We'll miss you, Village Kroger;
'The Pacific' debuts at WarMem

When they closed and locked the doors a last time at the Kroger in Grosse Pointe Village on Saturday (March 13) at 6 p.m., it finished a chapter for a store that some claim was the busiest per square foot in the entire grocery chain.

That makes some sense since it was also among the smallest, with narrow angular aisles and products stacked so high that short customers relied on tall customers to fetch boxes from the top. Some shoppers refused to go there, preferring to journey to Kroger at Mack and Moross (aka Krojack, the former Farmer Jack) or even the stores at Nine Mile and Mack or Jefferson and Marter.

But for those who did shop at the Village, the staff was like family, highlighted by the cheerful little Asian lady who dressed for the holiday of the season and collected carts. She always smiled, always greeted you and she always thanked you for bringing a cart in from the cold. She also steadfastly refused all news media attempts to interview her for feature stories over the years. She did admit you can now find her plying her trade at the Mack-Moross parking lot.

The rest of the staff is being scattered to other stores in the chain. A few are apparently calling it quits and the rumor circulating Saturday was that only one employee would return when the new Kroger is supposed to open its doors in March 2011.

The Village store will be leveled. At one time Kroger managers envisioned a two-story replacement attached to a parking garage that would rival their super stores. But that dream died in the crash of 2008. The City fathers seemed happy that Kroger was going to build anything.

Most folks think the metered parking lot behind the store belongs to the City, but it actually belongs to Kroger, which leased it to the City, probably one of the few grocery store parking lots with meters in southeast Michigan or anywhere else.

Now the store is set to grow by 1,000 square feet with an expanded basement. That’s roughly the floor space of a small two-bedroom condo in Hoboken, N.J., when we were hoping for the commercial store version of the Hearst Castle.

A random survey of customers streaming in and out of the Village Kroger in the last half hour of its existence got a variety of responses on that cold, rainy, nasty Michigan afternoon. “It’s crazy in there,” one woman reported. “They are telling everyone to make their selections and get out.”

“It’s closing?” another customer questioned after scoring a vacant pole position with 15 minutes to spare. “I have to get in there.” That was also the sentiment of the dozen or so folks who showed up after the entrance doors were locked and found easy parking.

“What do I do now?” one asked me. Ever helpful, I suggested the Krojack store in the Woods, which is where I intend to head. I’ve already tried it a few times and it is a nicely done store with an equally friendly staff.

Other customers had other solutions. “I’ll probably go to Costco,” one young woman said. “I’ll shop at Farms Market on Fisher,” a man wheeling out a 12-pack of wine concluded. “I’ll bet Trader Joe’s will do a lot more business, but they don’t carry everything,” another man said.

Some very nice young, well-dressed women were skewing the sample as they turned latecomers away and said goodbye to customers with laden carts by handing them $5 gift cards good at any Kroger.

“I’ll miss being able to walk a few blocks to the store,” admitted one young father pushing a stroller as he exited. “I didn’t know it was closing. I must be out of the loop.” A young woman obviously on a Saturday-evening meal errand wheeled sharply into the parking lot with a phone stuck to her ear. When gently rebuffed as she rushed to the door she kept up her conversation: “It’s closed. It’s closed, but I got a gift card.” She jumped in her SUV and headed elsewhere.

'The Pacific' comes to the lakefront

What better place to stage the premiere of “The Pacific,” the excellent 10-part HBO miniseries, than the Grosse Pointe War Memorial Fries Auditorium.

A male-dominated crowd packed every seat in the place, and more folks were standing up on Wednesday night when Comcast and HBO showed the first episode of the series and added a teaser compilation from the other nine parts.

The sequel to the Tom Hanks-Steven Spielberg “Band of Brothers” miniseries (about World War II in Europe) is every bit as good. The first episode aired Sunday night (March 14). Beside attracting a crowd peppered with World War II vets and servicemen in uniform, Comcast and HBO laid on excellent hors d’ouerves to whet the appetites.

One of two actors who were supposed to show up for the premiere found other things to do that night, but that didn’t spoil the mood. The audience applauded loudly when the other – Rami Malek – appeared on the screen. 

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