Shopping in Detroit: Downtown Foodland

Speaking of the Lafayette Park Historic Neighborhood, a new grocery store opened last weekend just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. The Downtown Foodland, located at 1535 East Lafayette at Orleans, is owned by Keith Tansil, a 30-year veteran of the grocery business. Most recently, Mr. Tansil was the manager of the Metro Foodland, a Black-owned independent grocery store that has been located in the Grandmont-Rosedale area for many years.

The "Shops at Lafayette Park" Shopping Center has been in existence since the inception of the Lafayette Park Historic Neighborhood, but fell on hard times along with many areas of Detroit. The new, full-service, 140,000 square-foot Downtown Foodland will be a great anchor for the resurgence of the shopping center and shopping in Detroit.

The Kroger grocery chain left the City of Detroit many years ago, and our own Farmer Jack Grocery Stores, which held on throughout the darkest days of Detroit in the last few decades finally closed their doors a few years ago. But while Detroiters were bemoaning the dearth of major grocery chains within the City limits, a number of very good independents opened for business or quietly continued to offer great shopping options in Detroit.

I will be featuring different independent Detroit grocers over the next few months in the Tuesday "Shopping in Detroit" posts; you'll be happily amazed at the options! James Hooks, the owner of Metro Foodland, once told me that people like to shop for groceries no more than 1 1/2 miles from their home. With the number of independents like Downtown Foodland slowly filling the void in the City, that wish may soon come to pass for Detroiters.

The Downtown Foodland has 40 employees and is open from 8 am to 9 pm Mondays through Saturdays and 9 am to 6 pm on Sundays.

Photo Credits: HB Meeks, tellusdetroit.com

Shameless Plug: please read my husband's blog The "D" Spot...

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