Glut of grocery stores prompt dire prediction
Sandra Thomas
Van. Courier
According to Dig360’s David Ian Gray, the Capers outlet on Cambie and 16th could shut down. Photograph by : Photo-Dan Toulgoet
A local retail marketing specialist doubts the new Capers Community Market will remain on Cambie Street for long, despite denials about closures from its corporate head office.
Last August Whole Foods Markets bought Wild Oats Market Inc., the corporate head office for Capers, for $565 million US and the assumption of debt. Two months later, Whole Foods closed the 22-year-old flagship Capers store on Marine Drive in West Vancouver, citing limited parking and poor traffic access. In July 2006 a new 20,000-square-foot Capers opened on Cambie Street at West 16th Avenue. But now a 51,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market is under construction just blocks away at the corner of Cambie Street and Broadway. For months residents and some Capers workers have speculated about the future of the store.
A Vancouver-based publicist for Whole Foods denies the Cambie Capers is at risk.
the Cambie store,” said Danielle Jang in an email to the Courier. “It’s a very strong store, and the company doesn’t see any reason why both stores can’t operate in the neighbourhood.”
David Ian Gray, owner of Dig360, suspects there’s more to the story. Dig360, formerly known as Sixth Line Solutions, is a marketing research and information consulting company operating in Vancouver since 1994. “My guess is they probably have a pretty committed lease,” said Gray. “And that probably comes with a fair penalty to get out of that lease. My feeling is they’re waiting a while and trying to figure out an exit strategy.”
Gray said Whole Foods differs from Capers in that it’s slightly more up-market, similar to the Urban Fare gourmet foods chain. He said Capers and Whole Foods are very similar in that they both specialize is organic products and promote healthy lifestyles.
Gray notes the area around Cambie and Broadway will soon be saturated with grocery stores. Besides the Capers store on Cambie at 16th, a Choices Market on Cambie at 18th and the Safeway store in City Square at Cambie and West 12th, a Whole Foods Market is under construction at Cambie and Broadway. A Save-On Foods store is also under construction on Cambie near the Whole Foods location.
“I realize Safeway and Save-On aren’t organic stores, but people just aren’t that compartmentalized,” he said. “They often shop for convenience.”
He notes while residential development is taking place in the neighbourhood, it doesn’t compare to the number of towers popping up in Coal Harbour and Yaletown.
But Gray said the exact fate of Capers is hard to predict. When Best Buy bought out the Future Shop chain in Canada in 2001, it planned to convert or close the Future Shop stores.
“But the Canadian people convinced them the stores were sufficiently different, that there was a market for both,” said Gray. “You never know. If they do their homework and offer distinct products, it might work and they may be able to continue to profitably run both. But that’s a lot of grocery in one area.”
© Vancouver Courier 2008
