by Eric Nelson –
This is an appeal to all residents and homeowners living west of Highway 113:
We are in danger of losing our neighborhood grocery because many of us fail to shop locally on a regular basis.
Whatever our excuse, it is not worth losing the Westlake IGA Market, the heart of our community and the jobs it provides.
Sure, we might find “cheaper prices” on some items in other stores but is it worth driving clear across town to save a few cents on a gallon of milk or whatever?
The current average auto operation cost is 60 cents per mile (and going up daily). It is almost 8 miles roundtrip to Nugget or the Co-op from Westlake Plaza, so it costs almost $5 to make that drive. Not to mention the 30 to 35 minutes of drive time and the associated environmental impacts!
Westlake IGA employs 20 Davis residents, and approximately 68 percent of every dollar spent at Westlake IGA stays in Davis.
Homeowners should realize that a good “walkability factor” adds about 10 percent to the value of our properties. This translates to anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 added value to our individual homes.
If the grocery goes away, so does our “walkability factor,” a pile of value in our homes, along with 20 local jobs … and that “cheap” milk becomes very expensive! So think before you go driving for that “cheap” milk!
Please come to the community SOS rally at Stonegate Country Club (919 Lake Blvd.) on June 1 at 7 p.m. to meet our Westlake IGA grocers and give them your input.
Eric,
I presume you have a talking relationship with the manager(s) of Westlake Market. Perhaps one idea for w. Davis residents interested in this meeting would be to bring grocery receipts from other stores around town where we shop and turn them in to the Westlake managers. That would give them an idea of the kinds of things that residents buy at other stores, and for what price. In reviewing those receipts, Westlake could probably adjust their stock/pricing slightly to be more attractive to the local base. I figure that Westlake probably can’t compete on all prices, but it’s probably a good idea for them to know what the specific interests are of the local customers.
As for myself, I do a lot of shopping in other stores, mainly because Westlake doesn’t carry everything that I would like to have in my weekly shopping. I intentionally decided that I would buy milk only from Westlake in order to make sure that I step into that store at least once a week. But usually I go there more than that anyway.
I hope it doesn’t close. For local residents, it is more valuable that the grocery store be there than have a vacancy, and a grocery store seems to make the most sense of all the kinds of stores it could have. We just have to get the economics right.
Eric,
the bottom line is, up till now Westlake IGA merely offers limited selection at high prices. that is a losing formula. I would attend the rally and support Westlake IGA if Westlake IGA was willing to do more than simply beg for business. Westlake IGA needs to do its part to put forward a winning business model. if it cannot lower its prices, then perhaps offering more specialty items not found in standard grocery stores, i.e. fresh baked breads, candy, I don’t know, but I have been in IGA and it is basically a scaled down high cost minimarket.
[i]up till now Westlake IGA merely offers limited selection at high prices.[/i]
A bit of a narrow perspective. Westlake has sales that bring prices below other stores. This week they’re selling Dreyer’s ice cream for $2.99/half gallon. That was enough to bring me in for an extra visit this week. And they have other items that are deals on sale.
Yesterday I was in line to get gas at Costco in Woodland. Ahead of me, there was a minivan with a bumper sticker stating “I love Westlake IGA.” LOL. That pretty much sums it up. Grocery stores in West Davis have failed, not because they are owned by evil capitalists who want to run their own business into the ground, but because the location is on the far periphery of town, where most of us rarely go, and there are not enough local customers who shop there and are willing to pay the higher prices required to make a store viable in that location.