Mark Remollino, from the group About Bloomfield, posted a petition on Change.org asking Whole Foods Market to open a store on Lackawanna Plaza. Here’s the petition, which so far has 90 supporters:
A complete overhaul of the commercial district is currently taking place, with exciting new projects underway such as a state of the art LEED-certified residence hall by Bloomfield College (featuring a Barnes & Noble and Starbucks), in addition to the restoration of the Bloomfield Train Station (on the New Jersey Historic Register), and an influx of alluring new high quality establishments, such as Garden State Yoga, Anthony’s Cheesecake, JukGaJee New Thai Jersey Cuisine and Senorita’s Mexican Grill, set the stage as complementary attractions for customers typically wanting a Whole Foods Market experience.
Furthermore, a dense population of customers who prefer to shop at Whole Foods Market, and none other, exist in the surrounding residential areas of Bloomfield’s Watsessing Heights, Montclair’s South End, Nutley, Clifton, Belleville and the entirety of Glen Ridge. While these customers may periodically visit existing Whole Foods establishments many miles away, a new, much more convenient location in Bloomfield Center would firmly cement Whole Foods Market as their exclusive grocer of choice, with many intending to make it a mainstay of their daily activities.
As informed, active and unserved potential customers, the signers of this petition request that Whole Foods Market establish a location in Bloomfield, New Jersey’s Bloomfield Center.
Here are some comments from Bloomfield residents who signed the petition:
Sharon K.: I’d like to see a all known business that will attract people to the area which would in turn increase the town’s revenue.
Dominick C.: We need to turn things around in Bloomfield….. This would be a great start.
Dawn W.: High quality organic options within walking distance, YES please!
David B.: We need more Organic and locally grown produce in this country. Whether it’s Whole foods or an Urban Farm, or a CSA…Locally grown is most important. Whole foods offers more locally grown produce than other grocery stores, and at least they tell you where the produce is coming from.. Someone is going to bring Organic and/or locally grown vegetables and dairy to Bloomfield. It might as well be Whole Foods.
its so tough to drive 1 mile up the road to montclair? and i think if it were economically viable, they would open one. But the concept of economically viable / capitalism seems to elude the baristanet and montclair people who make all decisions on good vibes.
If present customers of the Whole Foods in Montclair pestered the management there with requests for a new, beautiful Bloomfield store, it might happen. There are several NYC locations that look great, and are often crowded.
Fairway asks for a person’s zip code as the checkout concludes. I finally asked a manager about that. She said they regularly evaluate the mass mailing of circulars, and like to know where the customers come from. FW doesn’t have loyalty cards to make that information readily available.
I’m still curious about what kind of store will go into the old Fortunoff location at Willowbrook. It would be a great location for a Whole Foods, Wegmans, The Village Market, etc.
We have lived in Bloomfield since 1956. Believe me, NOTHING is going to revive the center. Every administration for the past 45 years has promised to do so and failed. Just leave it as it is. There is a Starbucks a few blocks away (not that that would stop them) and a Whole Foods about a mile away. Those corporate people are too smart to fall for this. The promised influx of new housing, parking garages, etc. notwithstanding. Call me a pessimist if you will.
i think people in bloomfield should be happy with the lovely A&P on belleville ave
Yes, close the tiny, cramped and crowded WF in Montclair which is 2 miles from a bigger better WF in W. Orange and open a new spacious one in Bloomfield.
By the way, the A&P on Belleville is so bad it’s a crime.
Bloomfield people don’t seem to get it – Whole Foods ain’t coming to Bloomfield. You might as well click your heels together and hope for a Nordstoms or Lord and Taylors. Does anyone remember how hard it was just for a Home Depot to open in Bloomfield? That was a miracle. It will be decades and decades before Bloomfield has even half the allure of Montclair. The politicians and greedy developers have sold Bloomfield down the river. A & P would probably be the best catch for Bloomfield. Successful stores like Whole Foods and Wegmans are way too smart to fall for the sales pitch of the peddlers of Bloomfield. Maybe the “for profit” Bloomfield College could take over the Downtown Center?
@ Nutley-
So you make jokes about Bloomfield when your town is filled with nothing but white collar criminals and half of the High School kids are major drug dealers to the surrounding towns. Yeah enjoy your pirates.
I’ve gotta say I agree that the chances of Whole Foods opening in Blfd. center is pretty slim, and I’m a regular Whole Foods shopper who would actually shop there. But more to the point, the center doesn’t really need a Whole Foods, it needs a quality grocery store that would serve the existing neighborhood as well as the one they’re hoping to create. A Wegmans would be a perfect fit with their quality products, both luxe and basic.
you forgot to mention that 3 dollar stores opened in the last 6 months. (and not the good dollar stores. the “at least a dollar” stores). Senoritas is not a new establishment and having a Thai restaurant (where the most expensive item is $10) doesn’t exactly scream high quality establishment. And typical of Bloomfield to say something like “The entirety of Glen Ridge.” BTW, the south end of Montclair has a huge Whole Foods. It’s in West Orange and would be closer than the train station which has no formal plans of being restored
The idea of a Whole Foods in Bloomfield is about as laughable as trying to move the one in Montclair to their own Lackawanna Plaza.
Furthermore, where would you park to go to Whole Foods? the same parking garage for all the residents, restaurants, commuters and retail stores?
The town does need a Whole Paycheck grocery store. I’m so tired of the who couldn’t afford to move to Montclair trying to change things. I agree with not a jersey girl A Wegmans would be perfect. Between the decent price points and the ready food section Wegmans offers it would attract local families and lunch time crowds as well as commuters on their way home in the evenings.
opps meant to say doesn’t need. I must need more coffee.
HRHPPG…..Looks like a foodian slip.
“Gristedes, I met my love in Gristedes;
She was getting yogurt, I was getting Wheaties,
And it was love at first bite.”
— Nicodemus Hufferd, aka Captain Cornsilk.
Whole Foods is just another overpriced gouger that fools you into thinking otherwise with marketing and packagaing. People deserve so much better.
But sorry, to go begging them to please come gouge you — gee, what an example of how shallow people have become, completely subjugated by gouging commercial interests.
“The politicians and greedy developers have sold Bloomfield down the river.”
rightwingdem, you hit the nail right on the head.
Also Whole Foods is being boycotted right now over several issues including health care, the CEOs anti environment attitude, how the chain short changes the local vendors it gets product from, and that the so called healthy foods are full of processed junk that is right there on the labels no one reads. A company where you can find 4 different boycotts from one google search is not the type of business Bloomfield needs.
re: Wegman’s …much as I love them, good luck in getting them there without tons of parking. I recall reading in one of the articles I saw a few months back about their proposed location in Montvale, that their business model is that of a destination market. People will drive up to 20 miles to shop there. The proposed location in Montvale will be 125,000 SF with tons of parking….where could they build like that in downtown Bloomfield?
this will never happen. and the writer of the article should use a fact checker because nobody makes whole foods their exclusive grocer of choice even if you make bank.
Speaking of quixotic dreams, this one takes the cake. What’s amazing to me is that Remollino and whoever was foolish enough to join him on “petitioning” Whole Foods don’t seem to realize tht before ANY grocery chain comes into an area, they do careful studies of the possible market, parking considerations, etc. Really, too, would you honestly want to hang out with someone who thinks Whole Foods (or Barnes & Noble or Starbucks) will bring some “class” to a neighborhood?
Meanwhile, my petition for a White Castle in downtown Montclair goes unanswered by that company’s corporate offices (and it’d really only replace the one once on Bloomfield Ave.). As have my entreaties to LCN bosses to open another go-go bar or two in downtown Bloomfield.
“POSTED BY psychonetsfan | January 25, 2013 @ 8:10 am
@ Nutley-
So you make jokes about Bloomfield when your town is filled with nothing but white collar criminals and half of the High School kids are major drug dealers to the surrounding towns. Yeah enjoy your pirates…”
Nutley also produced Martha Stewart – but that would be hitting way too low below the belt.
cathar – All the old LCN bosses from Bloomfileld Avenue with any juice are either locked up or dead . . . Cabert, Andy, Pee Wee.
why cathar- there’s one in Orange – not very far
467 Central Ave.
Intersection of Central Ave. @ Scotland Rd.
Online Ordering
Orange NJ, 07050
(973) 673-7991
You can order and pickup!
Ohhh a White Castle ! I’ll sign that petition for one in Bloomfield.
gross!
cathar,
Nothing better beats a White Castle Surf and Turf. Burger patty, fish patty, burger patty, then a little tartar sauce……wahooooooo…. only a ripper comes close.
I bet those hundreds of college students BC is about to build housing for would like a White Castle and that demographic being so close would make it a thriving ratable business for years to come. So clearly we should shun it and petition for a Jaguar dealership or Tiara outlet, you know something the town really needs.
There are white collar residents and owners with money living in Bloomfield these days you know. And it would be nice to spend said money in our own town. Oh, and even walk there.
i love when people get all defensive when you point out the obvious crime problems in montclair and bloomfield. i prefer living near white collar criminals, but to each his own.
It’s safe to say both Montclair and Bloomfield have a certain “hood” aesthetic to them that perhaps Nutley lacks. You don’t have to worry so much about being robbed at gunpoint or carjacked on Franklin Ave in Nutley as you do in say, any part of Montclair.
Nutley was the town to look up to in the 60’s. The teenagers dressed collegiate style, madras & no sock loafers. I lived at that time in Belleville and we walked around with our high roll collars and shark skinned pants. Nutley fell short after Martha moved on. No big diff between Belleville & Nutley now.
“No big diff between Belleville & Nutley now.”
So wrong, Paz. There is quite a difference between Nutley and Belleville; always has been. Have you ever been to the Yantecaw section of Nutley? It could easily be transplanted into Upper Montclair, say around Norwood and Sunset Park near the Presbyterian Church. Or even the Spring Garden section of Nutley for that matter. Also, Franklin Avenue compared to Washington Avenue? No way. Too many dollar stores, tatoo parlors, gin mills, etc. It’s like comparing Bedford Falls to Pottersville. I won’t even begin compare the school systems and town services. You are way off base here.
Silverleaf….
Nutley 140
Belleville 160
NJ Monthly H.S. rating 2012
Nutley was at it’s best when the Nutley/Belleville Iron Dukes played.
Why would anyone wish to “:transplant” a portion of Nutley to Upper Montclair? Let Nutley be Nutley and let Belleville be Belleville. They’re all just “average” Jersey towns. (Akin to, say, Rochelle Park and Garfield in sociological juxtaposition.)
But the idea that a Starbucks and a Barnes & Noble will somehow convey some modicum of “class” on Bloomfield (the rare town here which has an actual town green, I should note, and named after a Revolutionary war hero to boot), that one baffles me.
breaking news : an african american family drove through nutley today was was not stopped by police
The White Castle company is currently testing beer and wine service at some of its restaurants (Google it, it’s true). This sheds a whole new light on whether building a White Castle (vs. a Whole Foods) in Bloomfield Center would be economically and socially uplifting. (Of course, it could never happen in Montclair, Cathar, because a liquor license there would cost more than a Trump penthouse.) Having the ability to savor a complex little Pinot Noir with a sackful of Whiteys (never with cheese!) would add a certain je ne sais quoi to an evening out in Downtown Bloomfield, along with avoiding carjackers and such. It would also bring something special to Bloomfield Avenue: more drunks at 2:00 AM.
wow Conan one would have thought they’d be serving Boone’s farm..now a “complex little Pinot Noir” is something I could go for…hold the square weird tasting burgers
cathar – “Why would anyone wish to “transplant” a portion of Nutley to Upper Montclair?”
I really could not answer as that was not the intent of what I meant. I used the term “transplanted” in the figurative sense relating to a comment in an earlier post by PAZ . . . “No big diff between Belleville & Nutley now”, in copmaring the rwo.
How and why anyone would want to literally transplant a portion to one town to another is beyond me. Only you could conjure up that absurd little scenario.
What I meant was, as most readers here understood, is that the Yantecaw Park section of Nutley compares favorably to the Sunset Park neighborhood of UM. That cannot be said of any section of Belleville. Nor, as you suggest, Rochelle Park, or especially Garfield for that matter.
Never happen. Or should I say, should never happen. This project is already set up for failure, when you see two or three major banks close their doors within a couple of years of opening, that is a big flare in the sky that the economy in the area can barely support what commerce that is already present. If you notice the businesses that have hung on in Bloomfield are geared towards the lower end of the economic ladder, dollar stores, pay less shoes, value spot or whatever it’s called. If anyone thinks that an over-priced sooto fake organic grocery store would succeed in Bloomfield, think again.
I agree with you cleo and one reason those lower end business do so well is the college students – who will shop at Mandy’s but are out priced at the Gap. We have a very different set up then Montclair with our local school smack in the middle of things and we should be taking advantage of it not trying to recreate something up scale around it. We aren’t Princeton.
Yes scottie there are white collar residents living in Bloomfield now. Most who were out priced from buying in Montclair and seem to think everything should be redesigned around them. I moved to my building to be able to walk to BS&S, now the neighborhood has added several destinations. Whole Foods doesn’t need to be one.
Is the wine and burger place on Route 3 by Chico’s still there? I think they paired a $15 burger with a $9 pinot noir. Never did get to try the place (actually, I never quite wanted to, either). They make oceans of pinot noir near here — up in the Central Coast wine area. So little time…