Tag: vons

The Smart and Final saga concludes: A victory for the Fresno master plan!

I actually began writing this post in early April, and was getting ready to publish under a VERY different title: “Fresno caves on proposed shopping development – goodbye master plan, we barely knew you.”

But here we are in June, and what at early glance appeared to be a swift win for a suburban developer, and a loss for the residents of Fresno actually has ended up with a happy ending for all involved, well, almost all. As far as land use planning goes, this was one exciting ride.
 
It all began in mid-March, when the Fresno Bee ran an article on a proposed development on Blackstone and Clinton: Click to read more!

Supermarket Blight

Many urban areas have to deal with a problem of not enough supermarkets, especially in poorer areas. I’ve heard, but don’t know if it’s true, that Detroit doesn’t have a single national supermarket retailer. In Boston, the North End (not poor by any measure) has been searching for a major supermarket for years. In DC, large portions of the center have no access to large grocers. This phenomenon is called a “food desert” and a lot of time is put into trying to lure retailers into under-served areas.

Fresno is not like that. Oddly enough, Fresno is jam-packed with huge supermarkets, many in very close proximity. Here is a list of most (I may have forgotten a few!) grocery chains that serve Fresno. This doesn’t include small, local stores. All of the following brands are major chains with multiple locations in the area. Click to read more!