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New Downtown Vons: Thinking Outside the Retail Box by Brian Ulaszewski | Design In Place | 02.16.10 |
+ I’m lucky that when walking from my downtown office to my home in the Alamitos Beach neighborhood, I can detour just half a block to reach a grocery store and pick up daily essentials. This store—the Vons at the intersection of Broadway and Atlantic—is not a full-service supermarket, but does carry most of our regular necessities. Until 2002, when a full-service Albertson’s opened a quarter mile away, this quaint Vons was the largest market in the area. Additional competitors have appeared since that time, particularly given the expansion of the Ralph’s at 4th and Orizaba, as well as the opening of a Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market at 7th and Nebraska. The Vons building had featured a façade with floor-to-ceiling windows and an arched ceiling with laminated wood beams; such elements are common in grocery store buildings designed in beach towns in the 1960s (another example is the Big Lots store at 7th Street and Junipero). But in response to the growing competition, this past January the Vons Corporation began transforming the Broadway and Atlantic building into a full-service grocery store—complete with deli counter, bakery, and built-in Starbucks. Slated to take nine months, this renovation and expansion is so extensive that the result will be, in effect, an entirely new store.  Image credit: KKE Architects One of the most striking changes to be wrought by this transformation will involve parking. The plot of land on which the Vons lies takes up half of a city block; since the expanded supermarket will cover nearly the entire property, it will feature a rooftop parking lot. In doing so, Vons will bring a kind of urbanism to the corporate retail box, one with few precedents in Long Beach. However, for the past decade medium- and large-scale retailers like Best Buy, Home Depot, and Target have begun to explore smaller and denser development sites in southern California. In so doing, they have recognized that massive singe-story retail boxes set behind expansive fields of parking require large properties no longer readily available in the area. They have, in effect, started thinking “out of the box” regarding parking for the retail box itself. City Place, Long Beach’s downtown six-block retail zone, illustrates the more conventional approach to locating big-box retail in urban centers, an approach that can be seen in area cities like Huntington Beach, Brea, and Burbank. Such sites are large enough for retail chain stores to build according to their standard floor plans. Parking is then located in adjacent structures, with capacity similar to that of the standard lots stretching in front of suburban stores. This approach typically works well because the first level of the parking structures has sufficient capacity for most of the year. Another approach, one encountered in some cases of more dense retail development and the approach chosen by Vons for their renovation at Broadway and Atlantic, is to provide parking on the roof (or underneath) the retail box. This solution can be more complicated, as the buildings in question must be designed to accommodate the dynamic load of moving cars on the roof. Few know that the Ralph's Market and Best Buy at the Marina Pacific on Pacific Coast Highway have a level of parking below. The most extreme cases of this design involve stacking multiple retail boxes on top of each other to create a multi-level retail center. The current economic troubles have halted some planned retails centers of this nature in Los Angeles and San Diego, but one that has been built is the West Hollywood Gateway. This development includes a Beverages and More and Best Buy on the ground floor, with a Target department store above. These multi-level retail centers require significant creativity and coordination to address issues ranging from multiple loading docks to “branding” the architecture to fit the needs of each store. Multi-level retail centers are the most complicated, expensive, and rare examples of “out of the box” retail development, but are increasingly being considered in contexts where shifting urban demographics have created underserved communities with more disposable income. Even other possibilities arise in urban environments like San Francisco or Chicago, where pedestrian-intensive environments with strong public transit make parking less essential. But even the smaller-scale vision of a Vons grocery store with parking on top represents an important example of thinking “outside the box” that holds great promise for more vibrant urban life—in Long Beach and beyond.
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13 Comments so far.
Manny Vons is in luck! I hear Alan Lowenthal has a special on parking this month! Maureen It's about time this transition happens in Long Beach. I'm from San Francisco and even way out in the Avenues where land is (relatively) cheaper, the markets are putting parking on the roofs and underground. It was a tough transition for some of the old guard, but they made it. The other aspect of these retail outlets is the recognition that sales may be less than, say a suburban environment, but they can still turn a tidy profit. I think there was a time in the 1980s when profits got so large, retailers got lazy. Now, they have to work and be creative to stay in the game. Long Beach can benefit from this new turn of events. Dave in Alamitos Beach I'm all for any development that doesn't feature parking as it's main design feature. It seems so much of Long Beach (and frankly Southern California) is just one endless expanse of unshaded asphalt. Putting the pedestrian experience first is a terrific development, even if it's almost accidental as is the case here. Malou Mariano I am quite happy that this project is happening a block away from where I live. It has been a much awaited feature ... Niki Parking lots can be aesthetically pleasing, environmentally-friendly, and serve their basic purpose of convenience for the customer. They can also effectively manage onsite stormwater (rain run-off), be a light color instead of black to minimize the heat island effect, and have trees to provide shade and humidity. Other cities encourage this type of parking. Long Beach can too. Anonymous Will there be bike racks? Vons is expensive It may not be too related to the story, but Vons is already expensive. I have to go there sometimes and always am disappointed by the high price of non-organic produce, and even their prepacked chemical food. I was in there one day and the lady at the checkout was talking to the other employee about how she ONLY makes $20 an hour. I worked at a groercy store as a teenager and made a little over minimum wage and was happy. Here she was chatting up a storm not even acknowledging me and the other customers complaining how much money she makes. I don't know how they stay in business, who wants overpriced food and lousy service? Anonymous Niki, your tastes are different then mine. All parking lots are ugly. We need less of them, or at least hide them. Ryan P To "VOns is Expensive", I agree with you on the employees in grocery stores. Every time I go to any grocery store (not just Vons) all I hear is "When is my break?" "Did Bob go on break because mine is next?". Thse people make a killing scanning groceries for a LIVING because of their union. My sister in law has worked at Stater Bros. for about six years now and makes $25 an hour as a checker. She has a Bachelor's in Architecture but stays at Stater Bros. because the pay is better! Back on topic: Have any of you ever been to West Hollywood? Now there is an urban city with NO parking. The local Ralphs over there solved this problem by making a parking lot on the roof, just as Vons will be doing here. The system works very well once you get used to waiting for an elevator with your shopping cart! :) Check out this map to see what I am talking about: http://www.bing.com/maps/explore/#5003/0.6002=l:1233+N+La+Brea+Ave%0d%0aWest+Hollywood,+CA+90038:lat:34.0859143158723:long:-118.375999451:nosp:0:adj:0&o=&a=0/5872/style=be&lat=ppg1nw&lon=5444m6&alt=59.48637&z=20&h=172.546163&pid=5874 CHARLIE Personally Walmart is my shopping mart - they have everything at tremendous savings as does Ralph's for groceries; The only thing that would make them better & safer is coverded parking with security armed guards to keep the thieves, loones & beggers out, and electic go-carts for the big shoppers & handicapped... Joseph E This looks like a nice design, at least according to the drawings. I hope the finished product uses good materials and landscaping. The windowns and awnings on one side look nice and will be pleasant to walk by. The blank wall on the other street won't be bad if the plants growing on the walls and awnings provide shade and soften the windowless wall. This developement is a big step up for Long Beach, showing recognition that our city is dense enough to use the land for people rather than parking lots. Perhaps in another 10 years we will see grocery stores rebuilt with apartments and condos above, smaller retail on the side street (instead of a brick wall), and the parking underground. Vons is more expensive than Fresh & Easy or Top Valu, where I usually stop, but I will be checking it out for the high-quality produce and seafood and specialty groceries. And I hope they stock some good local beers. linden resident IM EXCITED! i don't want to wait 8 more months MikeBH The elevations shown are very missleading. It looks like there are lost of window and natural light in the building. If you look at the floor plans you would see that they are fake and that it is a solid wall behide them. So much for open and inviting!!
Design In Place
Brian Ulaszewski searches for sense of place in the built environment and the social architecture that is created through it. He will investigate the urban context of Long Beach and its wider relation to global, regional and local change.
Brian Ulaszewski practices architecture, planning and urban design in Long Beach, projects ranging in size and scope from city master planning to small loft conversions. He has a background in architecture, historic preservation, transportation and land-use planning. Brian is a member of the Long Beach Design Forum and a board member of the Gateway Cities Affordable Housing Coalition. (photo credit: Russ Roca)
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