The next grocery in Bridgeport will be … well, nothing for the time being.

 

You should know that I sat in a meeting recently, a secret one, with Bridgeport officials and developers from White Oaks, Charles Pointe, the Meadowbrook Mall, the Home Depot Plaza, Gabe’s Plaza, and several others.

The whole purpose of the meeting was so the group could be in unanimity as far as making sure they were all on the same page – no new grocery stores in Bridgeport.

 

If you’re scratching your head, and think what I just wrote is ridiculous, or perhaps I just made it up, here is what you need to know. Do not scratch your head because it is ridiculous, and I MADE IT UP.

 

It is a straight fabrication. Or as us old folks like to call it, a lie.

 

Now, for those questioning why I just laid out a whooper of a development tale, allow me to explain. Rather, let me explain for at least the fourth time in this blog in the past 10-plus years as well as on countless other occasions.

 

No one is conspiring or stopping to keep a grocery store or stores from coming to Bridgeport. For those scratching your head again as to why I am stating this, allow me to explain.

 

Whenever we post a story on Connect-Bridgeport about a new business, particularly one at the aforementioned developments, along with the complaints about the city not needing said business or the city should stop it because it is not needed (more fodder for a future blog), there is a close to 100 percent chance someone is going to ask why the city does not get a grocery store.

 

Understand, I am not talking about those who are disappointed that a new business we are profiling is not a grocery store. I get that. Some folks want convenience to a large grocery store chain in the city limits for any number of reasons, including avoiding the mess that is Emily Drive and Route 50, in an area more easily accessible to them.

 

Rather, this is directed at those who believe the developers are either not recruiting grocery stores to come or – and yes this happens on occasion in the comments on our social media platforms leading to debates not rooted in fact – the city and the developers are turning them away.

 

Grocery stores are, they have been, and they will continue to be recruited. If it was as simple as just picking up the phone and saying, “We’ve got the land, come on down,” then there would be no need to revisit this yet again.

 

For anyone who does not think Charles Pointe, White Oaks, the mall or anyone else with property available would not welcome a large grocery store chain to their development does not understand development. Actually, attempts to break it down in the past has been an effort in futility to a few, and I imagine this blog will probably qualify again on the futility front.

 

Grocery stores are diamonds to development. They draw traffic and, according to a national study done in November by Attom Data Solutions, they greatly increase residential property values if one is near you. So, why on earth do some continue to think developers and city officials are not making any effort.

 

In past blogs, I have talked to local developers, county and statewide officials, and even national retail experts that explained things such as rooftop studies, required demographics, median level of incomes, locations to metropolitan areas that many grocery store chains follow and require to even consider a site. For many of the biggest and most desired grocery store brands, Bridgeport, West Virginia and most  of the state do not match up with those requirements..

 

Even with people way above me in the paygrade and knowledge scale on the development front explaining how it breaks down, there were still a handful of comments that those experts and developers were wrong. After all, (and this was said) someone knew of a Whole Foods store in a city of 1,000 in the backwoods of North Dakota. A quick Google search several years back showed there was no Whole Foods in the entire state.

 

Speaking of Whole Foods, a few years ago, I did back-to-back blogs on that grocer and Trader Joe’s that included a unique link on their Web site. The link was asking where individuals would like to see the next one of their locations to be situated. The blogs were wildly popular on the numbers front so I am assuming there had to be a surge of local people who filled out the response.

 

Even though Bridgeport did not meet the demographic requirements for those two chains, I figured to give it a shot. I filled out the request link on both stores and even put in a media request for interviews from both. That was at least two years ago – I am still waiting to hear back from them.

 

As noted, and repeating again because someone will take this wrong, this is not for those who are just frustrated about having just one full-time grocer in the city limits. It is about those also noted above and those who believe the city should recruit businesses.

 

I should point out that when Food Fresh went out of the former Valley Hills Shopping Plaza (now The Square), city officials actually broke protocol and tried to recruit grocers to look at available locations in Bridgeport. The result was the same as when development folks made the attempt – nothing.

 

Let me be clear that a city’s job is not to recruit business. Rather, a city’s job is to make the business environment strong enough with proper incentives and infrastructure that business wants to come here and a developer can better do their job.

 

For those who believe the City of Bridgeport is failing on that front, again, you are going to have to put forth a convincing argument to the contrary. Bridgeport, a city of less than 10,000 people, usually has more than $50 million in development through building permits every year. That goes back for decades and does not appear to be slowing down.

 

The city has a ripe environment, arguably the best in the state, for development. There is a reason you see about a half dozen new business stories each month on this Web site – and it is not by accident.

 

They are brought in by developers. Or the business approaches the developer because Bridgeport is a good place to do business. And once that happens, those developers and the business work with the city many times on incentive packages that are available to most new business entities.

 

Perhaps you will see another grocery store in the city, even one where its required demographics do not match. Heck, I want one too. Just understand if it happens, it is not because a meeting took place like the one at the start of this blog. Besides, if a meeting like that did happen, I would not be invited.