Whole Foods, the grocery chain that's all about healthy eating and an appealing shopping experience, is about to take its stores to a new level: shopping as entertainment.
"[Company] executives believe that the ideas in the store — which is broken up into enticing, food-centric lands, à la Disney — could have the kind of industry-shaking impact on grocery shopping that Starbucks has had on coffee drinking," USA Today reports. "Whole Foods could help transform grocery shopping into interactive theater.
" 'Americans love to eat. And Americans love to shop. But we don't like to shop for food. It's a chore, like doing laundry,' laments John Mackey, 51, the sneaker-and-jeans-wearing founder of Whole Foods. 'Whole Foods thinks shopping should be fun. With this store, we're pioneering a new lifestyle that synthesizes health and pleasure. We don't see a contradiction.' "
At its new 80,000-square-foot flagship store in Austin, that means things like "Candy Island," where shoppers can dip fruit into a choclate fountain; "Lamar Street Greens, where you can sit among the organic produce and have a salad handmade for you to enjoy with a glass of Chardonnay; Fifth Street Seafood, a version of Seattle's Pike Place Market, where you can have any of 150 fresh seafood items cooked, sliced, smoked or fried for instant eating; and Whole Body, where a massage therapist will work the kinks out with a 25-minute deep-tissue massage for $50. "
People may laugh at that kind of upscale grocery concept, but the idea of trying to make shoppers enjoy food shopping the way they like going to the mall is an intriguing one. And when the company is averaging twice as many sales per square foot as the industry average, others in the food business take note.
A key question I have, though: As the company starts building what may be "big box" grocery stores, will it make sure to site its stores in a healthy-lifestyle sort of way -- walker-friendly and not just auto-centric?
March 11, 2005
Romney’s New Transit Plan
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney unveiled what he called a 20-year, $30 billion transportation plan, which focuses on infrastructure repairs neglected during the Big Dig years as well as investments in public transit.
However, with just a couple of years left in his current term and no guarantees he'll be around after that, as well as questionable expectations most of the money will come from the federal government, it's unclear how much of the plan will actually be carried out.
Along with significant sums for bridge and road repair/improvement, the plan includes some support for public transportation. "Under Romney's plan, the state is promising to fund all expansion projects with federal and local help while the T concentrates on repairing and maintaining its existing system, which the plan says will cost $9 billion over the next two decades. Those T expansion projects include $756 million for the third phase of the Silver Line bus service and $314 million to extend the Blue Line to Lynn.," according to the Boston Globe.
"But [the plan] drew immediate skepticism from some quarters. Senator Mark C. Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat leading the push to bring commuter rail service to New Bedford and Fall River, said the plan is unrealistic in the current political and economic environment. 'A 20-year plan sounds wonderful, and normally it is,' he said. ''I'm a fan of thinking long term. The problem is . . . governors often look long-term, claim due diligence, and then they move on to Neverland, and the thing never gets implemented. ' "
The plan is posted on the Executive Office of Transportation Web site.
However, with just a couple of years left in his current term and no guarantees he'll be around after that, as well as questionable expectations most of the money will come from the federal government, it's unclear how much of the plan will actually be carried out.
Along with significant sums for bridge and road repair/improvement, the plan includes some support for public transportation. "Under Romney's plan, the state is promising to fund all expansion projects with federal and local help while the T concentrates on repairing and maintaining its existing system, which the plan says will cost $9 billion over the next two decades. Those T expansion projects include $756 million for the third phase of the Silver Line bus service and $314 million to extend the Blue Line to Lynn.," according to the Boston Globe.
"But [the plan] drew immediate skepticism from some quarters. Senator Mark C. Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat leading the push to bring commuter rail service to New Bedford and Fall River, said the plan is unrealistic in the current political and economic environment. 'A 20-year plan sounds wonderful, and normally it is,' he said. ''I'm a fan of thinking long term. The problem is . . . governors often look long-term, claim due diligence, and then they move on to Neverland, and the thing never gets implemented. ' "
The plan is posted on the Executive Office of Transportation Web site.
March 5, 2005
Another Mall To Get Outdoor ‘Lifestyle Center’ Renovation
Here in the "Golden Triangle" west of Boston, the proposed Natick Mall expansion is planned as a more-of-the-same-old enclosed shopping mall experience, sited in a particularly pedestrian unappealing way surrounded, of course, by a vast sea of asphalt. Even existing retailers in the space are complaining that the plan to build a separate addition is pedestrian-hostile, offering a potentially dangerous and certainly off-putting way of getting from the new to old shopping areas.
Elsewhere in America, though, the big trend is away from enclosed malls in favor of so-called "lifestyle centers" -- an open-air shopping experience that tries to create a town-square-like "sense of place" and ambiance that encourages strolling and lingering.
Owners of Virginia's Spotsylvania Mall, for example, are mulling renovation plans that call for an open-air addition with "new shops, as well as restaurants, a hotel and an 18-screen movie theater," according to the Free Lance-Star. (There's a major movie theater right next to the Natick Mall, down Flutie Pass. It is within walking distance. NO ONE would walk there from the mall because of the dangerous road crossings and hideously unappealing route.)
Another new lifestyle center planned for Arkansas has already attracted Saks as an anchor tennant, says the Benton County Record. "Pleasant Crossing ... is being planned as an open-air village with pedestrian-friendly shops and restaurants surrounding a 7-acre lake."
Why are we still getting mid-20th-century plans here?
Elsewhere in America, though, the big trend is away from enclosed malls in favor of so-called "lifestyle centers" -- an open-air shopping experience that tries to create a town-square-like "sense of place" and ambiance that encourages strolling and lingering.
Owners of Virginia's Spotsylvania Mall, for example, are mulling renovation plans that call for an open-air addition with "new shops, as well as restaurants, a hotel and an 18-screen movie theater," according to the Free Lance-Star. (There's a major movie theater right next to the Natick Mall, down Flutie Pass. It is within walking distance. NO ONE would walk there from the mall because of the dangerous road crossings and hideously unappealing route.)
Another new lifestyle center planned for Arkansas has already attracted Saks as an anchor tennant, says the Benton County Record. "Pleasant Crossing ... is being planned as an open-air village with pedestrian-friendly shops and restaurants surrounding a 7-acre lake."
Why are we still getting mid-20th-century plans here?
March 4, 2005
Audi, BMW Slammed For Pedestrian-Lethal Design
"If you're unlucky enough to be hit by a car, pray it wasn't made by Audi, BMW or Vauxhall. It's a disgrace that makers are ignoring pedestrian safety when, for the sake of spending a bit more, they could potentially help save hundreds of lives each year," says Malcolm Coles, editor of Which? magazine published by the U.K.-based consumer advocacy group of the same name.
"In recent EuroNCAP tests the Audi TT, Skoda Superb and Suzuki Grand Vitara were all found to be potential death threats to pedestrians despite the fact it's cheap and easy for manufacturers to make cars more pedestrian-friendly. The cars all scored zero points and show no sign of thought given to preventing pedestrian injury in a lower speed collision," according to a press statement from Which?. "Simple design improvements - costing an average of just £53 for each new car - could save 255 lives and 6,300 serious injuries in the UK each year. Which? is also naming and shaming other popular cars that did badly in the tests, putting pedestrians at too high a risk; they include the BMW 1-series, 5-series and X5, Jaguar X-Type, Range Rover and Vauxhall Astra. "
Tests gave relatively high marks to models from Citroen, Honda, Seat and Volkswagen.
"In recent EuroNCAP tests the Audi TT, Skoda Superb and Suzuki Grand Vitara were all found to be potential death threats to pedestrians despite the fact it's cheap and easy for manufacturers to make cars more pedestrian-friendly. The cars all scored zero points and show no sign of thought given to preventing pedestrian injury in a lower speed collision," according to a press statement from Which?. "Simple design improvements - costing an average of just £53 for each new car - could save 255 lives and 6,300 serious injuries in the UK each year. Which? is also naming and shaming other popular cars that did badly in the tests, putting pedestrians at too high a risk; they include the BMW 1-series, 5-series and X5, Jaguar X-Type, Range Rover and Vauxhall Astra. "
Tests gave relatively high marks to models from Citroen, Honda, Seat and Volkswagen.
March 2, 2005
Denver Suburbs Move To More Walkability, Denser Development
"In a historic change, [Denver] suburbs have broken with the development pattern of the past 50 years and embraced density," the Rocky Mountain News reports. The rising cost of land, congested freeways, a burgeoning light-rail network and a growing consumer preference for more compact housing in walkable neighborhoods are all changing the look and feel of suburbia. ...
"Not only do cities like Phoenix and Houston sprawl far more than Denver, the suburbs of eastern cities such as Boston and Philadelphia are much more spread out."
Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer told the News: "What's happening today is that we're looking for focal points, a place that is a destination with intense uses and more intense housing. It's planning your community so people have to drive less."
Sense of place. Designing a destination instead of strings of soul-less strip malls. Allowing people to park once and then enjoy strolling to multiple destinations. It's the 21st century trend in development, and one that an increasing number of Americans say they want (see my post on how 90% of respondents to a Better Homes & Gardens survey said walkable neighborhoods were important to them -- more than cited spacious rooms or large lots). Why can't we do that here?
"Not only do cities like Phoenix and Houston sprawl far more than Denver, the suburbs of eastern cities such as Boston and Philadelphia are much more spread out."
Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer told the News: "What's happening today is that we're looking for focal points, a place that is a destination with intense uses and more intense housing. It's planning your community so people have to drive less."
Sense of place. Designing a destination instead of strings of soul-less strip malls. Allowing people to park once and then enjoy strolling to multiple destinations. It's the 21st century trend in development, and one that an increasing number of Americans say they want (see my post on how 90% of respondents to a Better Homes & Gardens survey said walkable neighborhoods were important to them -- more than cited spacious rooms or large lots). Why can't we do that here?
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