Cashing in on neighborhood needs

Kroger has announced it’s closing three Arkansas stores—in DeWitt, England, and Morrilton—due to poor performance over the last decade. That might be inconvenient—or worse—for the people who live in those communities, but business is business. If the markets were lucrative—or lucrative enough—the stores would stay open. That’s Adam Smith 101.

But if the supermarket chain is contemplating re-allocatng some of those resources, it ought to consider doing so near Argenta in North Little Rock.

The area surrounding DickeyStephens ball park is the site of construction of upscale apartments (Esplanade on River Road, Vue on Riverfront Drive, Thrive in Argenta). There are the elegant Residences at Rockwater with striking views of the Arkansas River, the adjacent Boulevard at Rockwater houses, the pocket community of Porches at Rockwater, and under-construction Gardens at Rockwater, just to name a few—a total of 800 new residences with another 200 coming in the near future.

Along with the many historic and eclectic Craftsman, Dutch Colonial Revival, English Revival, Colonial Revival, Prairie, and traditional houses that line the shady streets of Argenta are the dwellings of Argenta Flats and Argenta Square.

Many residents of these prospering areas are able to make full use of the numerous restaurants and brewpubs nearby. But they also take advantage of the entertainment opportunities of their houses and apartments and condominiums, many designed to accommodate gatherings of friends and family. That means they’ll be serving plenty of food and drink.

Those new abodes have a hefty emphasis on entertainment spaces. Esplanade, for example, when completed will have a fire pit, a swim-up bar with TVs, a fireplace lounge, and an area dedicated to lawn games such as shuffleboard, bocce, Baggo, volleyball, and a giant chess board.

Residents (and their guests) enjoying such amenities require food, beverages, kitchen equipment, and household items that a full-service grocery store can provide. These households, many of them economically comfortable if not downright affluent, are spending plenty of money on consumables.

I was spoiled by living within a mile of a small Kroger store in Hillcrest—a fairly easy walk if you didn’t take into account the up-and-down terrain—before moving to North Little Rock. My new neighborhood is flat, but I can’t see lugging bags of groceries (let alone 25-pound sacks of dog food) home from the stores in the area.

Before we moved here, there was a bare-bones grocery in the shopping center at Pike Avenue and Pershing Boulevard. It’s been shut down for several years. The closest full-service groceries are now three to nearly six miles away. That’s problematic if you run out of stone-ground mustard when grilling a mess of plant-based hot dogs for a big family gathering at the Marina at Rockwater.

Those who need something in a hurry can avail themselves of the stocked shelves at gas station convenience stores on West Broadway and Pike Avenue, but the selection tends to be limited, and prices tend to be high.

The area has plenty of liquor stores nearby (Firewater, at 700 Main St., is one of my favorites). How can we make food purchases more accessible?

Successfully recruiting a grocery store requires an aggressive marketing strategy, according to Buxton, a platform for real estate intelligence. That strategy needs to prove the economic viability of a new store by:

■ Illustrating that the community’s trade area captures the grocer’s core customers.

■ Expressing the category dollar demand for grocery generated by the consumers within the trade area.

■ Showing the merchandise items by brand already preferred by local shoppers in the trade area.

■ Demonstrating that the new store’s trade area will not encroach upon or cannibalize the operator’s existing locations.

The two barriers most frequently cited:

1. Grocery stores require land parcels for both the store and parking. Identifying and assembling sites can be a lengthy and costly process for grocers. Neighborhoods that assemble sites available for immediate construction decrease the cost and time of the development process and serve as a marketing advantage for the community.

North Little Rock economic development associations, are you listening? This seems like a no-brainer in the area around Dickey-Stephens, which is surrounded by huge, flat grassy fields that seem to be begging for revenue-producing investments.

2. All retailers, and particularly grocery stores, need clean, safe and well-lit locations that attract consumers and employees.

It’s clear that there are diverse communities in need of rehabilitation in the area, but that’s true of many neighborhoods in Little Rock and North Little Rock. That’s what makes this area unique; it will never be mistaken for a cookie-cutter strip-mall-style development indistinguishable from those found in practically every state in the country. Besides, everyone in the area needs to eat.

3. Communities are increasingly offering retail development incentives such as opportunity zones that enable local leaders to develop investable projects bolstering small businesses, revitalizing economically insecure and historically marginalized communities, and possibly eligible for preferential tax treatment. These are probably not available around Rockwater, but might be on nearby Pike Avenue, a broad four-lane thoroughfare where a modern food distribution service, with a large building and ample parking area, closed a while ago.

Sorting out the economics and marketing strategies for such an undertaking is way beyond my skill set, but surely there are rows and rows of accountants, economists, and community developers who are just itching to take on a project with great appeal to those of us yearning for expanded nearby shopping opportunities.

Chatting with my neighbor recently, she mentioned that she needed milk but was putting off the journey until she had a longer shopping list. What does she want to see in our neighborhood’s future? I asked.

She wants a full-service grocery for basics, she says. But let’s not stop there. “We need a Whole Foods or Fresh Market too.” I couldn’t agree more.