Marsh Delays Plans for Store at 54th and College

This may seem a little over the top but I shun Marsh as a practice and shop at Kroger instead, because (a) they are union and (b) they have committed to providing stores in less-advantaged areas, like 16th and Central (next to the pj's) and the one by Woodruff place.

Marsh's only property in Indy within 6 miles of downtown is the O'Malia's on NJ, which caters to yups.

Atlas rocked, everything was like so much for "3".

If memory serves, the Atlas closed because of a dispute with the meat packers union.

Good letter. I visited the Arthur's Fresh Market on the eastside. I was extremely underwhelmed. It would be great to see Trader Joe's strike a deal for the old Atlas location.

I was thinking it might not be a bad idea to send a few letters to Trader Joe's asking them to buy the property. I think they'd do a good business there. There are two other TJs in the city but neither is very close to 54th and College. The only problem is that TJs doesn't seem to have a web-based way to contact them. All they have is an old-fashioned mailing address:
http://www.traderjoes.com/contact.asp

While Trader Joe's (or Kroger) would make a great replacement for Marsh as a developer at this site, it will not happen.

It is against "Marsh corporate policy" to sell property to a competitor. They may sell to another developer, but will have language in the contract stating they cannot sell or lease to a competitor of any of Marsh's subsidiaries (Marsh, LoBill Foods, O'Malia Food Market, Village Pantry, or Crystal Catering).

Maybe they'll build another gas station on the corner and cram a Starshmucks and a McFood stop on the rest of the site.

Check out the picture I took of the protest sign that showed up on the fence around the property.

http://www.indyscribe.com/indianapolis_living/promises_promises.html

good column by John Ketzenberger in the star

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051108/COLUMNISTS21/511080391

the demise of Atlas was the result of Sid Mauer's death. His widow is 75 years old and didn't want to continue the business. Sid's son lives in California and has his own electronics business. Sid's nephew, Micky Mauer is the CEO of some huge corporate bank so he wasn't about to step in and start bagging groceries at 54th and College.

Families are also reluctant to sell the business "as is" as they feel the new owners might tarnish their legacy.

The whole meat packers union deal was just a way to get out of the business. I don't blame Sid's wife for getting out of the grocery biz, who wants to do that at age 75?

This is the problem with family run businesses. Once the original owners pass on it's difficult to get younger generations involved who have their own lives and careers.

It's easy to criticize all the chains and corporate owned stuff but those operations have an advantage when it comes to issues of succession and re-organization.

Do you think the community would support a cooperative grocery store? Bloomington has two stores (Bloomingfoods) that are completely owned by their memebers. Anyone can shop there, but members get perks. I'm not sure what it would take to get a co-op started, but it sounds like a better alternative than waiting for Marsh to develop the site.

http://www.bloomingfoods.org/

I own my own home on 54th St.,very close to the former Atlas. I am a lifelong resident of Indy, and try to support my local businesses as much as possible. I have tried to become less dependent on my personal car and walk to the many businesses on 52nd and 54th Streets. The only business we desperately need is a grocery. What can we do as members of the community to force Marsh into fixing this situation? My property value suffers as long as their property sits vacant. The citezens action coalition is right accross the street. Could they be helpful?

More news on the Marsh front, as you may have heard by now. The corporation apparently facing financial trouble (which explains the loss of the Atlas location) and may need to shut down some (or all) stores.

Yowza.

One word. Walgreens. I'm not kidding.

We are a group of volunteers and opening a brand new scheme in our community. Your website offered us with helpful information to paintings on. You've performed an impressive task and our whole community might be thankful to you.