“Bob, how much is this mustard at Save-A-Lot?” zoning lawyer Anthony Avallone asked.
Bob Dwane, who represents the discount grocer, looked at the bottle of brown mustard. “Ninety-nine cents,” Dwane answered.
And how much would it cost at Shaw’s?
“A dollar forty-nine,” Dwane said.
That’s one major difference between Shaw’s and Save-A-Lot — and a reason that bringing a new Save-A-Lot to Whalley Avenue would not adversely affect the Shaw’s supermarket less than a block away, Avallone argued. The two stores have different “price points” and will attract different customers, he said.
Avallone mustered his mustard argument on Tuesday night before the Board of Zoning Appeals. He sought to convince the zoners to permit a Save-A-Lot to open at 84 Whalley Ave., the site of the recently closed Staples office-supply store.
Neighbors worry that a new Save-A-Lot grocery store on Whalley Avenue would mean the death of nearby Shaw’s. That notion just doesn’t cut the mustard, Avallone responded.
Not only are the stores geared toward different customers — they’re owned by the same company, Avallone said. That company, Supervalu, would never open a store that would threaten the viability of an existing, successful Shaw’s, he argued.
Since the area is zoned for auto sales, the Board of Zoning Appeals is charged with deciding whether a grocery store would be appropriate for the neighborhood. In part, this means deciding whether two grocery stores should operate so close to one another.
In addition to a zoning variance, the proposal requires city permission to have fewer parking spaces than regulations require. That portion of the application had to be referred to the City Plan Commission, so the BZA did not vote on the proposal on Tuesday. The final vote is scheduled for the board’s February meeting.
The Pitch
Avallone addressed neighbors’ concerns that Save-A-Lot would destroy Shaw’s. “It’s just not the case,” he said. They’re simply very different stores.
He sought to distinguish them in several ways. He presented Save-A-Lot as a no-frills, basic grocery store for people who don’t earn a lot of money. Shaw’s, on the other hand, has a much larger selection, and higher prices.
Shaw’s is a “full-service” store, offering a bakery, flowers, cards, a deli, a bank, and a drugstore, Avallone said. Save-A-Lot has none of those things. Shaw’s sells cigarettes and alcohol, he said. Save-A-Lot sells neither cigarettes nor alcohol.
Save-A-Lot offers about 1,500 products, he said. Shaw’s offers over 30,000. There are 83 kinds of mustard at Shaw’s, Avallone said. At Save-A-Lot, there are two — yellow and brown.
After demonstrating that Save-A-Lot’s mustard is cheaper than Shaw’s, Avallone said Save-A-Lot serves people on “fixed incomes,” like seniors.
Avallone pitched Save-A-Lot as a needed service for people with incomes of less than the area median of $39,000 per year. The grocery needs of those people should not be overlooked in a rush to preserve Shaw’s, he argued. “If we have to adversely impact on that population in order to save a big corporation, well then I’m in the wrong city,” he said.
But the most compelling reason why Save-A-Lot doesn’t threaten Shaw’s is that they belong to the same company, Supervalu, Avallone said. Supervalu has done extensive market testing “to make sure that they don’t shoot themselves in the foot,” he said. “They’re not going to destroy a 60,000 square-foot store [Shaw’s] to have an 11,000 square-foot store [Save-A-Lot].”
“Some business will be lost by Shaw’s, of course,” Avallone acknowledged. But it will not be significant or substantial, he claimed.
Rick Meyer, vice-president of market development at Supervalu, said his company had done “significant market research” using “all the tools and toys” and determined that the two grocery stores could coexist happily. They serve different customers at different “price points,” he said.
Tom Talbot, deputy director of zoning for the City Plan department, asked Avallone to speak to the three requirements for a use variance: that a proposed use be reasonable for the property for reasons unique to the property, that the use require the minimum variance necessary, and that the use be in line with the city’s comprehensive plan.
Avallone argued that the proposal meets all three criteria. It will replace a retail use with another retail use without altering a building that is already uniquely suited to the purpose, he said. “If it isn’t part of the city’s comprehensive plan to provide affordable quality food … then I don’t know why it isn’t,” he said.
Neighbors Opposed
Ten people rose to be counted in opposition to the Save-A-Lot proposal. Several of them chose to speak. Despite Avallone’s arguments, they all voiced concern that Shaw’s would go under if Save-A-Lot goes forward.
Sheila Masterson, head of the Whalley Avenue Special Services District, said her organization had voted unanimously against the plan at a recent meeting. A Save-A-Lot would destroy the 60,000 square-foot Shaw’s, creating “a hole” at the center of Whalley, she said. Not only that, but it would also hurt other food stores on Whalley, like Edge of the Woods, Minore’s Market, and various convenience stores.
“You have to ask yourself, ‘What if?’,” said Pat Minore, of Minore’s. “What are we going to do with a 60,000 square-foot hole?”
Whalley activist Eliezer Greer objected to what he called an unfair characterization of people who shop at Shaw’s as distinct from potential Save-A-Lot shoppers. “Whalley has a lot of different types,” he said.
Shaw’s creates a lot of job opportunities for the community, he said. “It would be a tremendous loss if those people didn’t have jobs,” he said.
Responding to the concerns, Avallone said “logic dictates” that Shaw’s would prevail if Supervalu finds a conflict between its new 11,000 square-foot grocery Save-A-Lot and the old 60,000 square-foot Shaw’s, and has to shut one down. “Which one are you going to close?” he asked.
Board member Victor Fasano asked Avallone if he could turn that prediction into a written promise. Could he draft an agreement between Shaw’s and Save-A-Lot stating that if Shaw’s is negatively affected by Save-A-Lot, then Save-A-Lot will agree to close?
“I don’t know how to do that,” he said. He later said it would be simply too legally and technically complicated to create such an agreement. “All I can do is present the facts and say it doesn’t make sense for Shaw’s to go out of business for this smaller business,” he said.
Avallone said Shaw’s itself is in favor of the application. He promised to file a statement from Shaw’s to that effect.
After Avallone spoke, the board closed the item, then voted to reopen it when another neighbor asked to speak.
Victor Rogers, rector of the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church across from the proposed Save-A-Lot site, said he spoke for the more than 200 parishioners of his church when he opposed the plan. He said a longstanding agreement with the Staples management had allowed members of the church to use the store’s parking lot on Sundays. The Save-A-Lot would be open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. “That creates a problem for us on Sunday,” Rogers said.
Furthermore, Save-A-Lot is “not the type of business” his parishioners would like to see in the neighborhood, he said. They’d rather have a “sit-down restaurant” or a smaller “Marshall’s or Kohl’s,” he said
“A shoe store?” said BZA Chair Cathy Weber. “Alright man, there you go!”
Still Opposed
As the board moved on to the next agenda item, Masterson and the other objectors stepped out into the hallway. Masterson said she was unconvinced by Avallone and Supervalu representatives’ claims that Shaw’s is not in danger. “If you were in their shoes, what would you say?” she asked.
The prospect of losing Shaw’s has repercussions beyond just Whalley Avenue, Masterson said. The property is owned by the Greater Dwight Development Corporation, a non-profit that invests in the Dwight neighborhood. The profits from the property are “plowed back into the community,” Masterson said. “It’s not just and empty business on Whalley.”
If Shaw’s were to fail, all the other businesses in its plaza would go too, said Linda Townsend-Maier, president of the Dwight corporation.
“The question is, is it worth the risk?” said Minore. “I’m sure there’s other willing tenants” for the former Staples.
Minore said a Save-A-Lot wouldn’t really affect his store since he mostly sells meat. And if Shaw’s were to close, his business would go up, he said. “But my property values will go down.”
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Can our neighborhood survive another regionally or nationally owned chain store that funnels money directly from the pockets of residents to distant corporate owners without ever making meaningful investments back into the community?