Starbucks already has a presence inside several area Kroger stores, so I guess it’s not surprising that Starbucks will be opening soon in the downtown Kroger.
Still, at least to this Kroger shopper, the presence of Starbucks is a pretty big symbolic step.
Most of us are old enough to remember when the Starbucks brand was considered somehow upscale. And, if you’ve lived in Savannah any amount of time, you’ve probably heard all sorts of derogatory descriptors of the Kroger on Gwinnett Street.
The current Kroger store, which opened in 1995, replaced one across the street. I never saw that building, but its problematic reputation lives on even after almost 20 years.
And the downtown Kroger’s reputation certainly isn’t helped by shopping carts being taken off the premises or by the occasional panhandling in the parking lot.
For what it’s worth, I’ve always thought the Gwinnett Street Kroger was unfairly caricatured, and that sense has only grown with recent renovations and with the expanded product offerings.
The downtown Kroger was probably due for a makeover anyway, but the corporation seems to have really stepped up its game since Whole Foods announced that it was coming to Savannah.
Since Kroger appeals to a broad cross section of downtown area residents, the store has become one of the neighborhood’s most vital and diverse gathering points. I could imagine some grad student doing an interesting ethnographic study of the various groups that shop there.
So why not have a Starbucks in the store? Since Kroger is already a meeting point, why not give patrons a reason to linger even longer?
Some might be concerned that the new Starbucks will take business away from locally owned coffee shops, but that seems unlikely.
It’s hard to imagine regulars of Gallery Espresso, The Sentient Bean, Foxy Loxy or The Foundery Coffee Pub opting instead for a Starbucks inside a Kroger.
And I doubt there will be too many tourists in Forsyth Park detouring down Gwinnett Street just to hit the ubiquitous chain.
We’ve even seen an interesting example of a locally owned store competing directly against an existing Starbucks.
Just over a year ago, The Coffee Fox, which is run by the same team as Foxy Loxy, opened at the corner of Broughton and Whitaker streets, just a block away from the Starbucks at Bull Street.
The new Starbucks at the downtown Kroger takes over the space that had been occupied off and on over the years by bank branches. The SunTrust location was open later than most other branches and always seemed to have a line.
The Bank of America at Bull and 38th streets always seemed to have a line too, but that branch also is now closed.
It’s a real loss to a community when a bank closes. Residents with limited access to online banking, including the poor and the elderly, might be especially impacted.
But those closures have made room for other types of businesses. Kroger is getting a Starbucks, and we’re hearing exciting things, too, about the old Bank of America building.
There’s a simple reminder in all of this: Neighborhoods change.
Since I’ve been writing this column, I’ve been forced to keep up with the dramatic changes in various neighborhoods in the greater downtown area. Increasingly, I sense a gulf between what’s actually happening on the ground and the fixed ideas that some local residents have about those neighborhoods.
And what’s going to happen on March 16?
As I write this, a bill that would allow Savannah bars to open on Sunday, March 16, is still working its way through the legislative process.
That’s likely to be one of the busiest days of the year for downtown restaurants that serve alcohol, but bars are not allowed to open on Sundays.
City officials have rightly pushed for a change in state law that would level the playing field so bars can capitalize on Sunday sales on March 16. Some of those same officials have raised good questions about allowing bars to open every Sunday.
But time is getting short for bar owners and managers. They need to be thinking right now about scheduling staff, about booking bands, about ordering stock and about other logistics related to the holiday.
I’m sure most bars will muddle through on that Sunday even if final approval doesn’t come until the last minute, but we don’t really want our local service industry muddling through on the busiest weekend of the year.
Let’s hope all the necessary approvals get fast-tracked so bar owners and managers have time to plan adequately for that extra day of business.
City Talk appears every Sunday and Tuesday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net and http://www.billdawers.com. Send mail to 10 East 32nd St., Savannah, Ga. 31401.