As a gen z here, I can't see grocery stores surviving my generation. None of my friends and I go to stores unless a last resort. All regular groceries are ordered and delivered/picked up or we use meal boxes.
I imagine "ghost kitchen"/Amazon warehouse models will replace a lot of grocery stores in the next 15 years. More efficient to own large warehouse space outside the city, make non attractive interiors with automated robots selecting items to pack boxes to be shipped to households.
Superstore in Toronto is testing meal boxes already.
So all that to say...I hope new stores are focused on experience, not just providing the necessities. If not, thatll be like building blockbusters in 2006.
I don`t have much to add to this, just wanted to corroborate by reminding that the demographic that`s most attracted to living in dense urban areas are Gen Y and Gen Z. It doesn`t mean that we should build and serve only these people (and not all young people are made alike), but we should consider this group as the core demographic target of downtown developments, especially in terms of retail, hospitality and food services.
Not to mention that we're receiving a large influx of immigrants, A LOT of them coming from places in Asia and South America (like myself) and, mostly, from big, dense cities, used to smaller scale stop-and-go stores that fit more into a busier, denser downtown. These people don`t usually have cars right off the bat and would prefer to make short quick trips, if possible, to minimize their exposure to the weather, especially in the Winter, which is way too harsh for anyone not used to it. These immigrants are, even more than Gen Y and Z, the short-term hope for densification and movement in the Downtown areas, we need to make it attractive to them, much more than the "suburban dream". These are people not yet addicted to cars, big yards and strip malls that we can easily attract to the areas we want to densify and revitalize.
@Valveman , no one advocated for a huge, restaurant-like deli space, but the City Market on the Brewery District (my go-to grocery shop, btw) has a fairly sized deli space and so does the Safeway on Oliver Square. Both are smaller stores, by North American standards (Safeway is roughly the same size as other stores, but still not as big), dedicate a decent amount of space to deli and sit-in consumption (and a Starbuck, as basically every Safeway) and are always busy and, I would assume, profitable.
That said, one of the most attractive thing in the City Market, for me and quite a few others that I`ve met, is that it`s compact, quick to go through, even if you don`t know exactly what you`re looking for, you can browse through all of the aisles in 15 min or less, with a good selection of products in smaller quantities and very few "equal substitutes". It`s also very clean, organized and well kept, overall (things that are made easier by it`s size) and the deli space, although not big, is a welcome treat, especially in the Summer, when the patio is open.
When I lived in Rio, in one of the most dense neighborhoods not only in Brazil, but on Earth, where retail space is extremely limited, my go-to grocery shop has, probably, about half the square footage of the City Market in the Brewery District and, yet, had a much better selection of products and, I dare saying, more variety, which goes to show that you don`t need to have an infinite stock and lots of space to serve your customers well. Just good logistics, which I reckon is MUCH easier in Edmonton than in Rio, considering that Canada as a whole is a lot more organized than Brazil, in general (and Rio is probably the most chaotic and disorganized city I`ve ever been to), some creativity and good market knowledge (know what kind of products your customers want, how often they buy, etc...).
