BURLINGTON, Vt. -
City Market is celebrating ten years at its downtown location. Now the popular co-op is setting its sights on expansion.
City Market has been sitting atop South Winooski Street for a decade. The growing pains are setting in.
"This is the worst place to park in Burlington," said Jeremiah Cook, a co-op member.
"Put one hundred people in here and we're going to bump into each other," said City Market customer, Tom McNitt.
Customer complaints about crowded aisles, long lines and bumper cars in the parking lot got the co-op thinking it was time to expand. A marketing firm that specializes in co-ops agreed. The California-based consulting company, G2G, gave the co-op the green light, based on it's very-high-sales-per-square-foot-performance.
"They looked at our store and they looked at the capacity of Burlington to absorb a second store and the really good news is that they reaffirmed our thoughts that we needed a second store," said Clem Nilan, City Market's General Manager.
"I think it's a great idea, as long as they don't get rid of the original location because I only live a block away, so it's kind of nice to be able to walk and get lunch and dinner," said Brian Lynam.
Management says two less congested stores will improve the overall shopping experience. So the plan is to build a smaller version of the downtown store. To be considered a full-service co-op, the space must be at least 5-thousand square feet, about a third of what it is now. "We're not looking for the big 16,000 square foot store, so somewhere in the range of 10 would be really nice," Nilan said.
And since alleviating congestion, not necessarily gaining new customers, is the market's main goal, the site search avoided scoping out suburban spots.
City Market is eying three neighborhoods for its second co-op. The Archibald Street area in the city's Old North End, downtown Winooski, or in the Pine Street corridor in the city's South End.
"I hope they do it in the Old North End. I think that's the place where this could have the most impact. That's certainly the most densely populated community in Vermont and it just makes sense," Jeremiah Cook said.
Opinions vary about where the new store should go, but the consulting company picked Pine Street as the most viable site. Co-op management says potential projects like the Champlain Parkway could make the other spots more attractive. Ultimately the decision rests with the co-op boar, which is elected by the market's 7500 members. They'll check out the market study, the city's zoning regulations and available real estate before picking the co-op's newest home.
