Publix - University Commons

Thu

Sep 4 2014

10:51 am

By: bizgrrl

The other day we visited the new Publix near the University of Tennessee. Wanted to see what it was like having to park on one level and shop on an upper level. As I have found with most Publix stores, the experience was good. As usual, the employees were all very helpful. They brought in experienced workers from their other stores. The size of the store and the stocking appears to be about the same as the Northshore store. There is a ginormous beer case. Don't know if it is larger than Northshore to meet the student demand or it just looks larger.

The parking lot is on ground level, below the store. You must use stairs, an escalator, or an elevator to access the store. There is a separate cart escalator to get your groceries to the parking level and your car. Nice to have a bus stop right at the store front.

If the WalMart at University Commons brings in the customers anything like the WalMart in Alcoa, I think access could be a problem. There's only a single two lane street providing access to the shopping center. However, most of the shoppers won't have to cross the road to get to the store, thus eliminating that wait time.

I like Publix grocery stores. This store has the added benefit of being a great place to shop when it rains.

continued...

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That cart escalator is pretty

Submitted by R. Neal on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 11:00am.

That cart escalator is pretty cool. Wonder how long before a drunk frat boy tries to ride down it in a cart?

Ha!

Submitted by Jamie Satterfield on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 12:03pm.
(in reply to R. Neal)

Any day now, I would imagine.

or drunk frat girl. or is

Submitted by michael kaplan on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 1:12pm.
(in reply to R. Neal)

or drunk frat girl. or is that politically incorrect ... ?

That would be a 'sorority'

Submitted by R. Neal on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 1:18pm.
(in reply to michael kaplan)

That would be a 'sorority' girl, no?

no, i meant the girlfriend of

Submitted by michael kaplan on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 1:40pm.
(in reply to R. Neal)

no, i meant the girlfriend of a drunk frat boy.

When grocery stores start

Submitted by Average Guy on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 7:39pm.
(in reply to R. Neal)

When grocery stores start stocking Franzia.

For Those of Us Who Shop Small ..

Submitted by Stan G on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 11:14am.

Is it buy one get one free or is it buy one with 50% discount similar to Kroger and Food City?

I asked one time, and their

Submitted by R. Neal on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 11:18am.
(in reply to Stan G)

I asked one time, and their policy is buy one get one free items are 50% off if you get just the one item.

I workout on campus so I'm by

Submitted by Michael Silence on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 12:11pm.

I workout on campus so I'm by there every weekday. I've stopped in a couple of times and access and parking have both been easy. Where the problem is is on KP between the Commons and the Pilot. That can really bottleneck. Having said that, on Tuesday and Wednesday I breezed right through. Most of the students walk or bike to the Commons so vehicle traffic at the Commons itself is not bad at all. Still, I've only been in there twice. Thanks for the post. I've not been in Publix yet.

can i leave my engine running

Submitted by michael kaplan on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 1:14pm.

can i leave my engine running in the garage while i shop?

No doubt, if it's an electric

Submitted by Factchecker on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 3:10pm.
(in reply to michael kaplan)

No doubt, if it's an electric car. Idling of ICEs should not be permitted, IMO.

I was in a protest in front

Submitted by oldnorthknoxhippy on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 1:36pm.

I was in a protest in front of Walmart and Publix on Labor Day. Turns out the sidewalk in front of Publix is private property. Someone from the store informed us of this, and we had to cross the street to protest.

shades of west town mall

Submitted by michael kaplan on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 1:41pm.
(in reply to oldnorthknoxhippy)

shades of west town mall ...

btw what does the shopping 'public' look like?

here's a link

Submitted by oldnorthknoxhippy on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 2:09pm.
(in reply to michael kaplan)

(link...)

I have not been inside the

Submitted by oldnorthknoxhippy on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 2:02pm.

I have not been inside the store, so I cannot say. I was in a Walk for Fair Wages: A Bad Business Tour of the Strip.

Speaking of which........

Submitted by fischbobber on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 11:37pm.
(in reply to oldnorthknoxhippy)

Rumor has it that the Detroit police ran out of handcuffs today at the fast food workers strike. I presume they were protecting the strikers right to peacefully assemble from the corporate warlords.

I refuse to shop there

Submitted by Pam Strickland on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 6:12pm.

I refuse to shop there because I still believe it was unreasonable for the city to pitch in funds for the development. My local Kroger is just fine.

cool

Submitted by Tess on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 6:57pm.
(in reply to Pam Strickland)

Don't shop there, but Kroger is not within walking distance for UT students, and the new complex is...maybe somebody was thinking about the students and not adults who have other options?

it's hard to believe any

Submitted by michael kaplan on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 7:21pm.
(in reply to Tess)

it's hard to believe any student with a car would walk to the new complex. in general, i think 'close-in' retail is a good idea, but i agree this kind of project should not be subsidized by tax dollars. the cleanup and infrastructure, perhaps, but certainly not the construction. (i don't know what the case was with this particular project.)

nor do I

Submitted by Tess on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 7:45pm.
(in reply to michael kaplan)

But, I talked to some students this past weekend who indeed find the proximity for this complex to be much better for them than other stores. One of the students lives in the sorority village, which may be within biking distance. My point being that the complex was built with students in mind, not the regular public.

I wonder to what degree UT signed in on the project. The Walmart will affect sales at the UT bookstore, which has for years grossly inflated prices. I was told by one of the students that the Walmart prices were pretty much standard discount prices and much lower than the comparables at the UT bookstore.

How does not shopping at

Submitted by bizgrrl on Fri, 2014/09/05 - 6:03am.
(in reply to Pam Strickland)

How does not shopping at those stores tell the city they should not have pitched in funds for the development?

I would think that particular spot is one that needed assistance more than many others downtown. It was definitely a dead area without the local government(s) and university pushing to get it developed.

Fascinating

Submitted by Somebody on Fri, 2014/09/05 - 11:59am.
(in reply to bizgrrl)

I think all this has been explained and discussed in great detail before.

(link...)

"The developers sought

Submitted by No D&R (not verified) on Sat, 2014/09/06 - 11:24am.
(in reply to Somebody)

"The developers sought tenants for the structures and found a well-respected national grocery chain along with Walmart’s agreeing to employ an urban model a bit smaller in scale with no grocery component."

Bill Lyons is full of it.

it's called pecuniary

Submitted by michael kaplan on Sat, 2014/09/06 - 11:53am.
(in reply to No D&R)

it's called pecuniary truth

pe·cu·ni·ar·y
piˈkyo͞onēˌerē/
adjective

of, relating to, or consisting of money.

Groceries negotiated between the stores

Submitted by Bill Lyons on Sat, 2014/09/06 - 5:12pm.
(in reply to No D&R)

"The developers sought tenants for the structures and found a well-respected national grocery chain along with Walmart’s agreeing to employ an urban model a bit smaller in scale with no grocery component."

Bill Lyons is full of it.

Thanks for the shout-out. The amount of groceries sold by Walmart is negotiated with Publix. The result appears to be that Walmart has no prepared food and very few fresh fruits and vegstables or gourmet cheeses and the like. The result is that Walmart does have frozen and canned foods, condiments, soft drinks etc.

I,like others, was a bit surprised with the amount of food at the Walmart but certainly not bothered by it. Publix is apparently OK with what Walmart is stocking, although I imagine the two stores will be in continued discussion. If one finds Walmart's carrying those items somehow offensive I guess one can avoid shopping at the store or at the very least avoid that section of the store. In any case I fail to see how the public good is ill served by the mix of goods between the two stores.

University Commons has gotten off to a great start. From all we can tell it has had negligible impact on traffic. I made two non-auto trips to UC. The first was by bicycle from downtown; the second was by trolley with my colleague Chrsti Branscom. We shared the trolley with folks from Townview who were thrilled with the option of having being able to shop without having to have an automobile. On each trip I noted a lot of people of student age who were walking and biking to the stores.

This is totally consistent with our plan to make Cumberland and the Ft. Sanders area home to a walkable, bikeable living style. It is much better to have folks walking or biking or making a short drive than have them take automobiles to far west Knoxville to shop. And it is better to have students living near campus and leaving their cars at home than living in apartments further away and driving to UT each day.

This project has created a lot of retail jobs close to the heart of Knoxville and filled in what had been previously categorized as a food desert. It reclaimed a brownfield site and will bring great tax revenue even during the TIF period. This is the first urban development of this type anywhere in the region.

We understand that projects such as this will not meet with universal approval. However we are quite pleased with it on a number of dimensions.

Anytime, Bill. It is hard to

Submitted by No D&R (not verified) on Sun, 2014/09/07 - 10:21am.
(in reply to Bill Lyons)

Anytime, Bill. It is hard to understand how indirectly subsidizing Walmart is in the public's best interest. We are talking about a negative impact on jobs, wages and benefits. Walmart brings tax burdens to cities. They smash the local retail climate, sabotage commercial diversity and manipulate governments at all levels. They are already brokering deals with Publix, despite your earlier claims that this particular store would not be in the grocery business. Now the surrounding grocery stores have to compete with a Walmart/Publix business alliance, an alliance made possibly by City financing. Surely, you have misgivings about the Walmart.

In principle, the idea of

Submitted by michael kaplan on Sun, 2014/09/07 - 12:53pm.
(in reply to No D&R)

In principle, the ideas of 'close-in' retail and site clean-up are good ones; reducing the distance students (and others) have to drive to buy groceries is positive. As stated above, though, I agree that the city could use the limited power it has to influence the choice of retailers for the (broader) public good. Again, I'd recommend reading Stacy Mitchell's Big Box Swindle and encourage local elected officials to work a bit harder on this ...

It's my personal statement.

Submitted by Pam Strickland on Fri, 2014/09/05 - 12:37pm.
(in reply to bizgrrl)

It's my personal statement. I'm not part of an organized movement. I think they should have looked at the way WalMart treats their employees. That's all. If I want to shop at Publix, I can go else where. They could have insisted that the developer bring in a more appropriate discount store. They didn't have to have WalMart. The other part of that is that I haven't been inside a WalMart in 1984.

I don't do a lot of shopping downtown either, but that's a matter of finances more than anything right now than it is anything else. I do shop at Union Ave., but then I've never bought a book from Amazon and most of y'all think that's unreasonable. But I believe that you should support local retailers.

I know I'm weird, but I also work for the local newspaper, and I know how y'all feel about that.

i agree. actually, the

Submitted by michael kaplan on Sat, 2014/09/06 - 12:01pm.
(in reply to Pam Strickland)

i agree.

actually, the property could easily have been used by the university for expansion, and could have included modest retail development as well.

And the difference is?

Submitted by Tess on Sat, 2014/09/06 - 4:37pm.
(in reply to michael kaplan)

I really think that having a Walmart and Publix nearby UT offers a better retail deal for the students than University owned retail (check UT store prices vs. anyplace else).

Did the University not have plenty of opportunity to buy that property? I don't know, but guess that they didn't go after it for some reason.

If the property is now reclaimed from an environmental brownfield into something that pays taxes and provides a good place to shop for the students, I don't understand the complaints.

Kroger is a union shop so I

Submitted by michael kaplan on Fri, 2014/09/05 - 9:16am.
(in reply to Pam Strickland)

Kroger is a union shop so I try to support them. Other than Kroger, it's the Food Coop ... wish there was a branch in So Knoxville.

I concur on Three Rivers

Submitted by oldnorthknoxhippy on Fri, 2014/09/05 - 11:24pm.
(in reply to michael kaplan)

I concur on Three Rivers Market and Kroger. farmers markets are great in season. Even food city has some good organic foods.

Eileen

Submitted by Average Guy on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 7:56pm.

Either the woman boarding the bus has amazing balance, or that's a cool action shot.

Lucky shot.

Submitted by R. Neal on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 10:40pm.
(in reply to Average Guy)

Lucky shot.

We Must Be In Knoxville ...

Submitted by Stan G on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 9:35pm.

if we're talking about driving rather than riding the trolleys.

Too bad the signage is so ugly

Submitted by Knoxgal on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 10:22pm.

Too bad the signage is so gd ugly. We were told the developers would put a high priority on aesthetics.

I so agree! "University

Submitted by Factchecker on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 10:45pm.
(in reply to Knoxgal)

I so agree! "University Commons" isn't the problem, but that stupid orange and white sign is hideous and Sprawl Mart screwed everyone over by plastering their signage everywhere too.

I'm looking forward to trying out the Publix (though not looking forward to the hoards of students), but I too still don't understand why the Walton family corporation needs any government assistance at any level. Having a walk-to place to shop is great, but city help is not "giving the students" anything. Let the mega billion dollar corporation that dominates all others and dwarfs the economies of most countries in the world, pay their own investment way for the privilege to have this walk-to market cornered (like it does so many others).

When private business feed at the public trough

Submitted by Knoxgal on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 11:18pm.

When private businesses feed at the public trough, the government donating the funds - in this case the city - should maintain some control over the quality of the development. This should have been planned commercial so that MPC could have retained some oversight. Same with the Baptist Hospital development. Now the developer submits a plan then does whatever he wants. There should be some accountability.

Baptist Hospital Site

Submitted by Rachel on Thu, 2014/09/04 - 11:41pm.
(in reply to Knoxgal)

Just a quick bit of info. The Baptist site is covered by the South Waterfront form-based development code, so a planned commercial zone for it would make no sense (it's a mixed use zone under the FBC). As such it will have its details reviewed by the City staff. If the development doesn't meet the code, it won't be allowed to go forward. The code does NOT address architectural aesthetics, but it DOES address things like massing, lot coverage, the way the buildings address the street, parking placement and amount, signage, etc. See the City website for more details.

You know a lot more about this

Submitted by Knoxgal on Fri, 2014/09/05 - 6:13am.
(in reply to Rachel)

You know a lot more about this than I do and I appreciate the input. The new development will be better than what was there (I think) and I'm glad the restrictions you describe are in place, but it seems to me this is a rare opportunity to have something truly wonderful there, but judging by the plans I saw, it just isn't going to be.

Gasp

Submitted by Up Goose Creek on Fri, 2014/09/05 - 7:03am.

Here's where I admit I went and bought a phone at That Place. It was a surprisingly pleasant or at least tolerable shopping experience. I liked being able to parallel park on the street like a real downtown. It will be nice when the street level retail spaces get filled.

I know I know, it would be more of an urban experience if there was another building across the street but... railroad tracks.

It's great that the vol trolley goes by. Accessible shopping for all the downtown dwellers as well.

I haven't been in the Publix

Submitted by smalc on Fri, 2014/09/05 - 8:58am.

I haven't been in the Publix yet, but did do a walk through of Walmart before Publix opened. This was 2 or 3 days after classes started. There were maybe 10 customers in the store. I was surprised at how many groceries Walmart carried, being beside a grocery store.

I was surprised at how many

Submitted by KC on Fri, 2014/09/05 - 11:38pm.
(in reply to smalc)

I was surprised at how many groceries Walmart carried, being beside a grocery store.

Groceries are the retail "bait"(little profit margin) for the retail merchandise "hook" (Chinese made stuff ie bigger profit margin).

I thought Walmart is NOT

Submitted by michael kaplan on Sat, 2014/09/06 - 8:22am.
(in reply to KC)

I thought Walmart is NOT supposed to carry groceries at this location ...

Chinese (and other import) food is more and more common. Even orange juice at Kroger is now sourced abroad. This should be worrying farmers in Florida and California, but ...

For some reason, I also had

Submitted by bizgrrl on Sat, 2014/09/06 - 9:02am.
(in reply to michael kaplan)

For some reason, I also had the impression Walmart was not going to sell groceries at this location.

I think what California growers are most worried about right now is water.

Should you clarify Kroger brand orange juice versus orange juice at Kroger is sourced abroad? I'm pretty sure there are several brands or orange juice sold at Kroger that strictly use Florida/California oranges.

Yes, it's Kroger-brand juice

Submitted by michael kaplan on Sat, 2014/09/06 - 2:09pm.
(in reply to bizgrrl)

Yes, it's Kroger-brand juice from concentrate that is sourced (partially, at least) abroad. I believe Kroger-brand mandarin oranges (like most mandarin oranges) are sourced in China. And many of the clementine oranges (in bags) are sourced abroad as well.

One of the nice things about the food coop (TRM) is that products are clearly labeled as to their source. Most are local, regional, or at least domestic. Some (like fair-trade sugar, coffee or tea) are imported.

I'm gonna have to stop by the

Submitted by oldnorthknoxhippy on Sat, 2014/09/06 - 2:25pm.

I'm gonna have to stop by the Publix sometime when I'm on my way to Ashe's or Bob's to stock up on wine. Walmart sucks!

I wonder if Walmart and /or

Submitted by oldnorthknoxhippy on Sat, 2014/09/06 - 1:40pm.

I wonder if Walmart and /or Publix is going to sell wine. That would really be convenient for the students in the rent-a-buddy clubs (sororities & fraternities).

The moniker "University

Submitted by michael kaplan on Sun, 2014/09/07 - 6:21pm.

The moniker "University Commons" is in itself misspeak of the first order.

It is. It's jibberish. But

Submitted by Factchecker on Sun, 2014/09/07 - 10:39pm.
(in reply to michael kaplan)

It is. It's jibberish. But the logo is more irksome to me. I went to Publix today, BTW. That's a big store. Lots of people but not much vehicle traffic, which is a good thing. Could have parallel parked on the street or in the little lot opposite the building, but I wanted to try the garage. Pretty easy.

The store was pretty nice, I guess. The cafe didn't look like much of a threat to Starbucks. Lots of pump containers and some of the cups were styrofoam. The store had a cooler of dry ice for $1.49 a pound, IIRC. Don't know how much regular ice that would substitute for. Employees were super nice. Not much else worthy of discussion that I saw in my very limited walkthrough.

There is also Great Clips there that is apparently open, though I didn't see the storefront. Someone had one of those street signs that said haircuts are now $4.99. I didn't need one.

There was also a large, professional bandstand set up with a country band playing pretty loudly. Sponsored by the big anchor tenant chain and Campbell's Soup, apparently.

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