Schnucks Culinaria

My wife and I joke that we'd like to live in every neighborhood in the City before we die. We've got Dutchtown, Soulard, Kingshighway Hills, Holly Hills and Boulevard Heights in the bag, now just 74 more to go!

Honestly speaking though, some if not many of the 79 neighborhoods are entirely unacceptable or uninhabitable for a typical middle class person.

DT used to be that way in the 1980's. One of our greatest sources of STL pride has been the transformation that DT St. Louis has undergone in the last 10 or 15 years. When searching for a place to call home, we would have liked to consider DT; but one major thing was holding us back: no grocery store. No pharmacy, no grocery. In fact, hardly anything open past close of business.

But take a look now, things are changing and fast. The Schnucks Culinaria is the latest addition, maybe greatest addition to DT since the tax credits and rehabbers came! I absolutely love this place. It's the coolest Schnucks in the region hands down. Strong words, indeed. But true for the following reasons:

1. No massive surface parking!!!!!!!!!
2. Access is a breeze by car. The parking lot is a snap to get in and out of. You can "stock up" here with great ease.
3. The location is central to what I consider DT.
4. The hours! The hours! The hours! I live in Boulevard Heights, but want to shop here at 9:00 pm just to prove that this is what DT needs more than anything: life after 6:00 pm.
5. Having nearly everything the average household needs (not just the high-falootin' loft household) on ~1/3 the footprint!
6. Kaldi's coffee station.
7. Killer wine/booze section
8. Great selection of prepared fresh foods that I could see purchasing and sitting on the sidewalk to enjoy.
9. Lot's of store brand and realistic products/pricing.
10. Great produce section, at least better than the Loughborough Commons, Gravois/Germania and Hill Schnucks that we shop at.
11. Great layout/floor plan

So, well done Schnucks! Never thought I'd say that. Never ever, thought I'd see Schnucks do something that I consider to be urban. Well done, indeed! If you haven't checked this place out yet, please do for no other reason than to see how a large grocery store can be made to fit in with it's city environment and not need fields of surface parking. I hope this store is among their most profitable and they consider a grocery like this in Tower Grove or Benton Park or any other burgeoning neighborhood in the city.