Cosentino's Grocery downtown

[trailerkid]

Yes.  The grocery store hates pedestrains.  WTF?  We are not NYC. 

Or Minneapolis. Or Portland. Or Denver. Not even in the same stratosphere.

I'm sorry my very small criticism advocating for those of us that don't use cars touched such a nerve. There are obviously a lot of very emotional white people on here.

[MightyKC]

Way to make racial.  Stay classy San Diego...

[missingkc]

Trailerkid:  wear a chip, get it knocked off.

[geeman68]

I just took a nice walk and looked at Cosentino's.  There are actually three registers at the corner entrance and are obviously meant for people that walk in and have a bag or two of items while the back near the garage entrance has 5 full registers for larger grocery runs.  It looks like the layout is very easy and everything is setup nicely.  They have a fresh sandwich and panini sandwich bar and use boars head meats.  Price of Sandwiches are quite on par with anywhere else you would go. I'm looking forward to checking it all out when it opens.   

[scooterj]

If you look closely at the store it is set up to cater to the JoCo River Market people.

There's your classic idiotic and unjustified hatred of the River Market again.  Every post you make on that topic proves you almost never come downtown and have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.  Until you actually LIVE downtown and contribute to the economy, shut up with your baseless nonsense.

[staubio]

There's your classic idiotic and unjustified hatred of the River Market again.   Every post you make on that topic proves you almost never come downtown and have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.   Until you actually LIVE downtown and contribute to the economy, shut up with your baseless nonsense.

He doesn't live here and doesn't come here. He is out of touch with the reality on the street. This is a consistent issue on many topics.

[Beermo]

There's your classic idiotic and unjustified hatred of the River Market again.   Every post you make on that topic proves you almost never come downtown and have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.   Until you actually LIVE downtown and contribute to the economy, shut up with your baseless nonsense.

i don't see it that way. it seems he discovered a button and pushed it.

i find it very funny how you guys reacted to it.

[voltopt]

Or Minneapolis. Or Portland. Or Denver. Not even in the same stratosphere.

I'm sorry my very small criticism advocating for those of us that don't use cars touched such a nerve. There are obviously a lot of very emotional white people on here.

Please don't advocate on my behalf.  I intend to ride the bus to this new grocery store when it opens, and having peeked in the windows I don't see how it is a "slap in the face" to pedestrians.  I don't understand how your misguided and trivial comments, which seem to get worse each passing day, have any relevance towards urban design in this city or any other.  I doubt you can be considered even passably informed when it comes to matters of sustainable, walkable cities, as it seems you have nothing to offer except your large store of hate. 

[KCKev]

I don't see how it is a "slap in the face" to pedestrians.  I don't understand how your misguided and trivial comments, which seem to get worse each passing day, have any relevance towards urban design in this city or any other.  I doubt you can be considered even passably informed when it comes to matters of sustainable, walkable cities, as it seems you have nothing to offer except your large store of hate. 

Maybe he is one of those pedestrian's that wants to " not have to walk" as much as possible?
Don't know what that would be called?
something like step counter?

[trailerkid]

There's your classic idiotic and unjustified hatred of the River Market again.   Every post you make on that topic proves you almost never come downtown and have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.   Until you actually LIVE downtown and contribute to the economy, shut up with your baseless nonsense.

Please provide demos of the River Market. Am I wrong? Oh wait...you guys are white with professional jobs and ride your bikes. Does that classify as diversity?

[Tosspot]

I feel I must make known my thoughts here --

I totally understand Trailerkid's sentiment he expressed earlier regarding checkout placement and relation to the street entrances. Very valid and reasonable concerns for someone to bring up when we're talking about a grocery store in an urban area and not a suburban big box store. I feel he was totally justified in voicing his concern.

Also, I need to say that I am not concerned at all about the new store - I went by there this weekend and was very impressed just by what I can see. I'm glad it's here and I applaud and thank the Cosentinos for making a big investment with their money in downtown.

Now - TK may seem acerbic a bit if he's riled up about things like this where we might perceive suburban car convenience taking precedence over walking and built density. I can be that way too. In this case in my opinion he may have overreacted just a tad concerning the new store in particular - but that's easily forgivable because I have always found him to be an asset to the discussion on this board, and I genuinely like the dude despite how so many on the board here seem to hate him these days. And that's especially notable considering the whole conga line of imbeciles that this forum's been attracting more and more in the past couple of years.

Plus - the "sensitive white people" line TK used was so caustic and hilarious that I cracked up. 

*off my soap box - and I apologize for adding the much-maligned "Meta-discussion" to this, but it seemed unavoidable at this point*

[chrizow]

Please provide demos of the River Market. Am I wrong? Oh wait...you guys are white with professional jobs and ride your bikes. Does that classify as diversity?

river market - white folks with professional jobs or otherwise = abandoned buildings, blight, etc.  please explain to me the issue here? 

i am sure that plenty of  "non-white" people in this city are thrilled to have a legit grocery closer to their homes.  i am also sure that most people, white and otherwise, will think it's a great store, regardless of whether our downtown grocery store seems marginally geared towards vehicles vs. pedestrians.  keep in mind that 99% of people in this city, white and non-white, would use cars if they had access to them. 

i would imagine that the downtown cosentino's is many magnitudes more "urban" than any grocery store built in the last 75 years within at least a four-hour radius of KC.  why the hate? 

the "white" aspect of your posts is very strange.  i guess it must be very discouraging to look at a "white" city like KCMO from such an animated, diverse city as lawrence, ks.  oh wait, lawrence is as white as johnson county and more auto-dependent than kc.... :lol:  can you please tell us what it is like to live as a person of color, so we could perhaps understand your plight?   :lol:

[GRID]

I agree with you TK.

Downtown KCMO is really not even in the same universe as most major city downtowns.  I mean, it's 1000 times better than it was 10 years ago, but still has a very long way to go.

But Downtown KCMO is about to have an urban grocery story that most of these cities that KCMO can't compare to would die to have.

This grocery store is absolutely amazing and everybody that has been involved in making it happen should have a street named after them.

Too bad the economy blows, because if condos were still being built, the store would have taken downtown to the next level as far as residential development regardless of the location of the registers.

[WoodDraw]

Wow, these last couple pages are down right goofy.  I hope none of us are shocked that a downtown, Kansas City grocery store has to target itself both to drivers and urban shoppers.  Among the RCP shoppers - even downtown by itself - I'd imagine a strong percentage will drive.  That's less a put down for KC than an acknowledgement of most mid-sized cities in this US. 

The racist overtones aren't just goofy, but blatantly funny.  The attempt to come off as progressive and urban becomes just condescending, especially on a forum like this where it's safe to assume that the vast majority of us are not impressed by your wordly experience. 

But, on topic, I walked around downtown last week and the store does look beautiful.  Cheers to everyone that lives downtown - it'll be a great addition for you guys. 

[WyCo]

This is a serious question, will the dress code apply?  I have never been quite sure how it works, I know it applies to the Live area, and then I assume the other establishments have their own code that may or may not be the same as the Live area?  So like Mosaic could let in Mr Baggy Pants from the street entrance, but then he could not exit through the Live area?  I thought the store looked really nice when we walked by, and I am sorry people, but a lot of "Urban" dwellers are pretty car dependent, and lazy, they will appreciate the parking lot too.

[trailerkid]

the "white" aspect of your posts is very strange.  i guess it must be very discouraging to look at a "white" city like KCMO from such an animated, diverse city as lawrence, ks.  oh wait, lawrence is as white as johnson county and more auto-dependent than kc.... :lol:  can you please tell us what it is like to live as a person of color, so we could perhaps understand your plight?   :lol:

The white aspect has more to do with the FACT that most using sidewalks or riding public transit in this city are of color. Most with personal transportation-- those planning to use the Cosentino's grocery parking garage-- are white. The KCMO urban pedestrians are treated once again as second class while the suburbadroid drivers (mostly white) are catered to in the most dense, pedestrian oriented intersection in the metro. Failing to acknowledge the HUGE racial divide and racism in this city gets us nowhere as it relates directly to the lack of urban amenities. This metro will never get anywhere as long as true urbanism is associated with poor, black people that white people can just drive past. In all honesty, a sparkling light rail line(s) going up and down Main or Troost would've done more for race relations than anything in the last 50 years.

I think the store is kick-ass. I'm just put-off that Cosentino's doesn't have the BALLS to put the registers in the front of the store where they logically belong. It's really just insane to have that suburban mindset even when you are surrounded by transit and highrises. It is my hope that Cosentino's cannot accommodate the customers at the front entrance and is forced to install more in-line checkout lanes and minimizes the ones attached the garage. How do we lease spin-off retail storefronts around the grocery if everyone parks at the back entrance? It's no different than Hy-Vee building in a new shopping center and having everyone enter/exit the store through the back door ignoring the small shops around it.  

[KCTigerFan]

The ONLY place that has a dress code is the KC Live block when it is 21+.  That is mostly in the evenings after 7pm.  A dress code is never enforced on the sidewalks or streets. 

This is a serious question, will the dress code apply?  I have never been quite sure how it works, I know it applies to the Live area, and then I assume the other establishments have their own code that may or may not be the same as the Live area?   So like Mosaic could let in Mr Baggy Pants from the street entrance, but then hecould not exit through the Live area?  I thought the store looked really nice when we walked by, and I am sorry people, but a lot of "Urban" dwellers are pretty car dependent, and lazy, they will appreciate the parking lot too.

[bbqboy]

The white aspect has more to do with the FACT that most using sidewalks or riding public transit in this city are of color. Most with personal transportation-- those planning to use the Cosentino's grocery parking garage-- are white. The KCMO urban pedestrians are treated once again as second class while the suburbadroid drivers (mostly white) are catered to in the most dense, pedestrian oriented intersection in the metro. Failing to acknowledge the HUGE racial divide and racism in this city gets us nowhere as it relates directly to the lack of urban amenities. This metro will never get anywhere as long as true urbanism is associated with poor, black people that white people can just drive past. In all honesty, a sparkling light rail line(s) going up and down Main or Troost would've done more for race relations than anything in the last 50 years.

I think the store is kick-ass. I'm just put-off that Cosentino's doesn't have the BALLS to put the registers in the front of the store where they logically belong. It's really just insane to have that suburban mindset even when you are surrounded by transit and highrises. It is my hope that Cosentino's cannot accommodate the customers at the front entrance and is forced to install more in-line checkout lanes and minimizes the ones attached the garage. How do we lease spin-off retail storefronts around the grocery if everyone parks at the back entrance? It's no different than Hy-Vee building in a new shopping center and having everyone enter/exit the store through the back door ignoring the small shops around it. 

But as a business, they HAVE to make money to justify the investment. It isn't a non-profit. Do you think they did this setup without some thought behind it?

[chrizow]

The white aspect has more to do with the FACT that most using sidewalks or riding public transit in this city are of color. Most with personal transportation-- those planning to use the Cosentino's grocery parking garage-- are white. The KCMO urban pedestrians are treated once again as second class while the suburbadroid drivers (mostly white) are catered to in the most dense, pedestrian oriented intersection in the metro. Failing to acknowledge the HUGE racial divide and racism in this city gets us nowhere as it relates directly to the lack of urban amenities. This metro will never get anywhere as long as true urbanism is associated with poor, black people that white people can just drive past. In all honesty, a sparkling light rail line(s) going up and down Main or Troost would've done more for race relations than anything in the last 50 years.

I think the store is kick-ass. I'm just put-off that Cosentino's doesn't have the BALLS to put the registers in the front of the store where they logically belong. It's really just insane to have that suburban mindset even when you are surrounded by transit and highrises. It is my hope that Cosentino's cannot accommodate the customers at the front entrance and is forced to install more in-line checkout lanes and minimizes the ones attached the garage. How do we lease spin-off retail storefronts around the grocery if everyone parks at the back entrance? It's no different than Hy-Vee building in a new shopping center and having everyone enter/exit the store through the back door ignoring the small shops around it. 

i agree with your sentiments regarding the racial dynamics in this city, but i doubt even a grad student in race theory would unearth race bias in the orientation of cash registers at the cosentino's! 

i would also highly doubt that many transit users of any color will be taking the 12 over to cosentino's to buy groceries.  it's an mid to upscale grocery store.  true to urban form, it will cater to residents and others in the vicinity.  thus, yes, it is catering to loft/apt dwellers and downtown office workers - which, as you may have noticed in your many years living in kcmo, are a diverse lot. 

the downtown cosentino's does not need to appeal to the 12th and chestnut or 33rd and bales crowd - or the 55th and grand crowd for that matter.  those folks are free to go there, of course, but an urban grocery by definition is going to serve a pretty local population. 

[kcdcchef]

The white aspect has more to do with the FACT that most using sidewalks or riding public transit in this city are of color. Most with personal transportation-- those planning to use the Cosentino's grocery parking garage-- are white. The KCMO urban pedestrians are treated once again as second class while the suburbadroid drivers (mostly white) are catered to in the most dense, pedestrian oriented intersection in the metro. Failing to acknowledge the HUGE racial divide and racism in this city gets us nowhere as it relates directly to the lack of urban amenities. This metro will never get anywhere as long as true urbanism is associated with poor, black people that white people can just drive past. In all honesty, a sparkling light rail line(s) going up and down Main or Troost would've done more for race relations than anything in the last 50 years.

I think the store is kick-ass. I'm just put-off that Cosentino's doesn't have the BALLS to put the registers in the front of the store where they logically belong. It's really just insane to have that suburban mindset even when you are surrounded by transit and highrises. It is my hope that Cosentino's cannot accommodate the customers at the front entrance and is forced to install more in-line checkout lanes and minimizes the ones attached the garage. How do we lease spin-off retail storefronts around the grocery if everyone parks at the back entrance? It's no different than Hy-Vee building in a new shopping center and having everyone enter/exit the store through the back door ignoring the small shops around it.  

dude seriously, they have to cater to the auto traffic. more people, even urban shoppers, are driving to the store. it is that way in many an urban enviroment. i saw many of my manhattan drivers shopping after 9pm so they could avoid the times square hell, find parking on 5th, 6th, or 7th avenue and bring home 4-6 bags of goods instead of 2. same in dc, shit, we all shopped at nite. at downtown grocery stores, like safeway and giant, parked on side streets, loaded up our trunks. drove home. jackie and i do a little of both. some nites, we walk across the allegheny river on the 7th street bridge, go to the grocery store on foot, carry our 4 recyclable bags back. those 4 fabric bags hold what 10-12 plastic bags would. our hands are tired as shit after the 20 minute walk home. some nites, we are tired, worn out, long day, and want to drive to the grocery store down the street or across the bridge. and many DT residents will drive to cosentinos, you can count on it.

doesnt make it a farce tk.