," said
Kennedy Smith, principal at the Community Land Use and Economics Group in
Arlington, Va. "As more people move back to urban centers, grocery stores - and
other neighborhood-serving businesses, as well - are moving in, also," she said.
If the number of households in a downtown isn't large enough, the grocery might
have a cash-flow problem for a few years until neighborhood growth catches up,
Smith said.
"This can be a particular problem for independent grocery stores," she said.
"Independent businesses don't have the benefit of a national retailer's bankroll."
For that reason, downtown grocers need to have several sub-businesses, such
as wine shops, coffee shops and delis, in addition to traditional groceries, to
provide more than one revenue source, she said.
In addition to strong wine sales, Massoth said, the store's deli lunch business is
good. But he would like to improve the breakfast and grocery business.
Additional advertising would help, he said, but it's too expensive for the store's
limited budget.
Two other grocers opened stores recently near downtown - the Village Market
and Gateway Market.
The Village Market in the East Village is plugging along, manager Marcus Walsh
said.
"One of the benefits we have going for us is we're in a business district and have
a lot of foot traffic, especially over lunch," he said.
Business from area residents also is growing, and the store is seeing more
downtown residents from as far as eight to 10 blocks away coming in, he said.
Gateway Market at Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Woodland Ave., which
opened in April, also has a strong lunch business.
Competition is not the problem, Massoth said. Changing people's way of
shopping is.
"For years, people have been shopping at Hy-Vee and Dahl's," he said.
"Now they have to develop different habits."
Reporter Patt Johnson can be reached at (515) 284-8367 or
pjohnson@dmreg.com