In June of this year, it was announced that West Davis would finally have a grocery store after three years of the Westlake Shopping Center’s store sitting vacant. At that time they were shooting for an opening around Thanksgiving, however, that date quickly got pushed back to December 19. Based on an interview with the group DANG, Davis Advocates for Neighborhood Groceries, that date has been pushed back to the second week of January.
On November 30, 2009, DeLano Retail Partners President Dennis DeLano sat down with DANG for an interview on a wide range of topic. For the full interview, please see the DANG site.
He said:
“We tried not to admit it to ourselves that we were going to have to change the date. We were afraid the project would slow down. “
However,
“Farrokh (Hosseinyoun, the Westlake Plaza Shopping Center owner who has been directing the tenant improvements) has been diligent. He has people working, not around the clock, but every day. It’s his goal to turn the store over to us by that date. Unfortunately for us, we rely on a lot of vendor and broker support to get products on the shelves, and the last two weeks of the year is typically vacation time for the vendor and broker community, so we’re going to put a realistic date out there as the second week of January.”
The DeLanos are intending to do a “soft opening” meaning that they will be working to get the kinks out as opposed to having a huge grand opening event.
“It is our intent to do a soft opening, get the kinks out, make sure the items are priced correctly, and then invite everyone out to see the new store. We’ve been exploring doing a wine-tasting, or a wine and beer tasting. We’ve even had suggestions of a concert in the parking lot and seeing if the other business owners in the center would like to be involved in something like that.”
Mr. Delanos told DANG that they had never encountered the type of community support for a store as they have in West Davis.
“When we first looked at the store, I came down one day and one of my fellow members at the CIGA (California Independent Grocers Association) came across the store and the sent the information to me and said, ‘Maybe you would be interested in this. They need a retailer.’ When I visited the area my first thought was, ‘What a great community, and it needs a store.’ I called Harley (DeLano, his father and business partner) and said, ‘You have to take a look at this.’
So, we drove around the community and thought, we don’t expect to be real busy, but we expect to be well-received because you need a retailer in the area. But the response that we got from the community was just over the top. We were so well-received, and we’re very, very lucky to have stumbled on this opportunity.
It’s our hope to do the right thing for the community, and I think we can do it. We’re good listeners, and really, our only goal is to give everyone what they want. It’s a small box, but there’s more than enough opportunities to give the community what it wants in the way of grocery selection.”
There have been questions in the community as to whether this store will work. Will they be able to be competitive at reasonable prices and will they be able to supply the public with what they need.
“As far as competition goes, at 12,000 items, I believe that we can cater to most needs for the community. We aren’t so bold as to think we’re going to be your only grocer. Let’s face it – changing shopping habits is very hard to do, so we’re relying on convenience as much as anything, plus customer service and selection.
If you’re going to shop for paper products at a great value, like toilet paper and paper towels in a 12-pack, then we’re probably not going to meet that need for you. We’ll have four-packs and six-packs. But if you’re a stock-up shopper, you’ll probably shop at Wal-Mart, Target or Costco or one of the other major bulk retailers like that.”
He continued by emphasizing the point of convenience.
“We’re going to be convenient. We’re going to be open when you want us to be open. We’re going to have all the items that we think you would need or expect from a convenient retailer, and we’re going to have them at a good value. For those times when you don’t want to fight the traffic (at some other area stores) we’re going to be there for you, and we’re gong to have everything that we think you want. And if you don’t find it, please ask, because we can get it. If we have the ability to get it, we will.”
They are also going to have a strong beer and wine selection.
“We’re going to have 24-feet of shelf space devoted to wine, plus cursory displays around the store, so it’s going to have a pretty decent wine selection. We’re going to have a nice beer set, cold beer set, with a lot of your specialty, micro-brews. And we will have a small liquor set. I think people will be pleased with our selection.”
There were a couple of other interesting points. Of the big problems at the previous stores at this location was that they were poorly run, that the produce and meat were not the greatest, and the shelves were not always stocked. DANG asked how they will find success when surrounded by larger stores.
The answer was interesting:
“In the grocery business, it’s not uncommon for 70 percent of your inventory, for the most part, to be dead merchandise. It doesn’t turn very quickly. This is an opportunity for us to take the top-moving items, cram them into a small box, and hopefully turn our merchandise, keep it fresh. We understand that the retailer that was here before us did not turn his merchandise very well. So we’ve set this store to turn its merchandise, from the floorplan, to the size of the box, to the sets that we’ve chosen, the items that we’ve chosen. It will be fresh. That is how we can be competitive. We’re not over-spaced. We’re not overpriced, because we don’t have the shrinkage a typical grocery store generates.”
Finally, they talked about environmentally sensitive and green design. This store will use some cutting-edge “green” technology and practices.
“We’re using bright tile on the floor to brighten the store without using excess lighting. We put in a state-of-the-art refrigeration system. It’s only been put into a few grocery stores, from what I’m told. I’m not a refrigeration guy, but it’s one of the coolest refrigeration racks I’ve ever seen. The refrigeration company is very proud of it. It’s their intention to show this refrigeration system off to other potential retailers. We’re told it uses about half the amount of electricity that conventional systems used in our other stores. I guess the proof is in the pudding. We’ll wait and see when that thing gets fired up.”
There is also a question about paper versus plastic bags.
“We talked about paper bags vs. plastic bags. And, frankly, we really don’t know what is the right thing for the environment. We’re burning down forests like they are going out of style. The traditional plastic bag is also a concern. If we can get people to reuse their bags that would be ideal. We’re introducing a new bag that we have put in a few of our other stores to see how the community reacts to it. It’s a 2.25 mil. reusable plastic bag. We’re giving these away because you can fold them up and put them in your pocket. You can carry four or five bags in your pocket. We think they are great. It’s been recycled once, and it can be recycled again.”
It appears that West Davis will have to wait an additional month for the store to open. After waiting three and a half years for a store to return to Westlake Shopping Center, an additional month is not much to worry about. It seems important to do it right and from the interview from DANG, it seems that they have done just that.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
I popped into Delano’s store yesterday. Its the right size for the West Davis Community and it looks very attractive. What a great interview on the Dang site. People of West Davis get ready to support your neighborhood grocery store.
Many years ago I helped lead the effort to require a neighborhood grocery store on G street when Safeway deserted the downtown. In the end, the Davis Food Co-op has taken that site and done wonders for its members and the downtown population. Davis is one of the few downtowns in the valley where there is a vibrant grocery store. The City provided Community Development Block Grants to help the DFC and I believe dollar for dollar that was the best investment of CDBG so far. A $20 million dollar business emerged from about $40,000 in CDBG.
I add this because the residents of West Davis in particular should be getting ready to shop at Delano’s. Delano’s will be doing their best for you. Tell your friends about the store, email the friends you have in West Davis.
With Trader Joe’s comning to town we may need to remind everyone to first be loyal to your neighborhood stores, and in particular to the Davis Food Co-op and Delano’s.
A lot of people worked to get Delano’s here, a lot of people signed our petitions and a lot of us want neighborhood stores to bring community back to our neighborhoods.
Make a New Year’s resolution to make sure our neighborhood stores succeed.
PS: Thanks to the Vanguard for giving voice to our efforts.
I don’t mean to be a curmudgeon here, but I’ve analyzed supermarket sales in dozens of cities on the west coast (in order to oppose Wal-Mart Supercenters).
I wish this store well but I think it will be tough. The general rule of thumb is that a full sized (larger than the 22,000 sq ft West Lake store–closer to 40,000 sq ft– sort of close to the size of our Safeway and large Nugget store) grocery store requires 15-20 thousand people to support it. Davis has two Safeways, a Save Mart, two Nuggets (one of which is phenomenally successful and probably floats the entire Nugget chain) plus a Coop. In addition, the new Target has significant grocery sales (e.g., Nugget dropped some of its milk prices a week after the Target opened).
To be viable this store really needs $300 per square feet, which is well below the median sales for grocery store nationwide of around $420 (and the Covell Nugget makes a lot more than that). That means $6.6 million in yearly sales. I just don’t see it. To get to the median of ~$420 it would need $9.2 million in sales.
I used to live in that neighborhood, on Shasta drive across from Patwin and occassionally shopped at the old supermarket there. It was dreadful–bad prices, bad produce, bad service. No one shopped there which of course led to a downward spiral. The Safeway in W Davis is not far and a much bigger draw. I also shopped at the market which existed where the Cost Plus store now resides–and right next to where Trader Joe’s will be. David is right that a TJ’s will be a huge draw and wqill hurt this new store.. (To get wonky again a TJ averages around $800 a sq foot–double the avg for a normal grocery store and the Davis TJ’s could easily gross over $1000.)
I support neighborhood shopping and have testified against many Wal-Mart Supercenters on the grounds that they close neighborhood shopping centers (a Supercenters can easily sell $50 million a year in groceries ! ). The result is “urban decay” which is consiidered (under the Bakersfield case) and environmental impact under CEQA.
However we have to be realistic here and take half a loaf. A smaller convenience store would make more sense and could turn a sustainable profit. The City should also consider other options for this center. Customers want larger supermarkets. Davis has stemmed the tide of most big box stores (except Target which I voted against)but most of us want reasonable sized (35,000 sq ft or more) grocery stores with reasonable offerings at what we hope are reasonable prices. Samller stores like TJs and the Coop can compete, but a small grocery store in a City like Davis is a white elephant. I am afraid we will be back discussing this shopping center again in a few years. I wish the owners well but remain a serious skeptic.
I have to agree with you, Phil. I wish the new store well, but I really don’t think a smaller, neighborhood grocery can compete with the BOGOs and other sales that Safeway and Nugget can offer. And believe me, when that store opens we’ll see a lot of those sales in the surrounding grocery stores. As you already pointed out, Nugget dropped milk prices within a week of Target opening. Target has some amazing prices on their own brands (Market Pantry and Archer Farms) and while it would be hard for someone to do all of their grocery shopping there, it’s the best place in town to pick up what you need for the next few days.
Dear Phil:
The Delano store will have 11,500 square feet not 22,000 or so. It is believed that the sizing is more appropriate. Do you then multiply your $300 number against 11,500 the total sqft or the retail only sq ft. If you do the $300 times 11,500 you get sales of $3.4 per year. Most of us believe that number is very doable.
David:
Thanks for letting me know. I assumed the store would be the same size as the old one. 11,500 sq ft is better but still will be tough. Its too big to be a convenience store but too small to be a real supermarket. Ironically, its about the size of a smaller TJs (e.g., Stockton).
Maybe the store can carry some items that would draw people from throughout Davis. My worry is still that folks in the neighborhood will use it as a convenience store and only buy a few items and take their major purchases to Safeway or elsewhere. Is there a niche that this store can fill?
If the people of West Davis put their money where their political mouths have been, DeLano’s will succeed. However, it would help if the residents of West Village were not prohibited from driving across Russell Boulevard. The loudest voices in West Davis fought very hard to keep West Village segregated from the rest of Davis. Many of those same residents have worked hard to get a supermarket in their shopping center. It seems to me that if the supermarket fails again, they will have no one to blame but themselves.
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That’s all right, Rich. West Village will be closer to Trader Joe’s than to Delano’s anyway.
I’m not sure about that. In some ways it has the same problem–no direct car route. And the western edge of west village will certainly be closer if they could have had direct access.
I don’t understand how Delano’s will be any more “local” than TJ’s. Both stores are owned by families who live out of town.
[quote]I don’t understand how DeLano’s will be any more “local” than TJ’s.[/quote]No one ever said it would be “local.”
[i]I’m not sure about that. In some ways it has the same problem–no direct car route.[/i]
It would be … interesting … if West Village residents had no car access at all. (It could gratify certain proponents of “limited” growth too.) However, they will at least have car access to Hutchison, because that’s on university property. Short of a checkpoint at Russell Avenue and 113, Trader Joe’s will be easily the closest grocery store from that outlet.
[i]And the western edge of west village will certainly be closer if they could have had direct access.[/i]
I checked with Google Maps and I don’t see it. Even when I put the starting point right at Arlington and Russell, which is clear west of Phase I of West Village, Westlake Plaza and University Mall were exactly the same distance. I guess you could fairly argue that Arlington is less congested than Russell.
I guess I was thinking one of the proposals was an exit at Russell and Lake, which would put it less than half a mile from Westlake. I think it’s about nine-tenths of a mile down Arlington, at least that’s my estimate when I job it in the morning. I don’t know how far it is having to drive out to LaRue and cut up to Russell.
[quote]I guess I was thinking one of the proposals was an exit at Russell and Lake, which would put it less than half a mile from Westlake.[/quote] West Village doesn’t go nearly that far west. The logical outlet would be at Arlington*.
Arlington goes (pretty much) directly to DeLano’s. Even if Lake is marginally farther than Sycamore Lane, DeLano’s will carry a full line of produce, which TJ’s does not.
*An advantage of Arlington, as opposed to say Eisenhower, is Arlington is a thoroughfare. It does not have any houses (AFAIK) which front on it.
[i]I guess I was thinking one of the proposals was an exit at Russell and Lake, which would put it less than half a mile from Westlake.[/i]
As Rich suggests, that’s so far west that it’s a little crazy. Look at the map of Phase I of West Village ([url]http://westvillage.ucdavis.edu/photos-renderings-site-maps/map-land-use.jpg/view[/url]). The west edge stops between Eisenhower and Arlington. That’s 3/4 of a mile east of Lake.
You could have an outlet there. To me it looks a little less logical than, say, Arthur Street.
That’s my bad then. Why are they tearing up the field all the way down to Lake, I wonder.
To scare the squirrels?
Greg, speaking of squirrels, I did a bit of searching and found here ([url]https://files.oakland.edu/users/grossman/enp/Erdos1.html[/url]) that you have a very low Erdös number ([url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdős_number[/url]): You are a 2.
Three famous mathematicians in your family and all twos: You (with Joel Spencer) and your [url-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Włodzimierz_Kuperberg]father[/url] (with Endre Makai and with Pavel Valtr) and your your mother ([url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krystyna_Kuperberg[/url]) (with Valtr) all collaborated with one of the Erdös coauthors.
I, of course, don’t have an Erdös number. But I do have a friend who knows Kevin Bacon.
(Oh come on! The epic fail is still there, and I didn’t see it in the preview.)
Hi Rich. Of course the way you put it is very flattering. These distinctions are also nice themselves, but they aren’t all that big of a deal.
There are dozens of UC faculty with Wikipedia pages, and a Wikipedia page that lists them. That page is also quite incomplete. (It doesn’t link to me or Craig Tracy. Nor to Albert Schwarz and Dmitry Fuchs, who have German Wikipedia entries.) When you get a Wikipedia page is a haphazard business. My mom got a really nice result some 15 years ago and that’s part of why she has a Wikipedia page. Eventually there was a domino effect led to pages for my dad and for me. My uncle Andrzej Trybulec also has a short page, and my brother-in-law Mike Zieve is a mathematician at Michigan, and he could equally well have a page.
What the UC Davis faculty list on Wikipedia does show you is that the populist campaign for education on the cheap at UC is foolish. The prestige of UC Davis faculty is very important, just as in the rest of UC. It’s important to students, to the state, and to the world. It’s penny-wise and pound-foolish to blow off what other state universities are willing to pay the same people.
As for the Erdos number, Professor Emeritus Sherman Stein and Dr. Dean Hickerson, who got his PhD at Davis and still lives here, both have an Erdos number of [b]1[/b]. Most of the department has an Erdos number of 3. While I could be the only non-emeritus faculty with an Erdos number of 2, that’s just a matter of timing and area of research. My joint paper with Joel Spencer has two other authors, and it was as simple as that we three posed an interesting conjecture coming from our other work and Joel solved it (by e-mail).
Also, Rich: Endre Makai is Hungarian, while Pavel Valtr is Czech and can easily visit Hungary. That combined with the fact that they both work in combinatorial geometry make it rather easier to have Erdos number 1.
I think that I will fix some things in the UC Davis faculty list page.
Not that this has anything to do with the grocery store, really.
I wonder if any other academic disciplines have a rough equivalent character to Paul Erdös (who, for those who don’t know, was an extraordinarily prolific mathematics scholars who published papers with 511 coauthors)? Even if they don’t, there is likely at least one scholar in each field who was relatively prolific and wrote papers with many different colleagues over the course of his career and could serve as the quasi-Erdös for economics, chemistry, biology, physics, etc.[quote]Professor Emeritus Sherman Stein and Dr. Dean Hickerson, who got his PhD at Davis and still lives here, both have an Erdos number of 1. [/quote] I grew up in Davis with Dr. Stein’s kids and, of course, used his calculus textbook in high school. … Speaking of my childhood mates whose parents were famous mathematicians, I was surprised to see that Henry Alder (whose son* was a classmate of mine) never collaborated with Erdös.
*When Larry Alder, who went on to become an M.D., and I were in the 7th grade, we were perhaps the best math students in our grade at Holmes Junior High, then the only junior high in Davis. (Larry and I had the benefit of a great 6th grade teacher at WDI, Mrs. Sherry.) At Holmes, we were placed in an advanced 8th grade class, taught by an odd, older man named Robert Tomaselli (aka RAT). Upon seeing Larry in his classroom, Mr. Tomaselli was very excited to know that the son of the author of “Alder Polynomials” was his student. He didn’t, as far as I recall, give a RAT’s ass that I was there.
Rich, while we are on this tangent: Although Erdos was hyperactive and a great mathematician, the fact is that most of his papers aren’t nearly as good as best 20 or 50. He also recycled his ideas a lot. There are other people who have contributed more to mathematics than Erdos.
What it mean to write a paper in another field is somewhat different. Yes, there are chemists and biologists who have as many papers as Erdos. But they are lab directors with huge labs, or sample makers who provide samples for hundreds of different experiments. Erdos’ tradition is something that can only happen in math: People would come to him with problems where they got stuck. He would find a solution and have them write the paper. As he got older, people would partly do this just to have Erdos number 1, and not always because they were all that stuck.
Henry Alder was much more famous in math education than in mathematics research. Do a Google search for “Alder polynomials” (with quotes) and you will not get all that many hits. In fact, the Alder polynomials paper was published in a semi-recreational journal called the American Mathematical Monthly. In math research, the most famous member of the department that we have ever had is William P. Thurston. He’s a bigger name than Erdos, in fact. (Thurston is now at Cornell.) Neither Thurston nor Alder ever collaborated with Erdos, and it’s not all that surprising in either case, even though it’s for opposite reasons.
I speed-read these comments and, as the person who conducted the Dennis DeLano interview for DANG, I’d like to offer the following:
— I toured the store shortly after the interview and was struck by how much larger is appears than I envisioned. I think, as Dennis said, it will carry pretty much anything most people will need. As my wife, a working professional, said the other day, “I’m going to shop DeLanos first. I can hardly wait.”
— These guys are real pros. Many years ago I worked for Lucky’s, and rose to assistant manager. Previous operations at the Westlake site were aweful. This place will be your favorite store from Day 1. Customer service, I believe, also will be unrivaled in the area.
— As for the “local” angle, remember that DeLanos have relocated their corporate headquarters to the office space in the second floor of the Westlake Plaza Shopping Center. Davis should be proud to be home to another successful business. Having the big bosses a few steps away from the store will also ensure that the store will be run well. They are also working hard to establish relationships with local vendors and farmers.
— People trying to run the numbers on what it will take to operate a profitable store are not grocers and also not privy to the particulars of the lease between DeLanos and the owner of the Westlake Plaza Shopping Center. The cost of the lease is a big factor to the profitability of a store in the notoriously slim profit margins of the retail grocery business. DeLanos wouldn’t have come to West Davis if they didn’t think it would pencil out.
— At a DeLanos store, you’re the boss. Think about how many times you have gone to a store and couldn’t find something. You ask some gum-snapping airhead and they haven’t a clue or couldn’t be bothered. At a DeLanos store, they will move Heaven and Earth to carry what you want, and will cheerfully welcome special requests. How refreshing!
— Think outside the (big) box. If you listen to Dennis DeLano carefully, he is very clear about his place in the marketplace. He’s not trying to be another Safeway or a Trader Joe’s. He will focus on convenience, value, customer service and quality. If you don’t want to fight the traffic at the Marketplace, or the University Mall, he thinks you’ll appreciate the convenience of popping in your local store, finding everything you need, chatting with your neighbors and a friendly staff, and getting home earlier, happier and with a few more bucks in your pocket. I think he has a winning formula.