Store Wars: Groceries in Greensboro

Greensboro may not be fat and sassy yet, but it's getting there. Judging by the number of recent news reports and articles about grocery stores, you'd think that food and grocery shopping is a major obsession for local citizens. I'll skip the whole flap about Deep Roots moving from Spring Garden Street to "downtown," and focus on the grocery wars on Friendly Avenue.

Since opening in 1957, Greensboro's Friendly Center has been a swank shopping destination for those who eschew the climate-controlled monotony of malls for a more open-air consumer experience. Department stores, upscale boutiques, specialty stores, and restaurants along with a pharmacy, multiplex cinema, offices and banking have long drawn crowds of happy shoppers.

After blowing-up the architecturally distinguished landmark that was Burlington Industries HQ, Friendly Center enjoyed a major expansion in 2006.  Shoppers could now enjoy additional high-end stores along with a Harris Teeter grocery store of such mammoth proportions that it's been nicknamed Taj-Ma-Teeter, The Taj, and sometimes simply The Teet.

Perfectly suited for Friendly Center clientele, this Taj offers everything from Kraft mac-n-cheese to organic produce to freshly prepared sushi. And you can just about eat a meal's worth of calories off the sample stations featuring fresh bread, deli meats, cheeses, and desserts. It's not cheap, but they do triple your coupons.

Watch out though, Greensboroites have been jonesing for something higher on the food chain for years. Not satisfied with the Taj, our sites were set on the golden calf of foodie heaven: Whole Foods.

No more need to envy Chapel Hill and Winston-Salem, this mecca of fine food (with nary a box of Kraft mac-n-cheese in the lot) will grace Greensboro this coming spring. Conveniently located in the Sears mega-building and just an easy walk from The Taj, the upscale grocery wars are on!

Seriously, we have grocery store bliss on Friendly Avenue now. What more could we want? Apparently what we want is something called a Trader Joe's. Chapel Hill has one. Charlotte has one.

I first heard someone sing praises of Trader Joe's about a decade ago. The praises, in fact, issued from the well-heeled mouths (hmmmm) of west coast family members who were enamored of something called "Two-buck Chuck," and cheap orchids. So, when I first laid eyes on a Trader Joe's (in Atlanta), I was really excited to see what all the hub-bub was about.

Okay, not so much. I found TJ's rather cheap and cheesey. Kind of like a Big Lots but with more upscale shoppers, or at least with more hippies. I left empty-handed. I left empty-handed from the Richmond store as well. I guess I just don't get it.

I realize we can't all share the same tastes in consumerism, but what really gets me is that the Greensboro TJ's seems to be destined for the same Friendly Center shopping area. They're even talking about tearing down some nice old homes so this poor hillbilly stepchild can move to the corner of W. Friendly and Hobbs. Not exactly what I would expect of that area.

Nearby residents are pretty unhappy and I can't blame them. According to an open letter to the zoning commission posted on the blog "Eating up Greensboro," rezoning for Trader Joe's would open a Pandora's box of commercial spot zoning down Friendly Avenue to the west. Of course, Friendly Avenue is pretty much eat-up with commerical development beyond Guilford College already. Not all of it's that great, but it's managed to co-exist with the community pretty well for many years.

And don't get me started on arguments about increased traffic, noise, pollution and all the usual anti-development pablum. Not when it already stinks all the way out to I-73 and the airport, anyway.

What I do support, however - and very strongly - is any argument that points out how many derelict properties (a.k.a. underutilized commercial properties) we already have. This includes an abandoned Fresh Market on West Friendly Avenue at Guilford College. Let's think green and use what we already have.

I welcome Trader Joe's to Greensboro. I just don't think we need to tear up a perfectly good residential corner to have it.