Kroger Return Increases Pedestrian Traffic, Businesses Say

While difficult to determine the exact impact the re-opened Kroger is having on business in the Village, area business owners say they are at a minimum seeing many more people in the three-block business/shopping district. 

Traffic in the Village, as with any shopping area, is always greater near the holidays but this season seemed to be even busier, many business owners said. 

"It's hard to tell. It certainly has brought people back to the Village," owner Ellen Durand said. "It brought more bodies and to me that is always a help."

Durand, as well as several other business owners, said business was tough when Kroger was closed and under construction. The hardest hit were likely the businesses that share the same block, Durand said. 

David Codd, owner of , which is only two doors away from Kroger, said since the re-opening his business has returned to what he considers his normal. If he had to put a number on it, he said his business is likely up 20 percent. That is only getting business back on track for the pet speciality shop, he said, noting it was down by about the same amount during the grocer's closure. 

"Business has snapped back without a doubt to normal," he said, noting how much just having the sidewalk open again has helped accessibility to his store. 

Codd thinks some of the pedestrian traffic in the Village will taper off after the new year as holiday shopping dies down, but he said the new and improved grocery store is likely to attract back some Pointers who may have previously abandoned the entire shopping district unintentionally by choosing to not shop at the old Kroger. 

The holiday season for the is its best year yet, said director Joseph Murray. His store noticed an increase in nighttime traffic by individuals who seemed to be stopping in because they were open, he said. 

"I still have people that didn't know I was here," Codd said, referring to customer comments about The Barkery being a "new" store in the Village.

Murray received similar feedback from customers. The Art Center has been open for more than two years and The Barkery for more than three years. 

Connie Bukowski, owner of , said her store is seeing a drastic increase in visits since the re-opening of Kroger. This year was one of the toughest for the local store, she said, and the closing of Kroger certainly didn't help. The Vera Bradley collection has been a stronghold, however, she said.

As Bukowski spoke, a line backed up past the store's cash registers for the post office inside the small store. Bukowski also had to take a few breaks during the conversation to attend to clients. 

"It's nice to see people on the street again," she said. "We're an errand. Now they do it on their way, even the post office, to grocery shopping."

Mike Kramer, co-owner of , said his store saw an increase in business the first day Kroger re-opened. While it's hard to link it directly to the grocery store, it's likely a factor.

"That first Sunday that they opened, we did significantly better than we would have otherwise," he said, noting his own store's Sunday trends. 

Kramer, who recently took over as the president of the Downtown Business Association and has been a member for years, said other businesses are sharing positive feedback. 

The physical appearance of the store has even "upgraded this end of the Village," Kramer said. 

If nothing else, Village-goers are at least talking about the new Kroger, the business owners said. They are overhearing mostly positive comments. 

On Christmas Eve, the store was packed to the point there were traffic jams in the village at the corner of Kercheval Avenue and Notre Dame Street. Many motorists had to wait through several rounds of the traffic light to make it through the normally easy to cross intersection. 

The $21-million project took about nine months to complete. The old store closed in March and then the rebuilt version re-opened before Thanksgiving. The construction "went like clockwork," said Dale Hollandsworth, Kroger Michigan spokesman. 

Hollandsworth could not provide specific numbers about the actual traffic visiting the new Kroger. Nor could he give comparisons pre-and-post construction but he said the company is pleased with the turnout and sales volume. The company is confident of the store's longterm success, he said, noting it's presence in the Village for 40 years. 

"We were getting positive feedback before we opened," Hollandsworth said, explaining workers inside were often given a thumbs up by curious people walking by and looking in the windows during the final phases of construction. 

Hollandsworth isn't surprised other businesses are happy.

"Anytime you invest that kind of money in a downtown area, people are generally happy," he said.