Currently there are six grocery stores in the Owings Mills area that I can recollect. There is the Giant in New Town off of Lakeside Boulevard. There is a Food Lion on Lakeside Boulevard. There is a Mars Supermarket on Reisterstown Road that one could argue is actually Reisterstown, but there's really no clear distinction between those two areas anyway. There's another Giant in the Cherry Vale Shopping Center along with the ghetto Aldi's. There is a third Giant in the St. Thomas Shopping Center. And there's a Safeway on Reisterstown Road.
It is not possible for all of these grocery stores to survive if the Wegman's opens. Which ones will survive?
I think the Giant in New Town will survive. New Town is almost its own town. Those residents would have to make the longest drive to go to another store. And that store is fairly nice inside, despite being extremely expensive.
Food Lion is a convenient over-sized 7-11. Many commuters use Food Lion as their destination of choice for picking up foods for breakfast before work or for work parties. Plus it's fairly inexpensive. Food Lion isn't going anywhere.
Safeway. Tough call. The people who determine the prices of the products at Safeway must be crack-smokers, because that store is easily the most expensive store on the Eastern Seaboard. How can they advertise 2-litre bottles of soda for $1.99 and tell you that you're saving $1.50??? But it's always busy. Perhaps people like spending too much money. Is there some sort of status symbol for paying too much for Lucky Charms?
St. Thomas Giant - easily the most likely candidate to be closed. Their parking is terrible. The store is old, though it recently had an exterior renovation. And did I mention the parking is terrible? Good-bye St. Thomas Giant.
Aldi's? They are not going anywhere. Or as their customers would say, "They ain't going nowhere". There's so much low-income, I'm sorry, "affordable housing", being constructed in Owings Mills that there are plenty of people who will shop there with their government "independence" cards. And how can they call it an Independence Card when people depend on this government handout to buy soda and snacks?
Cherry Vale Giant - potential candidate for closing, though I think their main competition is the Mars Supermarket and they are far enough north to not be too severely impacted.
So all in all, it seems that the most likely candidates for closing are Giants. And I hadn't even mentioned that Owings Mills already has a vacant grocery store. Remember the Shopper's Food Warehouse? Still empty. What are your thoughts?
1 comment:
I remember seeing the vacant Shoppers Food Store while riding the 59 on Reisterstown Road. Yeah, I think the St. Thomas Giant will close down first. The Wegman's has been built and it's opened. The other one in the Cherry Valley Shopping Center near Domino's is ran better and they have a gas station attached to it. Shoppers doesn't really do well in areas that are supposed to be upper class. The one in Towson closed in late 2016. Owings Mills, in general, was supposed to be like Timonium, Lutherville or Cockeysville. However, it became a little run-down over the years most likely due to an influx in inner city residents. The same thing happened to Pikesville. They've been revitalizing the area for over a few years now.
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