Posted Oct 12, 2007, 3:24 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Buffalo - NY
Posts: 191
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Elmwood eyed for grocery outlet
Business First of Buffalo - by James Fink Business First
Negotiations are under way to bring a supermarket back to Elmwood Avenue's Stuyvesant Plaza, a move that simultaneously could fill a need in the city while filling a highly visible storefront.
Supermarket Management Inc. President Philip Perna confirmed he is talking with plaza owner the Benchmark Group about opening a 20,000- to 25,000-square-foot franchised Tops Market in a portion of the space previously occupied by Latina's Markets.
The 40,000-square-foot space has been a supermarket stronghold along Elmwood Avenue.
Benchmark officials could not be reached for comment.
"We like the location and we know there is a demand for a food retailer to go in there," Perna said, adding that he has talked with Benchmark about putting Tops supermarkets in some - but not all - of former Latina's space.
Latina's shuttered operations in the plaza earlier this year. Before Latina's, the site was longtime home to Bell's and, later, a Quality supermarket.
Perna called the negotiations ongoing.
"We're certainly not at an impasse and we are certainly not at the 5-yard line," Perna said. "In reality, we are somewhere in between."
If the deal comes together, the store would be the fifth that is owned and operated by Supermarket Management. The company operates three franchised Tops Markets, including one on Niagara Street on the lower West Side, along with a BKwik market on Seneca Street in South Buffalo. Supermarket Management wasn't the only grocery store chain eyeing the former Latina's space.
Deep discounter Save-A-Lot also considered opening a location there.
Save-A-Lot has said that opening a store somewhere along Elmwood Avenue or the lower West Side is a top priority as the chain continues with its Buffalo Niagara expansion effort.
Save-A-Lot has retained Dorothy Stahlnecker and Ed Jankowski from M.J. Peterson Commercial Real Estate Corp. to find possible sites.
Stuyvesant Plaza has such anchors as KeyBank and a UPS Store. Within a one-mile radius, there are 35,256 residents and the average annual household income is $37,779, well above the city's average of $17,411, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey.
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