If you're not following the #ukropalypse on Twitter (courtesy of #hashtagengineer Robert Sterling) you're missing out on some of the more speculative, manic discussions in town about the rumored sale of one of the city's more enduring brands.
And if you're not following the story elsewhere, you're probably missing out on the facts. While lots of media outlets will claim to have broken the story, the first person out of the gate with context that quickly went beyond the initial Food World magazine report was Bill Freehling, the well-coiffed business reporter with the Fredricksburg Free Lance-Star. Strange stuff when the outlier inks a more comprehensive initial story than all of the hometown newsies combined.
Richmond's media quickly caught up to Freehling's reporting on all of the real estate maneuvering happening with Harris Teeter, one of the chains rumored to be in the running if Ukrop's is actually for sale:
As for Harris Teeter, the company recently signed a lease on 43,560 square feet of industrial yard space in the Interstate 95 Commerce Center at 9351 Northeast Drive in Spotsylvania. An agent with Thalhimer/Cushman & Wakefield Alliance told me the company plans to use the space for overflow truck parking.
Harris Teeter has also announced plans to build a 500,000-square-foot distribution warehouse in King George County's industrial park. The grocer signed an agreement with the county in January and was given three months to do a feasibility study. Five months have passed, and HT hasn't closed on the property. The company asked for an extension, Cathy Dyson recently reported.
... HT has been creeping closer to Fredericksburg from Washington of late; it opened a 52,334-square-foot store in Warrenton's Northrock Shopping Center last month.
And while the Tweeterverse has been all manic about where to buy White House rolls and potato salad if the grocery world implodes, leave it to Richmond's historic conscience, Harry Kollatz of Richmond Magazine, to remind locals that it's not just our stomachs that will be impacted -- it's Richmond's collective psyche.
Call me crazy, but some of us are getting weary of losing aspects of our hometown that made Richmond Richmond, mostly in a good way.
The absorption of Ukrop's by some Borg-like chain would be yet another blow to Richmond's individuality. First our big retail stores went (Miller & Rhoads, Thalhimers), then our larger homegrown financial institutions got bought out (now North Carolina seemingly owns the lien on Richmond), then bad management and a downshifting economy closed Circuit City (I can even remember the old WARD's Loading Dock commercials). And now ... Ukrop's?
(He forgot Best Buy! Harry, how could you forget the local company that inflicted the curse of big box retailing on America!?)
A change in the grocery landscape would have all sorts of consequences for Richmonders in terms of brand loyalty, convenience, pricing. The disappearance of one of Richmond's more broadly philanthropic corporations would have a lasting impact on the local nonprofit and civic communities.
But the impact on the region's already fragmented collective subconscious -- those elements we rarely notice that have (for better or for worse) made our city what it has been -- is going to be large.
Large, but not necessarily disastrous.
The vacuum has been forming for years now, and while Jim Crupi's prescription may have been wrong (or simply misread by those who have taken two years to respond to it) he wasn't off-base with his diagnosis that the Richmond region is ill-prepared for a shift in leadership. Of course, Crupi anticipated the slow death of Richmond's community and business leaders rather than a pandemic brought on by a global recession.
Out of darkness, opportunity.
Change is the name of the new game. The region's flagship paper is struggling with metamorphosis, and a bevy of smaller players are gaining voice and status in the news sphere. The ranks of the region's corporate giants have thinned -- dramatically -- and space has been created for new entities to emerge as leaders in that space.
The institutional leaders of the past -- the Greater Richmond Chamber, Leadership Metro Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University -- all have new folks at the helm, trying to determine how to redirect their efforts to address a changing landscape.
The political dynamic is slowly shifting, as well. Chesterfield's new board and Richmond's new mayor aren't enough of a change, but they're a start. The Partnership for Smarter Growth is demonstrating that there is space for dull, policy-minded grassroots organizations to start changing the way the table gets set around here.
Out of the Ukropalypse, opportunity.
I've contributed my share of sarcastic punches at the expense of the Ukrop family and their grocery chain (most notably with Caffeine Magazine in the early 90s), but the reality is that you will not find a family more dedicated to and passionate about the Richmond region and its communities. If the business changes hands, don't expect that to change.
Until more certain news emerges, or rumors fade, take advantage of high school kids and retired accountants wheeling your groceries to your car.
And start asking yourself where we should be looking for the new leadership, new local voices and new regional icons. It's time Richmond stop looking to the past to shape its future.
