[kimmel]

After reading this article I can tell that the author does not understand the problems going on in Detroit and has not even been there. The city is a 3rd world country. Besides the abandoned/burned out buildings and crime the city has serious business relation problems. There are no grocery stores within city limits because of lack of customers and local crime rates. Go to google maps and look for meijer, walmart, target, etc and none are in the city. This is a very unattractive position for both businesses and employees since most other cities do not have this problem. Shopping in Detroit is not convenient at all.

Add to that the high unemployment rate, the police problems, the near infinite amount of house and building fires, the poor public transit system and the total lack of bike lines. The only positive to Detroit is cheap land and buildings in many cases. Almost forgot about the city filing for bankruptcy too, that never inspires confidence.

[joosebox]

Wrong, just wrong. It'd be easier for whomever wants to get a more accurate picture to Google articles about Detroit from the last few years. Dan Gilbert is igniting a change. It's not going to happen overnight. I grew up in METRO Detroit (cannot claim the D), but just throughout MI and especially my peers (I'm 24), there seems to be a more optimistic attitude about Detroit's future. I'm not a natural optimist, either. I would have maybe agreed with you two years ago. Dan Gilbert is probably the biggest reason I disagree with you now.

I'm hopeful, but far from guaranteeing anything. It's just not NEARLY as bad as you've described. My 23 year old friend recently moved into an apartment downtime and his rent is already up almost 50% from last year. It may be anecdotal, but gentrification is without a doubt taking place. I'd be willing to bet that this will be the first year in a long time Detroit does not see a population decrease. If not this year, then next. Hope I'm not wrong! :D

[munro]

> There are no grocery stores within city limits because of lack of customers and local crime rates.

First one that came to mind was the Whole Foods [1] next to the hospital. They look to be doing very well from the hospital employees.

[1] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Whole+Foods+Market/@42.349...

[karpodiem]

it's nearly impossible to find a parking spot at that whole foods during business hours (which is a good thing!)

[tkxxx7]

Whole Foods downtown, Meijer on 8 Mile and Woodward, Spartan stores everywhere... I don't know what you are talking about.

[brad3378]

Walmart on Ford Road near Dearborn.

[to3m]

The first hit for "grocery shops in detroit" is an article debunking the idea that there are no grocery shops in Detroit: http://www.urbanophile.com/2011/01/25/yes-there-are-grocery-...

Of course, perhaps you live in Detroit, and have 2014-era information, in which case you would know more than me. I merely decided to search for this because I recalled reading years ago this guy who wrote a blog article about his favourite Detroit supermarkets. (And the article above is that same guy. I suppose Detroit bloggers aren't that thick on the ground.) It certainly seems implausible that a city of 700,000 couldn't support at least one centrally-located food shop.

(I live in a city in the UK, population 500,000, and it has numerous grocery stores. As well as the ones I usually visit, there's one a mile away from my house - a decent size one to boot - that I never even knew existed until last month. I just drove down one particular side street to look at a house that was for sale... and there it was. You don't need a huge catchment area to support a grocery store, it seems.)

None of this is to suggest that Detroit is or isn't some hellhole...

[thisisdave]

It was mostly true in 2007 [1]:

>Detroit just watched its last mainstream grocer, Farmer Jack, close its doors for good.

[1] http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1247787...

[to3m]

It seems like the problem is simply that there aren't any national grocery chains active in Detroit. That may be unusual, but it's something of a far cry from there being no grocery stores at all.

People are mammals, not snakes. They need to eat! Where there are 700,000 people, no matter how much many of them live in poverty, you can be certain that there is enough demand for food to support at least one grocery store...

[briandh]

> you can be certain that there is enough demand for food to support at least one grocery store...

People need food, but grocery stores aren't the only place to get it. I can't speak about Detroit specifically, but it is common for inner city neighborhoods to only have fast food restaurants and "corner stores" -- glorified convenience stores that make most of their money on tobacco, alcohol, and lottery tickets, but happen to have some food as well. They are a far cry from what most people would call a grocery store (even compared to smaller ones like Aldi, Trader Joe's, or Piggly Wiggly).

Now, there may be a grocery store 15 minutes away by car, but that distance becomes significantly more troublesome when you have to take a bus.

[karpodiem]

I grew up in Troy (a suburb a half hour north of Detroit) and live in Detroit, on Virginia Park Street (between 2nd and Woodward, just north of West Grand Boulevard)

You couldn't be more wrong. M1 rail, an easy city to bike, Whole Foods in Midtown, etc.

Right now it's a playground for the late 20/early 30 set looking to get a foothold and meet someone, which is exactly what I've done. The city needs to focus on fixing the schools and providing more security, so that it's possible to have a family in Detroit. That will come in time.

[sitkack]

A suburb. Not Detroit proper. The only thing in Detroit (besides downtown) are mini marts. They don't sell food.

The largest "grocery store" I went to sold canned food, pasta, etc but at prices 2x to 4x what we would pay. There is a huge ghetto tax in place. A can of refried beans was over $3. And this place looked respectable, for Detroit, meaning no lotto tickets or bulletproof glass.

[tcpekin]

I'm in Detroit right now, Midtown is not really a suburb at all, it is 1.4 miles from downtown according to Google Maps. Midtown, which houses Wayne State, has all the amenities a urban state college would have, including a grocery store. There is also a fantastic supermarket in Mexicantown.

Detroit is a very interesting place. There are bombed out sections I would hate to go to, but there are also great areas such as Eastern Market, Midtown, the Riverwalk etc. Some areas are extremely hospitable to biking on the road, but the custom is to ride on the sidewalk. Other areas have very nice bike trails. It's one of the most interesting cities I've been to. The dichotomy of buildings being destroyed next to areas in which young people are attempting to revive the city is impressive to watch.

[sitkack]

I'd consider Midtown and the Whole Foods as downtown.

It is interesting, everyone I talked to was great. Way safer than Chicago (probably cuz everyone is gone, ;)

The one thing that really surprised me was that all the black people I talked to WANTED white kids to move to the city and bring it back. They weren't worried about gentrification, they were more worried about decay.

The property taxes are too high and are pushing old people onto the street. 5k a year was not uncommon for taxes on lots of places I looked at. Rent would barely cover the taxes, leaving nothing for upkeep, so a rental market is not viable. I applaud the move at the next auction to require local buyers.

[ironchef]

I guess I'm confused. Where (besides downtown) do you actually mean then? Downtown has plenty like the Supermercado, Honeybee, etc. As you start to go out, hit Grosse Pointe, Hamtramck, etc. there's quite a few as well (and the prices were pretty reasonable). So...can you be more specific about where there aren't grocery stores so there can be a reasonable discussion with concrete data?

[sitkack]

I'd have to dig up my notes. I was there in Sept for the auction for 10 days, drove a couple hundred miles over a couple days, just in Detroit. I probably went through Hamtramck a couple times, Grosse Pointe had almost no foreclosures.

I didn't buy anything, for a myriad of reasons. Nearly everything was ruined, could get something on the open market for lower marginal cost of repair. The only homes, and I say homes, worth buying were those clearly occupied, all by old people that had lived there for many years. I am not going to be that person.

[segmondy]

That's true, but it's coming back up from the ashes. Detroit hasn't made a come back yet. So it will take time for things to improve, the surburbs are not bad. I live in Oakland county, which is one of the richest counties in US, with great schools too. Number 9 high school in US is in Troy, MI.

Even tho I live in the surburbs, I got a coworking space downtown. I don't care for downtown life, and like space/houses. If not, I do move downtown. To get to downtown takes me about 15-25 minutes. Where I live is safe, has grocery stores, very low crimes, lots of parks, great city, cheap property. Detroit area is a great buy!

I bought my house for low 5 figures and it's paid off. 4 bedroom, 1/2 acre backyard, 3 car garage, $1200/yr property tax. No mortgage! My salary is a bit lower than my peers in Silicon Valley. I definitely save more than them.

So yes, Detroit the city outside of downtown might not offer much, but that doesn't mean that one should stay away. You can move Downtown or the surburbs. The positive move is spreading from downtown outwards.