3/22/15 - Sunday morning I had to work on a project dialed in from home so I unfortunately missed out on going to Hale Farm and Village for their Maple Sugar and Pancake breakfast celebration. As bummed as I was I worked through it and took a nap. Then Gina called with a great idea! Let go to the new Heinen's downtown. Gina has desires to go downtown about once a season so I quickly said "YES" even before she was able to finish her sentence. It could have been "Let go downtown...YES... and light it on fire?...NO!"
Heinen's opened in the Cleveland Trust rotunda building on E 9th and Euclid a few weeks ago to some pretty rave reviews. This new grocery store is in one of the most beautiful buildings inside and out in the whole city...and to think that it has been sitting empty for the past 24 years. See when we think of the last 24 years of this city we think of the "Scooby Doo Ghost Town" years when you could practically run down Euclid Ave naked and other than catching a stray bullet, you'd get tired of running before someone actually saw you. That's the time when gems like this were laying dormant at the de facto crossroads of our city. It's amazing and at the same time sad to think of.
All it really took was a grand vision...and millions of dollars of infrastructure and transportation improvements to get us to the point where established brands are now poking around and playing with the idea of coming to downtown Cleveland. After 1980 and before the HealthLine, this intersection was just 2 wider than necessary streets crossing each other...just another stop light between you and a Browns game...lots and lots of grey concrete. Now it's a major stop on the nations most successful Bus Rapid Transit line. It's home to 2 separate historical building renovations. It can take you either from the highway to the lake or from Public Square to University Circle. It's one of the main entrances to the 2nd largest Theater District in the US. The success of this intersection is, in all reality, a measuring gauge of the success of downtown. If CSU and Playhouse Square are thriving and Public Square, East 4th St., and the Casino are successful, this East/West connector will see the increased traffic of downtown residents enjoying what great entertainment their city has to offer. If the North Coast is bringing in tourists and our financial district is creating jobs, we'll see this area come to life as a 24 hour thoroughfare for weekend visitors and weekday workers. If there are heads in the windows of the buses and traffic on the streets, our downtown is in good shape. If there are people in the shops and feet on the sidewalks, downtown is thriving.
Now with all that being said I noticed 2 things. #1 - There were people on the street on a 40 degree day. God sign! #2 - For those of you who though that the downtown population wasn't large enough to support a full scale grocery store... you were wrong. The first thing you notice after the beautiful building and the amazing interior is that this place is busy. There are a lot of people there shopping, taking picture, having a meal, etc... I probably said excuse me 2 dozen times or so. Navigating this place with all of the customers really proved to me that who ever made the decision at Heinen's to do this probably has bruised shoulders from all of the pats on the back he's received. I couldn't help but be impressed!
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When you walk in to the rotunda building you are immediately stopped in your tracks by the beautiful restoration that has taken place. Every detail was delicately restored to its original magnificence. It's truly breathtaking. The main area of the first floor is table seating surrounded by deli counters for meat, cheese, and prepared dishes and bakery. Lots of delicious bakery. Off the back of the rotunda down the ramp is an isled area that holds household goods, dry foods, frozen food, and dairy. It really is an honest to God grocery store.
Gina and I shopped for awhile and it is true that some of the prices are a bit higher than what you'll find at a slave labor outfit like Walmart but you bargain shop like anywhere else. There's no price there that blows your mind like a $60 can of soup or anything. There's also a lot of free range, non-GMO, gluten free, hippie type of food there which is to be expected in a urban area that tends to attract people of the "hipster" persuasion. You gotta play to your base you know? One thing I didn't notice, although we didn't hit every corner of the place, was a section for over the counter meds like Advil or Alka-Seltzer. I guess you could go across E 9th to CVS, if you needed to. Then again we may have just overlooked it. All in all it's just like walking through whatever grocery store you have...except the alcohol section. Oh my goodness the alcohol section.
Now I'm going to start by saying that I didn't see any hard alcohol so no scotch, whiskey, tequila, etc... but that's normal unless you're pittsburgh's own "giant ripoff" and swindled your way into being a liquor store to the detriment of smaller community brick and motor liquor stores. Heinen's downtown does however have wine and beer (plus I guess they have some gas station liquor like Kamchatka and Baileys)...and it's all on the 2nd floor balcony!
If you're coming here to go to sight-see, this is probably where you'll end up to make the drive from where ever you came from worth it. The whole thing other than a lunch counter is beer and wine. You can make your own six pack which isn't that revolutionary but is always a welcomed perk. There's also Heinen's collaborations with local breweries for small batch brews to be on tap. Then there are the wine dispensers and glasses. For a price you can taste, drink, or practically put your head under the nozzle of many different kinds of wine from these stations. There's comfortable couch seating and table seating for you to relax and enjoy yourself. You can have views of inside the rotunda or outside at the city. It's kind of a cool place for a first date actually. Super chill, grab a snack, get some wine, and talk it out. I was really impressed by the selection and by this awesome area.
When we were done, we got our parking ticket validated since we spent over $50 and after I got us out of the parking garage that Gina (aka Joe Vozar) got us lost in, we were on our way. The Cleveland parking technology isn't quite up to snuff when it comes to validating our ticket so we had to find the very angry attendant who sarcastically kept saying "Boy I love that Heinen's!" Even he though couldn't bring down my excitement over free parking! That's right kids. It's a downtown miracle!!!
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This from beginning to end was a great experience for me and I think Gina liked it too. It's a blessing in a city like Cleveland to have 2 market/grocery stores in 2 iconic buildings. We are literally the kings of classic old building food shopping areas. It goes to show you that if you are willing to take a risk (that really only is a risk because people are cynical a$$holes when it comes to a successful Cleveland and don't look at the numbers), you too can get in on the ground floor of this rising phoenix that is Cleveland, Ohio. The opportunities are there and you will be seen as a conquering hero if you provide a needed service, move into a classic old structure, and bring jobs into the city! You literally will make customers for life of the population of downtown because they are a growing base that are starved for the basic necessities. It's a win/win people.
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So a month or so ago I switched cell providers from Big Red ($110/mo) to Sprint (almost 1/2 of that/mo). If you switch because of me and this post, please use my name as a reference and we'll both get a little extra cash. With that move I was able to get a new phone, the Google Nexus 6! This phone has a fun new feature...well new to me...called photo sphere. Below is my 1st photo sphere and also my 1st time sharing a photo sphere. I guess if you have the right browser and software and stand on your head while drinking a glass of milk and say the alphabet backwards...you should be able to see a 360 degree view of the inside of the rotunda. If not, then I guess you'll just have to go see it yourself. Actually go see it yourself no matter what. It is now up there as a sightseeing stop on your tour of Cleveland. It's that good! Oh and I'm pretty sure if you tried all of that, you don't have hiccups anymore either. Ya, I'm just that good! Peace out urban pioneers...until next time!
See if you can find Gina Bina! If you can, then you win.
Win what? My undying admiration.
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