Whole Foods to replace local farmer’s markets
~ by Craig Houghton - August 19, 2007 ~
On August 8th, W/S Development announced that Whole Foods Market signed up for their Lynnfield venture. It’s safe to assume then that the local “anchor store” referred to by Jeff Curley, project manager of The Shoppes at Cheshire, is Whole Foods Market.
from correspondence with Jeff Curley
…we will again be presenting all of this information, in even greater detail, at our public meeting on the 4th of September. Lou gave a general description of our proposed project, The Shoppes at Cheshire, including our anticipated tenant mix. He mentioned that we’d like to bring an organic grocer to the site as well as a state-of-the-art theater. These two uses would likely be the “anchors” for the center, while remaining tenants would include a mix of mid and small size specialty retailers and restaurants.
Why have certain members of the Town Council and the Planning & Zoning Commission chosen Whole Foods Market over Cheshire’s many local farm produce stands and shops?
I imagine the farms behind the stands will do fine. For the most part, the money must all be wholesale, and I wouldn’t be shocked if their food actually shows up in Whole Foods. The stands are probably just for extra cash. The thing is… I like them. And, how many homebuyers in Cheshire bought into our town expecting that they would be around for a good while?
In that spirit, I visited Arisco Farms today. Cars filled the parking lot. Customers left the store with bags and smiles. Later on, I ate corn that came from the soil of my hometown, drank water from my well, and regretted not buying one of those fantastic pies I saw cooling at the stand.
Now, the farms will still have their wholesale sales, but what about the bakeries, the inn, the gift shops, the cafes, the lunch-stops, the florists, the video store, the restaurants, and all the rest of it? Our hold-out coffeeshops seem to do decent business despite the three Dunkin-Donuts, but how well will they do against a Starbucks? I don’t see why there wouldn’t be one in the W/S plan. Of course, information like that is only released on a need to know basis.
Years from now, after the mall is built, will I still bother visiting Arisco? Probably not. I bet that Whole Foods fruit is tasty too. I can even grab good coffee while I’m there. In fact, I’ll probably rent a video too. I’ll get used to it, and I’ll probably even like it, but that doesn’t mean I won’t miss the stands or long for the Cheshire I knew. We’re doing pretty damned well right now. Think of it this way, are home-buyers turning away, put off by the 5 minutes they currently have to travel before hitting a mall or concrete strip? Cheshire is in high demand — a lot of good people moved here thinking that the rules of the game were locked down. We made it to where we are by hanging on to something special. Why throw it away now?
If you’d rather spend locally, start mentioning the mall to Cheshire’s business owners. Drop off information or just mention it casually. Make sure they know what’s coming.