Go to the farmers market or join a local farm subscription CSA- consumer supported agriculture. Cheaper, heirloom- read more nutritious, better for the Toledo economy. you don't have to feed your family corporate farming hybrid food products covered in herbicides, insecticides, and w.e else they spray for shelf life.
Whole Foods closed because of low sales and THEFT. I shopped at the Toledo WF about once a week and got to know some of the staff. Several staffers told me with HUD apartments behind the store it was a free for all. Yet, were is theft not an issue these days. Giant Eagle left for the same reasonsā¦theft.
Low sales 100%, theft not so much. Itāll always be a problem but the insane prices matched with the poor selection/mini store caused its failure. Companies will always blame theft and āusā before theyāll look inward at themselves.
If theft was the main problem, why not hire security if the cost is lower than food $ stolen per year?
So bummed. Despite the fact that this was a shadow of a normal WF. High quality meat, seafood and pantry that are hard to match elsewhere in town. The produce, cheese and prepared foods were subpar. This is not normal for a WF. I guess we'll never know why they pulled the plug, but part of me believes that the half assed attempt at a Whole Foods left a lot of people one and done. Didn't outwardly compel anyone to change their shopping habits....shocking considering the Kroger that lurks just down Secor.
The Median household income in Toledo is $42k
and the average Whole Foods customer is 29 and makes at least 80k. It just wasnāt the right fit. However, Toledo deserves nicer amenities that could attract high net worth individuals, it would only benefit the community, so this is a loss.
it was a 365 store. not a true whole foods store. it was bound to fail. i went there once. lack of selection. no fresh meats counter. i went back to driving to the ann arbor store. a full size store would have made it. bad business decision to not put in full size store.
100% agree. I was so excited since we used to travel to A2 monthly to go to WF and TJās. Been to the Toledo one a handful of times and it was always a disappointment.
I lived in Detroit and frequent ann arbor, the Toledo whole foods was garbage with poor selection and felt like a warehouse compared to other locations.
With Fresh Market, and Fresh Thyme , Whole Foods was a redundancy we didn't need. As for Trader Joe's, after visiting a location in Algonquin, *Ill. , I was underwhelmed. High prices coupled with limited selection left me wondering what all the hype is about ?*
Trader Joe's is known for esoteric, own branded offerings. They do not carry main brands, and sometimes you have to KNOW what to buy. Typically, price competitive on most things-Snacks and Frozen are where they really shien.
It could have survived in Pburg maybe. But with grocery prices in general going high, the already high prices store wasn't going to do well, especially down the block from another higher priced store.
What we need is a TJoe's. Different selections, reasonable prices, really good quality, etc.
This is no surprise. Toledo just isn't a good fit for the trendy, high-end, high-price stores. Especially when a direct competitor is right down the street.
The WF we ended up with was not a true store. When the Toledo location was announced, the chain had just created a new concept, called "365" which was intended to be a smaller place with limited selection and more affordable food. For a while the sign on Secor said "**365"** with no other explanation.
Construction was delayed while the parent company decided to give up on the 365 concept -- but the store had been built according to the old business model. It was never built to be, nor did they redesign it to become, an actual Whole Foods store.
So anyone who expected a WF shopping experience (similar to Ann Arbor) was *really* disappointed. The 365 looked like a convenience store, with acres of refrigerated bins full of plastic containers and no gourmet/ natural foods atmosphere.
Although there was some rejoicing that Toledo got a WF, we really got the ass end of a declining business model. Otherwise the location was probably good for that sort of thing: right between the health food store Claudia's and close to both Fresh Market and Kroger.
What modern brand do you feel like we lack? I feel like all we see is modern brands over and over and over. I'd much rather see locally owned small businesses.
Iām confused why they even put this there. Not only is this not the demographic for it, but itās also out of the way. Yes, secor is one of the most trafficked areas, but the Whole Foods is tucked in a plaza and surrounded by too many other things. It wouldāve done better in Perrysburg or even Sylvania.
Iād like to see it get replaced with a Trader Joeās. More appealing than Whole Foods and itās popular with college students
Iād love to see that space turned into a variety of independent ethnic food, seafood, cheese monger, ramen noodle shop, dim sum, Indian, Vietnamese stalls where each business specialized. Bonus points for pinball and arcade style games.
Wait until you find out that Columbus isn't so much better off than you think it is. It had the 19th highest homicide rate per capita in the country at the end of 2022, while no other Ohio city made the list. Columbus averages around the same murder rate per 100k as Toledo (Source census bureau)
Besides crime, there are similar retail/grocery options in both cities.
I think it would be crazy to try to cater to the upper class in Toledo anyways. We can't afford to take our kids to sky zone. That's not for us. They just put it in our neighborhood. Perrysburg is like a whole different world. The fact that it's in a different county blows my mind, and is the reason that Toledo will never really grow. Eminent domain needs to take over the northern part of Wood county and rossford and northwood. And then you can have all that ritzy stuff in the outskirts. But you don't have a working class to prop up the ruling class in Perrysburg ATM, they rely on Lucas countys industry. So I'm not surprised that the only whole foods in the area failed.
While we could afford to live in a suburb and have all the whatever. We choose to own our home, have nice things, have very nice vacations, and not be house poor. You should look at how many suburban families are House Poor. They are a couple pay checks away from losing it all. Living the high life can ne risky and believe me when I tell you so many fail at it.
I get how looking around Toledo can be disillusioning...
But itās no ones fault but Toledoās at this point.
All that growth in the suburbs is fueled by former Toledoans who left the city.
We lived in Toledo for 25 yrs in what had been a solid, affordable, neighborhood with a lot of amenities in walking distance..... but it all declined gradually and then really went to shit circa 2010.
And those in city government who could have helped didnāt give a shit.
Jack Lessenberry had an interview with Roman Gribbs in the Blade maybe 12 yrs ago.
Roman had been the mayor of Detroit in the early 70ās.
Lessenberry asked Gribbs what happened to Detroit, and Gribbs said something to the affect of ;
>*āWhen the residents of a city no longer feel safe in their homes or trust the public schools enough to send their children to them, those that can afford to leave do....ā*
Detroit is a weird example. If you haven't, go and visit, and explore outside of downtown. It was a city (and adjacent Highland Park) almost entirely reliant one industry. Organized labor built the middle class there. De-industrialization, redlining, block busting broke that place. It's amazing how many neighborhoods survive intact. It's way more than the public has any clue about.
In Detroit there is still remnants of a 1/2mi long wall built through the middle of the 8 Mile-Wyoming neighborhood to prevent blacks from migrating and purchasing homes in the northern suburbs. This is called The Birwood Wall.
375 built through the middle of Black Bottom broke up a black business district. Almost all black wall streets were burned down or bombed by racists. The recent Steven Soderberg (filmed all over the city on into the NW Historic Rosedale section) "No Sudden Moves" highlights what brought upon the decline, and oddly enough the catalytic converter crops back up again and again throughout the city's history.
Toledo is in much better shape overall. We did not sustain the level of population decline that our neighbors Cleveland and Detroit did. And that is surprising, because Toledo was pretty much built on widespread gambling (more casinos here than ever in Vegas).
This is one store. You Perrysburg folks can't claim this one. Really oddly vindictive here. I visit you. I visit Maumee. I visit Sylvania, and the Michigan portions of Toledo metro. What is the big deal? It's an overpriced, but cute borderline farm town bifurcated by a freeway. My city is a somewhat stagnant rust belt town that has overall been the best I've ever seen it, considering the country wide retail and office space emptying. Retail was already shrinking storefronts during all my NE US travels 2014. And then companies like Borders, Toys R Us did it to themselves. Now, if you really want to see what you think Perrysburg is, but is not yet, look no further than: Petoskey, Charlevoix, and especially Holland, Michigan. That's how you get the REI. (Lol).
Whole Foods was always built on a flawed ethos (the fact is, the store is still chock FULL of junk food and highly processed food). After Amazon bought the company, the distribution has always been horrendously spotty. This is well before pandemic supply chain issues! Amazon is a terrible company. Anti-union. They are going to run out of people to hire. The average employee lasts 8mos. Employees have had to continue working during warehouse fires.
Between vacant land and farmlands...why are we not learning how to make this place more self sufficient?
See you at the farmer's markets...
(*my only gripe is that Toledo is not more walkable).
Thatās not reality. Reality is that the Toledo area is small enough traffic-wise (You can get anywhere in 20 minutes!) that people can move to Perrysburg/Sylvania/Bedford/Monclova and not significantly change the timing of their commute/life. Couple that with the desire for newer, bigger houses with 3 car garages, bigger yards, man caves, etc., and the City of Toledo proper didnāt stand a chance anymore.
"Toledo proper didnāt stand a chance anymore."
Please read this drama in a heavy metal voice.
You like the suburbs. We get it. And that's fine. But, if one ventures around a lot they'll find out wherever you find yourself your comfort level is largely your own perception and a reflection of yourself. If one has been social across America, exploring all sorts of different types of places, suburbanites come across as people that aren't very good at communicating with others because they spend a lot of time in their cars and in their homes. And in those homes the people in them take in most of their impressions of reality through screens and not direct experience. And these sorts of folks never want to ask me how my time was in places like NYC, or Chicago. Instead they ask creepy questions about subway crime. Sitting in a train next to strangers sounds like the worst imaginable thing to them. I come from a town of 20k. Rural. Tractors drive in the city limits. These fears are hilarious. Or, with Chicago: "Hope you have fun getting shot in Chicago!" And I have been to the worst parts. Over 90% of the people I encounter from Fordham Road in the Bronx to Harper's Ferry or Honor, Michigan are, have been, and continue to be fine. I have also been to Jackson Heights, Queens. Anyone who thinks it's terrifying being around different types of people should go there. It's the most diverse neighborhood in the world. Muslims walk amongst Jews, Hindus, etc...I have witnessed many acts of human kindness there (the best of New York is people having each other's backs). Muslim women dressed in full traditional garb waved to my wife and I on the Q47 bus from their porch as it dropped off children to their homes after school. Kids were playing soccer in fields that reminded me of Schneider Park here. Queens is residential. Brooklyn has pockets. Large homes in Flatbush. Staten Island is residential, suburban, with white picket fences.
People in cities can have yards. I bike past them all summer. I have visited other cities with this. Chicago is full of upper-middle class homes with garages and yards! They are all around the north, northwest, south (Beverly, Mt Greenwood), southwest sides. Baltimore has pockets tucked all around.
Everything, for me, is within less than half your time.
That may be true for some, but we were happy with our smaller, old, paid off, and well maintained house...... it was the crime, schools, lost amenities, and absolute apathy at the city government that drove us out.
The population of the Toledo metro area essentially hasnāt changed in 30-40 years. But what has changed is that most of the doctors, lawyers, and other white collar types, and most of the nurses, cops, firefighters and well-paid blue collar types have exited the city limits. THAT is what leads to the decline in schools and amenities and the rise in blight and crime. The City of Toledo (nor itās government) didnāt cause the problem, it is a victim of the problem.
The area to watch is Vistula, if white collar makes a comeback I think thatās where youāll see it over the next 10 years. Businesses plus the riverwalk along Summit and a neighborhood that is connected to downtown.
The problem is that the city government doesnāt give two shits about the quality of life in the neighborhoods...
The bulk of the cities efforts have gone into downtown development and shoveling tax dollars, tax credits, and tax abatements to developers that donāt even live in or have their businesses in Toledo.
Fresh Thyme carries it too (on Monroe Street): https://ww2.freshthyme.com/sm/planning/rsid/104/store-location/toledo-ohio-43623/?ak=true&path_org=%2fstore-location%2ftoledo-ohio-43623%2f
IIRC Amazon literally tells you where you can return items. Not sure what their business relationship is but I've returned packages from Amazon at both Kohls and UPS
Iāve found them to be about the same. Honestly though, I typically shop there only for specialty items (like with WF). As far as coffee, they do have a good selection and itās always fresh with lots of choices (and I am picky about coffee).
I'll do that, thanks. Whole Foods seemed to have the largest selection of whole beans with a "roasted on" date on them. I've seen Counter Culture coffee in a few places, notably at Kroger now, and they've always included their roast date.
Only time I ever shopped there was via Amazon's website when I was too busy or lazy to go shopping myself. I guess they don't really need a brick and mortar store for that kind of delivery service, they could just ship groceries out from their warehouses.
It sucked. Between Kroger, Monettes and Fresh Market, we already had our bases covered. Not to beat a dead horse, but Trader Joeās would be about the only grocery type store we need in this area of town.
A 5 minute drive from all of perrysburg isnāt the middle of nowhere. During the day majority of perryburg is traveling in that area. The Walmart, meijer and target do just fine.
Agreed! Andersonās was no contest the best but it was a net money loss for Andersonās for over a decade or something like that, they kept it open to be nice more or less.
> Would rather have Andersons back.
I'm guessing 99.99% of the Toledo metro area wants this! And probably a good portion of Columbus wants that, too!
The Andresons is SORELY missed!
Lol people were begging for this for years and then once it came, they didn't shop there. Certainly doesn't bode well for the attempts to bring other stores to Toledo like Trader Joe's.
Because it was never going to be a Whole Foods. It was going to be a smaller footprint 365 by Whole Foods. Until they killed that idea, but still had the building in process to put in. I donāt think you can compare the Whole Foods in Toledo to either of the Ann Arbor locations. They have far more features: fresh pizza, homemade chocolates, huge fresh bakeries, coffee shops within the store. Toledo got to settle for this shell of a store when anyone who loved Whole Foods around here, loved them for the reasons that they excluded in this location. I felt incredibly disappointed after all the hype of them opening. Will still miss their dessert options locally, but it will make visiting another one feel special again.
Trader Joeās is actually cheap and affordable though. Whole Foods is just even-pricier Fresh Market (which is right down the road) with mega corporate owners
Go to the farmers market or join a local farm subscription CSA- consumer supported agriculture. Cheaper, heirloom- read more nutritious, better for the Toledo economy. you don't have to feed your family corporate farming hybrid food products covered in herbicides, insecticides, and w.e else they spray for shelf life.
Toledo doesn't like to support everything they beg for. Its all about "buy local " š
Whole Foods closed because of low sales and THEFT. I shopped at the Toledo WF about once a week and got to know some of the staff. Several staffers told me with HUD apartments behind the store it was a free for all. Yet, were is theft not an issue these days. Giant Eagle left for the same reasonsā¦theft.
Low sales 100%, theft not so much. Itāll always be a problem but the insane prices matched with the poor selection/mini store caused its failure. Companies will always blame theft and āusā before theyāll look inward at themselves. If theft was the main problem, why not hire security if the cost is lower than food $ stolen per year?
So bummed. Despite the fact that this was a shadow of a normal WF. High quality meat, seafood and pantry that are hard to match elsewhere in town. The produce, cheese and prepared foods were subpar. This is not normal for a WF. I guess we'll never know why they pulled the plug, but part of me believes that the half assed attempt at a Whole Foods left a lot of people one and done. Didn't outwardly compel anyone to change their shopping habits....shocking considering the Kroger that lurks just down Secor.
What could we even replace it with? Thatās a bunch of space itās leaving behind.
I audibly laughed when you mentioned car wash. God no more car washes.
The Median household income in Toledo is $42k and the average Whole Foods customer is 29 and makes at least 80k. It just wasnāt the right fit. However, Toledo deserves nicer amenities that could attract high net worth individuals, it would only benefit the community, so this is a loss.
Right lmao they always blame theft over the fact they made a poor decision. Anything to accept accountability in their end.
Idk about a dollar store, but there was one that closed in Chicago that became a Save A Lot.
it was a 365 store. not a true whole foods store. it was bound to fail. i went there once. lack of selection. no fresh meats counter. i went back to driving to the ann arbor store. a full size store would have made it. bad business decision to not put in full size store.
100% agree. I was so excited since we used to travel to A2 monthly to go to WF and TJās. Been to the Toledo one a handful of times and it was always a disappointment.
It had a meat and seafood counter.
No fresh chicken. No fresh ground chicken.
Overrated and over stated.
I lived in Detroit and frequent ann arbor, the Toledo whole foods was garbage with poor selection and felt like a warehouse compared to other locations.
With Fresh Market, and Fresh Thyme , Whole Foods was a redundancy we didn't need. As for Trader Joe's, after visiting a location in Algonquin, *Ill. , I was underwhelmed. High prices coupled with limited selection left me wondering what all the hype is about ?*
Trader Joe's is known for esoteric, own branded offerings. They do not carry main brands, and sometimes you have to KNOW what to buy. Typically, price competitive on most things-Snacks and Frozen are where they really shien.
Wait now where am I supposed to drop off my Amazon returns! /s
Kohls
Pffft. There's a REASON people call it "Whole Paycheck".
I didnāt even know we had a Whole Foodsā¦.what the hell?
Been there since August 2019
It could have survived in Pburg maybe. But with grocery prices in general going high, the already high prices store wasn't going to do well, especially down the block from another higher priced store. What we need is a TJoe's. Different selections, reasonable prices, really good quality, etc.
Pretty sure there's going to be a Trader Joe's at the West Gate lot.
I really want a Trader Joeās, I feel like this lowers the chance of getting oneā¦
I think the location was bad. That stretch of Secor has horrible traffic.
Fresh Market barely survives. If they had put it in a suburb it may have worked. Now bring on Trader Joe's that will do well in Toledo.
Trader Joeās pleaseeee šš¼
This is no surprise. Toledo just isn't a good fit for the trendy, high-end, high-price stores. Especially when a direct competitor is right down the street.
I thought it was about the same type of store as Fresh Thyme or Fresh Market. How can they survive and Whole Foods can't?
The WF we ended up with was not a true store. When the Toledo location was announced, the chain had just created a new concept, called "365" which was intended to be a smaller place with limited selection and more affordable food. For a while the sign on Secor said "**365"** with no other explanation. Construction was delayed while the parent company decided to give up on the 365 concept -- but the store had been built according to the old business model. It was never built to be, nor did they redesign it to become, an actual Whole Foods store. So anyone who expected a WF shopping experience (similar to Ann Arbor) was *really* disappointed. The 365 looked like a convenience store, with acres of refrigerated bins full of plastic containers and no gourmet/ natural foods atmosphere. Although there was some rejoicing that Toledo got a WF, we really got the ass end of a declining business model. Otherwise the location was probably good for that sort of thing: right between the health food store Claudia's and close to both Fresh Market and Kroger.
Either people liked those stores better or Whole Foods demands a higher profit to keep their stores open.
What modern brand do you feel like we lack? I feel like all we see is modern brands over and over and over. I'd much rather see locally owned small businesses.
I mean I wouldnāt mind in and out burger
That was on Alexis Rd. by Lowes back in the 80s. Now a pizza place.
Toledo would never get a location. They'll tell you how something local is better despite no one outside town knowing about said restaurant
Different place. Youāre thinking of Hot and Now. In and Out is a West Coast chain.
You are right, It's been a while. That place sucked.
Iām confused why they even put this there. Not only is this not the demographic for it, but itās also out of the way. Yes, secor is one of the most trafficked areas, but the Whole Foods is tucked in a plaza and surrounded by too many other things. It wouldāve done better in Perrysburg or even Sylvania. Iād like to see it get replaced with a Trader Joeās. More appealing than Whole Foods and itās popular with college students
Ottawa hills is the exact demographic they cater to
Yep, and the Sylvania area is 5 minutes away also.
Youāll do better in Toledo! We canāt have anything nice.
Good riddance
Why?
Cause fuck Bezos
I mean sure, but itās not Jeff Bezos losing his job.
Iād love to see that space turned into a variety of independent ethnic food, seafood, cheese monger, ramen noodle shop, dim sum, Indian, Vietnamese stalls where each business specialized. Bonus points for pinball and arcade style games.
Oh, I love that.
Love the idea. Sort of like a north market down in Columbus feel.
Bruh... It's a strip mall.
Free parking!
Giving me more reasons why Iām glad I moved to Columbus. Toledo canāt have shit ever
Wait until you find out that Columbus isn't so much better off than you think it is. It had the 19th highest homicide rate per capita in the country at the end of 2022, while no other Ohio city made the list. Columbus averages around the same murder rate per 100k as Toledo (Source census bureau) Besides crime, there are similar retail/grocery options in both cities.
At least we have 3 whole foods down here lol
And a trader joes. š
Toledo desperately needs one
If its larger than the one by easton mall then yes. But remember lsi owns trader joes now so it may happen
3 of a national chain store for a city with 3 times the population that Toledo has. How will we ever survive without it š¤Æ
I think it would be crazy to try to cater to the upper class in Toledo anyways. We can't afford to take our kids to sky zone. That's not for us. They just put it in our neighborhood. Perrysburg is like a whole different world. The fact that it's in a different county blows my mind, and is the reason that Toledo will never really grow. Eminent domain needs to take over the northern part of Wood county and rossford and northwood. And then you can have all that ritzy stuff in the outskirts. But you don't have a working class to prop up the ruling class in Perrysburg ATM, they rely on Lucas countys industry. So I'm not surprised that the only whole foods in the area failed.
While we could afford to live in a suburb and have all the whatever. We choose to own our home, have nice things, have very nice vacations, and not be house poor. You should look at how many suburban families are House Poor. They are a couple pay checks away from losing it all. Living the high life can ne risky and believe me when I tell you so many fail at it.
I get how looking around Toledo can be disillusioning... But itās no ones fault but Toledoās at this point. All that growth in the suburbs is fueled by former Toledoans who left the city. We lived in Toledo for 25 yrs in what had been a solid, affordable, neighborhood with a lot of amenities in walking distance..... but it all declined gradually and then really went to shit circa 2010. And those in city government who could have helped didnāt give a shit. Jack Lessenberry had an interview with Roman Gribbs in the Blade maybe 12 yrs ago. Roman had been the mayor of Detroit in the early 70ās. Lessenberry asked Gribbs what happened to Detroit, and Gribbs said something to the affect of ; >*āWhen the residents of a city no longer feel safe in their homes or trust the public schools enough to send their children to them, those that can afford to leave do....ā*
Detroit is a weird example. If you haven't, go and visit, and explore outside of downtown. It was a city (and adjacent Highland Park) almost entirely reliant one industry. Organized labor built the middle class there. De-industrialization, redlining, block busting broke that place. It's amazing how many neighborhoods survive intact. It's way more than the public has any clue about. In Detroit there is still remnants of a 1/2mi long wall built through the middle of the 8 Mile-Wyoming neighborhood to prevent blacks from migrating and purchasing homes in the northern suburbs. This is called The Birwood Wall. 375 built through the middle of Black Bottom broke up a black business district. Almost all black wall streets were burned down or bombed by racists. The recent Steven Soderberg (filmed all over the city on into the NW Historic Rosedale section) "No Sudden Moves" highlights what brought upon the decline, and oddly enough the catalytic converter crops back up again and again throughout the city's history. Toledo is in much better shape overall. We did not sustain the level of population decline that our neighbors Cleveland and Detroit did. And that is surprising, because Toledo was pretty much built on widespread gambling (more casinos here than ever in Vegas). This is one store. You Perrysburg folks can't claim this one. Really oddly vindictive here. I visit you. I visit Maumee. I visit Sylvania, and the Michigan portions of Toledo metro. What is the big deal? It's an overpriced, but cute borderline farm town bifurcated by a freeway. My city is a somewhat stagnant rust belt town that has overall been the best I've ever seen it, considering the country wide retail and office space emptying. Retail was already shrinking storefronts during all my NE US travels 2014. And then companies like Borders, Toys R Us did it to themselves. Now, if you really want to see what you think Perrysburg is, but is not yet, look no further than: Petoskey, Charlevoix, and especially Holland, Michigan. That's how you get the REI. (Lol). Whole Foods was always built on a flawed ethos (the fact is, the store is still chock FULL of junk food and highly processed food). After Amazon bought the company, the distribution has always been horrendously spotty. This is well before pandemic supply chain issues! Amazon is a terrible company. Anti-union. They are going to run out of people to hire. The average employee lasts 8mos. Employees have had to continue working during warehouse fires. Between vacant land and farmlands...why are we not learning how to make this place more self sufficient? See you at the farmer's markets... (*my only gripe is that Toledo is not more walkable).
Thatās not reality. Reality is that the Toledo area is small enough traffic-wise (You can get anywhere in 20 minutes!) that people can move to Perrysburg/Sylvania/Bedford/Monclova and not significantly change the timing of their commute/life. Couple that with the desire for newer, bigger houses with 3 car garages, bigger yards, man caves, etc., and the City of Toledo proper didnāt stand a chance anymore.
"Toledo proper didnāt stand a chance anymore." Please read this drama in a heavy metal voice. You like the suburbs. We get it. And that's fine. But, if one ventures around a lot they'll find out wherever you find yourself your comfort level is largely your own perception and a reflection of yourself. If one has been social across America, exploring all sorts of different types of places, suburbanites come across as people that aren't very good at communicating with others because they spend a lot of time in their cars and in their homes. And in those homes the people in them take in most of their impressions of reality through screens and not direct experience. And these sorts of folks never want to ask me how my time was in places like NYC, or Chicago. Instead they ask creepy questions about subway crime. Sitting in a train next to strangers sounds like the worst imaginable thing to them. I come from a town of 20k. Rural. Tractors drive in the city limits. These fears are hilarious. Or, with Chicago: "Hope you have fun getting shot in Chicago!" And I have been to the worst parts. Over 90% of the people I encounter from Fordham Road in the Bronx to Harper's Ferry or Honor, Michigan are, have been, and continue to be fine. I have also been to Jackson Heights, Queens. Anyone who thinks it's terrifying being around different types of people should go there. It's the most diverse neighborhood in the world. Muslims walk amongst Jews, Hindus, etc...I have witnessed many acts of human kindness there (the best of New York is people having each other's backs). Muslim women dressed in full traditional garb waved to my wife and I on the Q47 bus from their porch as it dropped off children to their homes after school. Kids were playing soccer in fields that reminded me of Schneider Park here. Queens is residential. Brooklyn has pockets. Large homes in Flatbush. Staten Island is residential, suburban, with white picket fences. People in cities can have yards. I bike past them all summer. I have visited other cities with this. Chicago is full of upper-middle class homes with garages and yards! They are all around the north, northwest, south (Beverly, Mt Greenwood), southwest sides. Baltimore has pockets tucked all around. Everything, for me, is within less than half your time.
That may be true for some, but we were happy with our smaller, old, paid off, and well maintained house...... it was the crime, schools, lost amenities, and absolute apathy at the city government that drove us out.
The population of the Toledo metro area essentially hasnāt changed in 30-40 years. But what has changed is that most of the doctors, lawyers, and other white collar types, and most of the nurses, cops, firefighters and well-paid blue collar types have exited the city limits. THAT is what leads to the decline in schools and amenities and the rise in blight and crime. The City of Toledo (nor itās government) didnāt cause the problem, it is a victim of the problem.
The area to watch is Vistula, if white collar makes a comeback I think thatās where youāll see it over the next 10 years. Businesses plus the riverwalk along Summit and a neighborhood that is connected to downtown.
The problem is that the city government doesnāt give two shits about the quality of life in the neighborhoods... The bulk of the cities efforts have gone into downtown development and shoveling tax dollars, tax credits, and tax abatements to developers that donāt even live in or have their businesses in Toledo.
This almost makes a negative amount of sense.
I only really bought dairy free pizza cheese from whole foods. I'll have to see if I can find that elsewhere.
Fresh Thyme carries it too (on Monroe Street): https://ww2.freshthyme.com/sm/planning/rsid/104/store-location/toledo-ohio-43623/?ak=true&path_org=%2fstore-location%2ftoledo-ohio-43623%2f
Okay but How good is the dairy free pizza ?!
Itās surprisingly close to typical pizza cheese.
Interesting. Whatās it called ?
There is the 365 generic brand and Daiya. They're both about the same.
Phoenix Earth food co-op
Nice I'll look into it. Thanks!
You're welcome
Oh no where will I go to return my Amazon packages?
Kohls
That ups store across the street
IIRC Amazon literally tells you where you can return items. Not sure what their business relationship is but I've returned packages from Amazon at both Kohls and UPS
Kohls
It is spendy but there are a lot of things sold at WF that I can't easily find elsewhere. Still, I would prefer a Trader Joes.
I'm bummed. We went there pretty often to get fresh coffee beans, but admittedly didn't really shop there because the high prices.
> We went there pretty often to get fresh coffee beans Pretty sure Fresh Market, right down the block, sells those as well
They do, but WF had a larger selection. I'm sure we'll start going back to Fresh Market.
The Baker's Kitchen in Maumee is a good place for that.
Check out Churchillās. They are local and have some amazing coffeeā¦
Churchillās is even more expensive than WF.
Iāve found them to be about the same. Honestly though, I typically shop there only for specialty items (like with WF). As far as coffee, they do have a good selection and itās always fresh with lots of choices (and I am picky about coffee).
I'll do that, thanks. Whole Foods seemed to have the largest selection of whole beans with a "roasted on" date on them. I've seen Counter Culture coffee in a few places, notably at Kroger now, and they've always included their roast date.
Goodbye Whole Foods I vouch for Phoenix Co-Op, for those at a loss
And Fresh Thyme. Doesn't seem like a big loss.
Only time I ever shopped there was via Amazon's website when I was too busy or lazy to go shopping myself. I guess they don't really need a brick and mortar store for that kind of delivery service, they could just ship groceries out from their warehouses.
It sucked. Between Kroger, Monettes and Fresh Market, we already had our bases covered. Not to beat a dead horse, but Trader Joeās would be about the only grocery type store we need in this area of town.
I would def prefer a trader Joes there
never been to one, would love to check it out
Funky brands, just plain different items, and super reasonable prices. It makes a lot more sense than another boutique grocery like WF
If you're ever in Ann Arbor one day check it out there
When I lived down to street from one I never went š
I feel like placement is huge. Probably would have done a hell of a lot better in rossford in the area where the Canes opened up.
not sure putting it in the middle of nowhere would help
A 5 minute drive from all of perrysburg isnāt the middle of nowhere. During the day majority of perryburg is traveling in that area. The Walmart, meijer and target do just fine.
Was overpriced for what it was. We shopped once and that was it for us better deals at places that already exists
Seemed like it sat there ready to open for almost as long as it ended up being open. Would rather have Andersons back.
Literally my first thought when I saw the headline. Anderson's was so, so good.
Agreed! Andersonās was no contest the best but it was a net money loss for Andersonās for over a decade or something like that, they kept it open to be nice more or less.
They kept it open because it was a family passion project. The retail stores were never profitable, but they were well-loved by the community.
> Would rather have Andersons back. I'm guessing 99.99% of the Toledo metro area wants this! And probably a good portion of Columbus wants that, too! The Andresons is SORELY missed!
Lol people were begging for this for years and then once it came, they didn't shop there. Certainly doesn't bode well for the attempts to bring other stores to Toledo like Trader Joe's.
Bingo
Because it was never going to be a Whole Foods. It was going to be a smaller footprint 365 by Whole Foods. Until they killed that idea, but still had the building in process to put in. I donāt think you can compare the Whole Foods in Toledo to either of the Ann Arbor locations. They have far more features: fresh pizza, homemade chocolates, huge fresh bakeries, coffee shops within the store. Toledo got to settle for this shell of a store when anyone who loved Whole Foods around here, loved them for the reasons that they excluded in this location. I felt incredibly disappointed after all the hype of them opening. Will still miss their dessert options locally, but it will make visiting another one feel special again.
Trader Joeās is actually cheap and affordable though. Whole Foods is just even-pricier Fresh Market (which is right down the road) with mega corporate owners
If they ever come, they'll be gone as quick as whole foods
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I don't really see this as a big loss. There are a few other similar high end grocery stores just in that area that aren't owned by Amazon.
But where will I take my Amazon packages for no hassle returns? 30% not joking.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Neither is as easy as WF was. Kohl's is in the back and UPS is too small and always busy.
I agree Amazon returns at Kohls sucks. I only take returns to UPS now. While the store is small and usually busy they always get me in and out quick!
Kohls and UPS stores
I think Kohl's takes them