Capital City Grocery - What’s the Deal?

Capital City Grocery usually sends out an email newsletter each week about deals and specials at the locally owned grocery. This has not occurred since October 22nd when they announced their last Friday night musical performance for the summer. Should we start to worry about the future of the grocery?

The current owners are the second to attempt to maintain an independently run grocery in downtown. It seems very logical that it would succeed, since it is within walking distance from both Oakwood and Mordecai (thanks Burt) neighborhoods. Sadly this doesn’t seem to be the case. I have walked in and out empty-handed three out of four times in the past few weeks and had to drive two or three more miles to get small items that should be stocked on a daily basis. The first few answers from the workers were, “We only stock on X day, therefore we are just low.” After a couple of trips with the same result, it seemed like more than just a stocking problem.

So here’s the latest word as I know it: Capital City is undergoing a transference of ownership, once again. There is the desire to buy part of the business from one of the owners, but that owner doesn’t want to sell his/her share. The problem with the empty shelves is that, as I was told, a lien has been put on the company and they cannot buy anything else until things are settled. This sounds quite messy, and it’s sad to see the company having problems. I’m sure a lot of you have opinions about Capital City, your experiences there and desires for the future of the space. I personally think it’s a perfect place for a grocery store, but I guess the economy may be catching up with it… and a few other companies in downtown (more on that to come).

Acree11/11 11:41 AM

Great. Now I feel guilty about all those trips to Harris Teeter.

JLV11/11 12:00 PM

I received a newsletter on 11-5. I love the butcher. I love the brunch.

Erin11/11 12:59 PM

I’ve been doing a price comparison of different grocery stores in the Raleigh area and reviewing them on my blog (consiousshopper.blogspot.com), and I found that Capital City’s grocery prices were so much higher than everywhere else that it just didn’t make sense to shop there, although I really wanted to based on their great customer service and my desire to support an independent local business.

Maybe the location could be turned into Raleigh’s own food co-op.

rk11/11 01:26 PM

agree with Erin. downtown is all for having a grocery store downtown, but the prices can’t be that jacked. the higher tax bracket crowd still shops with sensibility. teeter and fresh market haven’t failed anybody yet. i was glad to see Capital City Grocery open, but i have no reason to pay $4-5 premium on a 12 pack of Sierra Nevada.

mk11/11 02:33 PM

Downtown Raleigh would benefit more from a food co-op. I went to Capital City many times before all of this so-called mess and walked out empty handed most. I don’t think they every catered well to the actual community directly surrounding them. There are ways to stock local and wholesome food that is consistently fresh, and this is what people in this area want. I hope as things transition they take some lessons from Weaver St. Market.

Clyde Smith11/11 02:55 PM

A food coop would be nice but it really has nothing to do with this business.

They’re doing a for-profit thing where they want to make a lot of money and their rent is probably way too high for them to ever do well at that location until that part of town can support an upscale grocery.

Raleigh could use a food coop but the old one wasn’t competitive and as soon as Whole Foods came to town it was crushed. But that’s not a workable location for a coop due to size and rent.

On a broader note: this coming period is going to be interesting. A lot more of these new businesses are going to close and there’s going to be a lot more empty space downtown.

I’ve been checking out spaces for an alternative arts project in the downtown area but I think rents are way out of line and speculative at this point. I’m advising folks to wait and see since there may be some negotiation space once the economy spirals down a bit more and the elation of Obama’s election fades.

It’s sad but there’s going to have to be some real pain to open things back up to the community or we’re just going to end up with a downtown that is only for the upper classes.

Of course, that would be a great reason to pick my Mighty Marker back up!

Sidenote on Weaver St.:
Last I heard they were moving their baking facilities out of town so they could get cheaper labor effectively cutting out a bunch of bike riding workers that can’t make it out to the sticks where poorer, lower paid workers are available.

But it’s a great place to shop!

Matthew Brown11/12 12:32 PM

It would certainly be possible for a grocery to succeed in the Cap City space, but it would have be done right. Which it hasn’t. The first owner had a store at the beach and stocked Cap City with the same stuff, e.g., rows of tiny bottles of barbecue sauce and tiny boxes of cereal. The second owner was not an experienced grocery man but just wanted a cool place with a sushi bar and a full-time barista and fancy mango preserves and wide aisles and special events, etc.

The key to success for a grocery store is to have enough stock that people can do all their shopping there unless they need an obscure specialty item. Then there is a nice big base of regular customers. With this volume of business, the prices can be lower. This model has not been tried at Cap City.

There is room in this space for three times as many items as it has now. We don’t need wide aisles with nobody in them. We don’t need a sushi bar. We don’t need tiny expensive boxes of kashi. We need quality basics in economically-sized packages.

This wheel does not need to be re-invented. This store could stock exactly what Harris-Teeter stocks, minus some of the junk like the candy bar aisle, minus the pharmacy, and minus a few specialty items. Then everybody inside the beltline and east of Capital Blvd. would shop there every week.

Where would all of this stuff fit? There is plenty of room, if you pack it in like they do in Manhattan or most cities around the world.

To its credit, Cap City has good quality stuff and great service. The meat and produce are good and fresh, the deli is good, the hot bar is good. The staff is very nice and helpful. I go there every week, but that’s because I travel mostly by bicycle and Cap City is closer than anywhere else.

There are other small issues. Peace College no longer allows people to walk across its campus, so Cap City is a longer hike than it needs to be from much of Oakwood.

The owner of the Seaboard shopping center is committed to making this store work. He is a co-owner of the store, so probably charges no rent at this point. He just needs to get a nice Asian family to run it, as they do in other cities. They run successful stores in spaces much smaller than this.

Clyde Smith11/12 02:48 PM

Matthew, thanks. I haven’t spent enough time or talked to people to know the details of what’s happening.

Except for the oddball Asian grocer comment and the questionable assummption that the owner of the shopping area who co-owns the store isn’t charging rent (maybe, maybe not), you really do a nice job of presenting what they could do in the context of what they’ve done.

Jedidiah11/12 03:04 PM

FYI - I received the weekly newsletter today…for what that matters.

Jennifer11/12 03:38 PM

I KNEW there was something up, my boyfriend and I went in about 2 weeks ago looking for wine and cheese and it looked like the place had been robbed, very eery. When we asked the cashier what was up she gave us a canned, uncomfortable response of “oh, I am sorry was there something you couldn’t find.”

Jeff S11/12 10:20 PM

Yea… everyone wants a downtown grocery, but in a town where virtually everyone who lives downtown gets in their car and drives somewhere to work it’s going to be a tough sell. See, every one of those people pass probably a dozen grocery stores on their way home. They’re going to stop there to get cheaper food, the 6 different boxes of kids cereal and four different sodas. Then, when they get home and realize they forgot the butter they will run out to the local shop. That’s not going to keep them in business. —————- It’s a chicken and egg problem, and until you see people downtown walking or biking to stores the atmosphere just isn’t there to support it.

Claire11/15 09:11 PM

“When we asked the cashier what was up she gave us a canned, uncomfortable response of “oh, I am sorry was there something you couldn’t find.””

Maybe they’re tired of explaining what’s up to everyone who comes in the store. I saw a very large colored man yell at one of these sweet ladies because they were out of something or other. I feel bad for them.

Jon M11/16 12:05 PM

What color was he?

prohiphop11/16 12:34 PM

And a big ProHipHop tip o’ the hate to Jon M!

prohiphop11/16 12:36 PM

Freudian slip:
I meant tip o’ the “hat” cause you ain’t doing the hating.

Margo11/16 06:45 PM

I workout at Seaboard Fitness, so I try to patronize Cap City Grocery and do a two-fer on my trip. I ran in last weekend for a bottle of flavored coffee syrup. I asked the girl at the counter what’s up and she said that the staff is pretty much left in the dark. They’re getting no communication from the owners/management, and are really uncomfortable answering the questions from customers. It sounded like whomever is doing the buying wasn’t good at planning and tracking inventory…which led to the $ problems.

I’ve got grocery people in the family, from Big Bear, Kroger, Giant Food and Whole Foods. Margins are slim, typically around 1% overall, so you have to be excellent at inventory management. If you’re not, you’re dead in the water. Are the owners grocery people or are they business people who thought a grocery store was a good idea? Anyone know?

Marcus Morton11/22 03:06 PM

Sadly we are closing as of Saturday (11/22/08)

rocky11/23 09:57 PM

The owners had no previous grocery experience.

Marcus11/23 10:04 PM

Rocky,,

That pretty clear. Didn’t they just close.

Leave it alone. why waste your time talking about something that no longer exist.

get a f’‘ing life dude.

Who am I you ask….. I just lost my job.

rocky11/24 10:44 AM

I got a f’ing life dude..sounds like you need one.

Marcus11/24 11:31 AM

I have a life. I’m not trying to post on forums to get my two cents. I’m correcting others two cents, which could qualify me as an editor.
I’ve worked there so I know what you think you know.

As long as you don’t reply specifically and reply generally, I have no reason to edit your mistakes.

LASTLY, the business is closed. why even spend your time post a comment? Can you answer that?

prohiphop11/24 11:39 AM

Marcus, Raleigh residents have every right and even the responsibility to look closely at why businesses that are attempting to serve them fail.

If the city’s going to put tax dollars into certain properties and work with specific businesses, as they’ve done with The Mint, it’s incumbent on us as citizens to figure out what the heck is going on so we can become involved as educated citizens.

Yeah, there’s a lot of petty discussion on here but it’s a blog, after all, and we’re going to talk about what we want.

If you have problems with that, maybe you’re the one that should ask yourself why you’re here?

Marcus11/24 12:10 PM

Prohiphop,

First of all, I never said I had a problem with the comments. I just want to know why are people talking about a business that closed. I don’t see any comments talking about the last couple of months with the empty shelves. soon as it close, pages fill up with comments assuming reasons we have closed.
I know why I’m here… I’m just asking why the comments after and not before we closed. That’s all.

I’ve said my piece.. Keep my name out of your postings.

That was the last question I had to ask and you’ve just answered it. so I’m sure… you can carry on just keep my name non-existent… Please
Ooh, far as your comment “it’s incumbent on us as citizens to figure out what the heck is going on so we can become involved as educated citizens.”, you are absolutely right and I agree but why try to be educated as to why it closed and not seek ways the community can help keep it open. maybe you should ask yourself which side of fence your supporting?

Jeff S11/24 01:07 PM

Marcus, you’re not even making sense. There was a SINGLE comment made after the closing until you started complaining.

Marcus11/24 01:15 PM

Ok Jeff,

I really don’t give a damn. Keep my name from your comments. whats’ done has been done. I have a right to my opinion whether it comes across to others as right or wrong

Geezz… to hell with it

Jeff S11/24 01:35 PM

No, you clearly do care or you wouldn’t be here throwing a tantrum about it. Way to be assertive about your right to be wrong though… I’m sure that attitude will get you hired on at Food Lion in no time.

Marcus11/24 01:45 PM

Actually,

I don’t care. I care when your comments are aimed at me. that’s when I care. as long s you keep my name out of your mouth, I don’t care what you have to say.
and far as your Food Lion comment, don’t start insulting me ok. that’s a way of saying that is all I’m worth. you don’t know me so please don’t go there.

Keep my name out of your comments then I won’t have to care.

prohiphop11/24 02:10 PM

Marcus, don’t talk to us if we can’t talk to you.

That’s just stupid and childish.

By the way I’ve switched to prohiphop so that my name isn’t confused with others but my comments begin above as Clyde Smith when I first started commenting here.

As you’ll see I joined the conversation focused on what this means for Raleigh, how other projects might or might not work. Just talking out loud with my fellow citizens.

And that includes you, Marcus.

Marcus11/24 02:31 PM

alllllrrrrriiigggghhhhttt prohiphop.

I don’t want to be apart of this back and forth mess ok. DON NOT INCLUDE MY NAME IN YOUR COMMENTS. that’s all I’m asking

I said what I had to say.

you must want a comment from me because you keep mentioning my name when I am specially saying I don’t want to be apart of this.
Get it now?

prohiphop11/24 02:31 PM

You know what, I want to apologize for saying that another commenters comments were “stupid and childish”.

This person is obviously in a lot of pain and I will no longer refer to him or her by name, respond to his or her comments or acknowledge his or her existence in this context.

Best of luck to whoever wishes to accept it.

It’s unfortunate that in this time of looming job shortages in such sectors as retail that are going to be devastated this Christmas with huge job slashes after, that workers fell prey to harsh times at a poorly managed store in a shopping center whose feng shui is so totally f*cked up.

David11/24 03:33 PM

Marcus, please read our comment policy and see this definition http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=troll

janet4912/20 09:58 AM

OK - this is for Margo from 11/16—you said that you had family in grocery ie Big Bear….do you happen to know what ever happened to Big Bears receipes?? Specifically their original barbecue sauce?? I bought up as much as I could when they went out of business and stuck it in the freezer and I’m finally running out of it. There is NO sauce around to compare! If you know of where to get it or the receipe I’d gladly pay for it!!

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Jedidiah Monday, November 10, 2008