Grand Slam C-Store

[scooterj]

Sorry if this was mentioned elsewhere and I missed it...

I noticed the other day that the surface lot on the west side of Grand Slam Liquors had been dug up.  I finally remembered to check Kiva this morning, it looks like Grand Slam is building a convenience store on that site. 

http://kivaweb.kcmo.org/kivanet/2/permi ... 3&jur=KCMO

[MidWestSider]

They have signs up..  "Grand Slam Convenience Store with Gas"

[Czar]

I dont think homeless people have a great desire to buy gasoline except in small quantities for "huffing"

[bahua]

Wow. The guy at PC Warehouse told me that they were going to expand into that lot that abuts 6th.

[DaveKCMO]

maybe they'll sell RAM, petrol, and malt liquor all under one roof?

[moderne]

Hope thise does not mean that Grand Slam will demo the old building they are currently in.

[scooterj]

Hopefully it will come equipped with a plethora of highly visible surveillance cameras and frighten off all the crackheads that used to loiter in that lot.

[RiverMarketDweller]

Hopefully it will come equipped with a plethora of highly visible surveillance cameras and frighten off all the crackheads that used to loiter in that lot.

Agree Anyway the city could stop Grand Slam from selling single cans of beer and min-bar size bottles of liquor?  Many of the car break-ins on Grand have to be related to the desire to purchase these products.

[FangKC]

I see this as a good sign. Perhaps the store will be an upgrade and more like a Quik Trip, which I think is the Lexus/Cadillac of convenience stores.

Maybe the new configuration will allow them to better monitor the people hanging around the store. It would be ideal if the cashier could see all the activity easily so they could phone the cops when there's trouble.

They should put in some sort of electric grid with a link to a computer screen with squares that light up with known-hooligans approach the store.  Then the clerk could press that square and it would send an irritating shock wave into the feet of the ne'ers-do-well and send them in the other direction.  Or they could simply drop out of sight. 

We will need another gas station anyway to replace the Valero on Locust and 10th once it's knocked down.  It's important to have those services nearby to keep the last remaining station at 6th and Central in a price-war so as not to take advantage of Loopies.

NOTE: Fang just coined a new word for people living inside the downtown loop, and I lay claim for this usage should it ever come into wide-acceptance. It might be my only legacy. 

"Oh Jennifer is a true Loopie."

[FangKC]

I do hope the older Grand Slam Building will be preserved. It is one of the few old buildings left downtown that are of the retail/overhead housing variety, and it has a French Second Empire roof and Victorian architecture.  It would make a neat little space for a retail shop or restaurant with an apartment above.

[Gretz]

I asked them about this construction a week or two ago and they said that they hoped to be open around thanksgiving.  They didn't indicate any branding/franchising plans but I didn't grill them really.

I dont think homeless people have a great desire to buy gasoline except in small quantities for "huffing"

  Really?  Cause it seems like they are, "out of gas," half the time when I walk by. 

[FangKC]

I hope they pick Inter-City Oil Company. 

[Alex]

Hopefully it will come equipped with a plethora of highly visible surveillance cameras and frighten off all the crackheads that used to loiter in that lot.

I don't think homeless people have a great desire to buy gasoline except in small quantities for "huffing"

I do hope the older Grand Slam Building will be preserved. It is one of the few old buildings left downtown that are of the retail/overhead housing variety, and it has a French Second Empire roof and Victorian architecture.  It would make a neat little space for a retail shop or restaurant with an apartment above.

Maybe they'll just board up the windows and doors on the old building and leave it standing. The crackheads can then break in and set up a small pay-to-park surface lot so they can afford but gas for huffing. I know the transients are already pretending they work at the lot adjacent to NV 

[FangKC]

One has to admire them for at least pretending to work (which is effort after all), and acting as entrepeneurs.

[dangerboy]

Agree Anyway the city could stop Grand Slam from selling single cans of beer and min-bar size bottles of liquor?  Many of the car break-ins on Grand have to be related to the desire to purchase these products.

I was recently in Denver and read in article in their alt.weekly about how gentrification was turning cheap liquor stores frequented by addicts into upscale wine/beer emporiums.  As more affluent people moved into formerly run-down neighborhoods they demand posher booze and the 40s of Colt 45 naturally gave way to Stella Artois and merlot.

In other words, the market was taking care of the perceived problem, not the government.

[Beermo]

I was recently in Denver and read in article in their alt.weekly about how gentrification was turning cheap liquor stores frequented by addicts into upscale wine/beer emporiums.  As more affluent people moved into formerly run-down neighborhoods they demand posher booze and the 40s of Colt 45 naturally gave way to Stella Artois and merlot.

In other words, the market was taking care of the perceived problem, not the government.

stella is crap. only thing upscale about it is the price.

[WSPanic]

stella is crap. only thing upscale about it is the price.

That is 100% untrue. The glass they serve it in is also upscale.

[chrizow]

Stella is tasty but not worth $8.50 per sixer.  however, since it runs about $4-5 on tap just like Blvd and even inferior beers like Blue Moon or whatever, i'll have one on occasion, although i prefer not to drink out of the Stella goblet.  Stella = "Tasty But Generically 'Import'" beer.

[LenexatoKCMO]

I think eurpean lagers have a hard time justifying a premium price for most US customers given that we are conditioned to think of lager beer as a mass produced commodity that should always come available in aluminum cans for bargain prices. 

[Gretz]

Stella is shit.  I'm always shocked at it's price and image here, since it was always the cheapest shit on tap at any bar I visited in Germany or France, and was a favorite of bums, in 50cl cans.  It's the same tasteless fluff that we brew en masse here, I guess is why it does better here--or just brilliant marketing.  Triple the price and people with assume it's good...