Fresh Thyme Farmers Market coming to Shelbyville Road

It's actually a grocery store but goes by the name Fresh Thyme Farmers Market. Business 1st announced in this afternoon's edition that they are going to open in the building that used to be Liquor Barn on Shelbyville Road in St. Matthew, across from 5 Guys. Here's the story from business 1st: http://www.bizjournals.com/undefined/lo ... 1447187895

Obviously Louisville is known as a food city but it seems like the grocery store scene for Organic markets like this is getting fairly crowded. I wonder if will eventually have one of them for one of the local market.

Interesting! Whole Foods and Rainbow Blossom have already been laying off lots of staff due to business being down. How many markets like this do we need?

Yes, we need lots of them. Here is why... Louisville is dominated by Kroger and Walmart. Yes, Walmart counts. Both are terrible unless you are just buying paper goods. Also Value market sucks unless you are picking up dry goods, or beer (highlands location only). I am a grocery store snob, but follow me here.

First of all we have many good stores, but in all the wrong locations. St. Matthews is over saturated, Middletown is over saturated. J-Town is over saturated.

However, with that being said here are the areas that should have had markets a long time ago.

Downtown: There are some awesome condos downtown that I would be living by now except for the drive to get groceries. People are still scared to shop downtown (afraid of the what people will hang around the store) Well there is already a scary Kroger if you count 2nd and Kentucky St. An upscale and/or organic store will attract the hipsters, condo dwellers and actual business employees. It would also help develop more living residences in NULU. I don't think crime (violent/nonviolent) would be as big of an issue as most people think. Other cities, much larger than ours have grocers or specialty markets downtown (Nashville, Cleveland) Both of which have their own problems with crimes, but their markets are safe and nice.

The Barret Corridor (Barret Ave. near Lynn's). My gosh I keep reading how Gemrman Town homes get swept up almost immediately after they go on the market. Well everybody keeps complaining that Lynn's hurt the area, but in reality there needs to be more than just some roadside attraction to bring people to the area. A market, hello people. (Maybe a Paul's or Trader Joes would be perfect for that area.

How about the Original Highlands: It's right next to the Barret Corridor. I mean we could use these stores. Valu Market may be local, but scary is scary and Valu Market drops the ball on so many levels. It takes too long to check out, the customer ration is 5 scary looking people to 1 respectable looking person. Also the best thing to buy is the beer (best prices in town for the selection). The meat and seafood look awful 80% of the time.

Highlanders plus all of the young couples in German Town would love a specialty grocery store, it would do wonders for the area and increase property value as well.

Crescent Hill: Again another area in need of a specialty store. There are many residents who need something in that area. Clifton has yet another scary Kroger and even with the face lift it will do no good.


Remember, I don't know everything. I am just a grocery store snob. I used to shop at Dorothy Lane Market (rated the #1 market in the U.S. several times) when I lived in Dayton, Ohio. It's so awesome that when I visit I shop there and bring back groceries on a 3 hour drive (they have those heat/cooler bags).

I tend to shop at the Fresh Market as they are the only upscale grocery store in Louisville. They tend to have the best meat/produce/fish in the area. They are not specifically organic (organic does not = upscale)

Look most people on here love Farm to Table or the fancy chef driven restaurants. They should want the same from there grocery store.

If it takes putting multiple stores in one location to get the idea that with a million plus in the metro and many moving back into the popular urban neighborhoods, it's time. I think these stores will keep theses neighborhoods thriving for years to come. Many (not all) people want walk-able neighborhoods which means they want to walk to pick up groceries as well, when it is possible. We are behind many U.S. cities when it comes to that. Let's get on the ball.

Cordially,

Grocery Snob

[Robin Garr]

I think a lot of what you say makes sense, Jason, but could you clarify what you mean by "scary"? Dirty Kroger is the closest to us, and while it's arguably not as attractive or as well stocked as St. Matthews Kroger, I've never really though of it as "scary." Ditto Valu in the Skid City Mall. "Scary"? Really? I'm honestly curious for a little more definition as to what kind of things scare you. My wife shops all by herself at both those places, and despite being arguably a little old lady, she reports no incidence of scariness. So help me out here ... what's up with the scary thing?

(If you could get us something like a NYC d'Agostino's on Frankfort somewhere around Heine Bros., though, I'll definitely sign on to help make it happen.

But do we really need lots of them when they are ALL in the same darn area of town?!?!

We live in Clifton and have no problems going to St Matthews to hit up a variety of stores......

I'd be happy with a Trader Joe's near the Beechmont or UofL areas.

Signed,
Grocery Hoi Polloi

With Kroger buying Mariano's in Chicago, wonder if they'll expand that concept? It's a phenomenal upscale store, with dining counters/service in most departments and the best service in the world - far above anything available in Louisville. I think for the next several years they'll be expanding in Chicago, but after that I hope Mariano's will make it's way elsewhere!

We are always grocery shopping because there are certain things we like (including price) from different stores. Earth Fare is our close to grocery when we need just a couple of things. I also buy some meats there, especially on sale. (We buy the protein specials very often.) Prefer going to Prospect Kroger - hate the parking lot/traffic at Springhurst. We don't go to Lucky's unless we're headed that way for something else. We like Trader Joe's and one or two items at Whole Foods. We forget to go to Fresher Market at the Watterson/42.

We try to buy one meal at a time with a few things on hand in freezer and pantry. We also seem to have so many events to buy meals for separate from our own dining (just two of us). We go to Costco for some items but some of their refrigerated/freezer items (based on samplings:-) seemed to have slipped in quality. Also, we will stop in Paul's.

You can see our life is very complicated (or we've made it complicated) and we spend several hours a week shopping for food but we enjoy that environment over most retail spaces - always need food:-). I have an excel shopping list for the items I like at each store. I keep a column empty for items I need that I can buy almost anywhere.

Have been lobbying for a Paul's around the Costco area. I wonder how much their business dropped/rebounded with the bridge issue this past summer?

But do we really need lots of them when they are ALL in the same darn area of town?!?!

We live in Clifton and have no problems going to St Matthews to hit up a variety of stores......

I agree. I'm headed to TJ from the Highlands tonight and do not consider it an insurmountable trek. When this new place opens, I'll check it out.

And while I'm not sure what Jason meant, I agree the ValuMarket in the Highlands is a mess. It isn't clean (unlike the Hurstbourne location), the registers/cards don't often work, staffing is iffy, and the pricing is out of whack. Why is a Jones soda 8-pack $3.59 at Kroger but over $7 at VM? There are a lot of items like that. Good beer and Sungeros coffee, but that's about it.

I live in the Highlands and I will totally check it out. I don't love either the Bardstown Rd. Kroger or the Germantown Kroger (especially during the renovations). The Value Market at Mid City Mall is pretty limited too. So, we shop at various farmers markets and once a week we trek out to Lucky's. When we need staples we drop in to Kroger (about once a month).

I like the idea of this store and if this place is well-stocked and the prices are right, I'm in. I would prefer to shop local but Rainbow Blossom is just too expensive for us (though we do stop in when we need specialty products). I go to Whole Foods about 4 times a year to pick up brands that I can't find elsewhere. Same thing with Trader Joe's.

I hope that the developers working on the Phoenix Hill apartments really do try to get in a grocery store on its first floor and I would LOVE it if a decent place opened up downtown- it would save us about 20-30 minutes in our grocery commute.

To clarify what does "scary kroger" mean. It is just one of the many names given to Krogers over the years by people who shop there. I am from Ohio and have heard many names for Krogers such as: K-Rogers, Scary Krogers, Krogetto. I have never heard of dirty krogers until I moved to Louisville.

Anyways for me scary krogers means a place where some employees/customers just don't look right. The checkout lanes take forever and most u-scans are not fully operational, buying milk can be risky because employees do not keep the back of the refrigerator doors closed. Produce may look good, but when you go to eat, only about 5% is edible. Everybody on here must know what I am saying.

As for Valu Market in the highlands, lets not kid ourselves, most Highlanders are not shopping there for weekly groceries. I have seen people arrested by the cops inside the store 3 times since I lived here. Once a man was running through the store screaming it's an emergency while holding himself, on his way to the bathroom. They never have enough cashiers and there is always something wrong with the U-Scan. Also other than beer everything is over priced. Scary, Dirty, or whatever you want to call a bad grocery store tend to overcharge for most items. Valu Market does not have competitive prices and offers little difference in product than the major chains.

We all know the difference between good and bad grocery stores. It's time Original Highlands/Gemrnatown/Paris Town area gets something respectable. I know it is not hard to drive to St. Matthew, but why drive when I could walk. I absolutely hate driving. I know others who think like me. Ha.

There are other grocery snobs on here. Let's unite to bring a store with amazing food product. The last time I bought meat or fish at Krogers was, well I don't remember when. Our local chefs would not shop at these stores if they had an awesome upscale store. You can't get everything at a farmers market, especially in January.

The only store I have ever shopped at in town that I would call scary is "Crack Kroger" (is this the same as "Kroghetto"?) at 2nd and Kentucky. Not only is it ridiculously small and understocked (where are the vegetables?!?) but the area is unsafe at night. I went there when I first moved here in 2006 a little too late at night. Realizing it was going to be about a 1/2 hour wait for a bus down to Old Louisville, I just walked. Met up with a young woman who was too scared to walk alone, so she joined me but left when she met a young man she knew who proudly showed me the gun he was carrying for protection. So no more evening trips to Kroger for me!

I really do want to see better options downtown (and I am sure in the West End as well). While many of us can afford to drive/take a cab for better grocery options, those living in less affluent circumstances have little access to a good variety of fresh, healthy food. The sad thing is, it is going to take the changing demographics in areas like downtown to accomplish such changes.

Median household income for Jefferson Co is something like $45,000 a year. For Oldham Co it's $83 K. We got squat out here for gourmet markets. Plenty of space.

Median household income for Jefferson Co is something like $45,000 a year. For Oldham Co it's $83 K. We got squat out here for gourmet markets. Plenty of space.

Unfortunately while the facts you stated may be true there is a lot more that goes into site selection for this type of store. The median income for the entire county really doesn't have much effect. They look at the median income and population density within a given distance of the proposed store location. The distance varies from chain to chain, for example, I'm sure the distance of much less for stores like Kroger that it is for Whole Foods etc. I would guess that the population density is the big reason that Oldham County has not yet been selected.

You folks want to talk about decent grocery options try living in Bullitt County. Sure we have loads of stores, Kroger, Walmart, Dollar Market and now Priceless within a 10 minute drive and Meijer just a bit further but if I want to go to Lucky's , TJ's or Pauls it takes planning...even Costco is on the other side of town ( I prefer Costco to Sams) Thank goodness we don't mind the drive, we even drive to Boone's in Bardstown for meat every couple of months. I drive rather than spend what budget we have on inferior food. Since we have been paying closer attention to quality we have both lost weight and feel better.