Why Hasn’t That Grocery Store Near Me Reopened? We Tell You Why

Grocery stores in prime Dallas-area neighborhoods usually don’t stay closed for long, so why have stores in Uptown, Lakewood, North Dallas and Lake Highlands sat unused for months? A dozen former Albertsons and Tom Thumb stores were sold in early 2015 to RLS Supermarkets as part of the antitrust review of Albertsons’ acquisition of Tom Thumb’s parent company, Safeway. Several of these vacant locations have since been sold, in some cases more than once, and are waiting for some TLC.Developers and grocers say there are many reasons their plans have been delayed — from permits to customers moving on to competitors. But first, let’s look at all the sites still waiting to be restocked, and who’s looking to do it. H-E-B’s Central Market owns two Dallas locations — in Uptown at Lemmon and McKinney avenues and on West Northwest Highway and Midway Road — that it plans to open as Central Markets, but the sites have stayed empty longer than expected. A week ago, a Sun Fresh Market in North Dallas on Arapaho Road that had held on the longest, closed. Bill Davidson, general manager of RLS Supermarkets,, said the store’s business had declined since a Wal-Mart Supercenter opened nearby about a year ago. Stores on Forest Lane and Midway in Dallas and in Bedford that had become Sun Fresh Markets closed and reopened as Fiesta Marts. Both just closed again. Fiesta closed Forest Lane on May 27 and Bedford on Aug. 3. Two vacant stores in desirable Dallas neighborhoods of Lakewood and Lake Highlands won’t stay empty, but it’s not clear yet how those spaces will be reinvented.   Continue reading...