I'm tired of all the sniping that goes on against Schnuck's on Union. IT'S MIDTOWN, PEOPLE! You put up with a little inconvenience, and yes, maybe even backwardness, because it's part of the charm of the only area of the city that hasn't been sterilized or homogenized by the "let's make everything look the same" crowd that lives in East Memphis, Germantown, etc., or wants to tear down Overton Square.

I LOVE Schnuck's on Union. It's HUMAN in scale, and you can find just about everything pretty easily. Sure, it's a bit crowded, and yes, the parking lot is archaic, and sure, it's a bit under-stocked, but hey, IT'S MIDTOWN, PEOPLE. Enjoy it while it lasts.

the only thing i don't like about schnucks are the prices. everything else is cool and quirky. the drawbacks simply allow humility to be shown.

I like the scale of the Schnucks on Union as well and think it fits well in Midtown. But, with the talk of an upscale grocery store at Overton Square, Schnucks' management should seriously think about investing in the store or they could quickly find themselves in a world of hurt.

That "upscale" grocery store is as likely to be an Aldi as anything else.

Alias, so we in Midtown don't deserve decent service? Think back to the 80s when it was a Seessel's.

There are some common sense things they could do, like not restocking during the 5-6 p.m. peak shopping time and training the security guards to help w/traffic. None of those things would diminish the store's Midtown vibe.

As Mary Cashiola pointed out in her column this week: AWG, the mega-grocery supplier who is part of the Overton Square deal, owns the Piggly-Wiggly on Madison. Draw your own conclusions. http://bit.ly/4qiMQm

A tip to all you clueless shoppers. When stopping to examine a product DO NOT leave your cart in the MIDDLE OF THE F'N AISLE. Have at least a little common courtesy and or sense.That's a big reason it's frustrating to shop at the Schnuck's on Union.

Bruce, Mary and Susan, thanks for staying on top of the Midtown development issue. What do residents really want? One of the costs of living in an urban place is giving up on the convenience (or inconvenience) of big box grocery stores. When I moved into downtown, I was told there were no grocery stores and I would need to drive to Midtown to stock my pantry. I was surprised when I walked down Main Street and found Jack’s and Easy Way. Apparently those do not count because they aren’t as big? What exactly is everybody looking for in a grocery?

OK, PIggly Wiggly, then. I used to shop at one, and they don't meet anyone's definition of upscale unless you're from Somalia.

I didn't know that AWG owns Piggly. I didn't know anyone owned it. It seems abandoned.

This post title is one letter away from being even more interesting. Not sure which blog "A Few Suggestions for the Midtown Schmucks" would fit best on though.

My biggest complaint with the Midtown Schnucks is people insisting on driving the wrong way down one-way lanes and clogging up already near-gridlock traffic.

Bruce, it is my understanding that AWG does not own grocery stores....they supply grocery stores. And yes they supply Piggly Wiggly on Madison, but I understand that they supply Miss Cordelia's as well. I am not sure who owns the Pig on Madison, but its not AWG.

Bonehead: They own the property. Possibly they just lease it to Piggly Wiggly in return for supplying them -- which, I believe, is the business plan for the Overton Square property, as well, i.e. AWG owns the property and leases it to a grocer of their choosing.

urbanut I use Jack's & Easy Way a lot. They are fantastic little city grocery store/butcher counters. And I visit the sundry at the end of my street. I wish we had a lot more neighborhood groceries like these and fewer supermarkets. That's something that frustrates me about the discussion about Overton Square. There's not going to be a grocery store, there's going to be a supermarket. There's a distinction.

CD, what sundry do you use?

As a former Midtowner, I find this topic to be absolutely hilarious. I miss many things about Midtown, but definitely not shopping for groceries! (Or shopping for almost anything else in Midtown, for that matter.) Midtowners deserve better. Seems to me that the "charm" argument is a poor excuse for not having at least a little better.

38103 - that Piggly Wiggly may seem abandoned but that's just because you don't understand its "charm." Not everyone wants things to look nice! Go back to Germantown were things are all "nice" and leave Midtown to us. If you need me you can find me picketing the planned destruction of the abandoned gas station down the street. That thing is historic! Viva Midtown!

Most of the items on the list could be rectified by hiring employees that aren't crazy.

5th Street market just behind Bridges. They've got a small not-always-great produce section, but it's fine for grabbing an onion in a pinch. And there's a butcher counter and lots of basics: flour, sugar, canned & dry goods.

Grocery shopping in Midtown is not always one-stop shopping. If I want gourmet potato ships or crusty french bread, then I have to go to Schnucks. If I want any variety of dried and/or fresh chiles or tomatillos for cooking, I have to hit the Piggly Wiggly. Essentially, Schucks is the upscale white/yuppie grocery and Piggly Wiggly is the "ethnic" grocery. That's a generalization, but the offerings can be quite different without one being inherently better than the other.

Chris, Viet Hoa carries beautiful cheap fresh & dried chilies and giant fresh crusty baguettes from La Baguette. So you can get both the items you mentioned in one stop just not at either of the stores mentioned.

Piggly Wiggly is far from being 'the' ethnic grocery in Midtown... you just have to know where to look.

The problems with that Schnucks is Schnucks. It's a family owned company that is handling the grocery business like it still 1970. They only hire management from within, and with all the management having come up through the company and with no requirements for higher education, you have alot of managers who only know the old way of running a store. There isn't a manager with a MBA until you get to St Louis. They are paying their store managers all above six figures and having them run the company like institutionalized company stores. They have got to get some out of the box thinkers that understand that people are not sheep anymore and don't want to only have one brand to select from. They also have to understand that the person who is best suited for McDonalds is probably not suited for the Midtown Schnucks. If Schnucks doesn't get it's ass in gear, Fresh Market is going to take them down.

I have a good friend who has a Masters in Food and Agribusiness management. He studied the grocery systems in Europe and Asia. He worked on helping Aldie come to the US market. He was with USDA's Agricutlure Marketing Servic in DC for 5 years in thir Grocery group tracking the Grocery system and it's trends for the US Government. He moved back to Memphis and lost his job with a big commodity company. He tried to go to work for Schnucks and they wanted him to be a part time stockier. He applied with Krogers and when the Krogers District Manager got his resume, they forwarded it to the corporate HQ which flew him up to Ohio and wanted to put him in the regional office. He decided to stay in Memphis and ended up consultanting for a competitor of Schnucks. He's written a plan for how this competitor of Schnucks can run them out Memphis in the next 5 years. Craig Schnucks might need to read this posting.

Sorry all you Charlies, Schnuck's sucks. The store hasn't been the same since it was Seesels. I shop at Superlo on Spottswood. It's a sweet little locally owned grocery store....not a supermarket.

I love Schnucks. Have you tasted their cakes? I like the size of the store because it is easy to learn the location of items. Schnucks has some items that you can not find elsewhere. There is a place for all stores in a community and each one suits a particular customer. I like variety.

I LOVE shopping at Viet Hoa. But I do shop at Miss Cordelia's, Schnucks, Kroger on Cleveland, Piggly Wiggley, Frank's, the Sundry store....actually almost every store West of the Parkway. It just depends on what I need and how fast I need it. I would be very sad if a sterile mega supermarket moved into the MT/DT area. It might attract some of that "East Memphis" crowd...not that there is anything wrong with East Memphis, it's just that I'm DT for a reason. And it's not the convienence of getting my Fruit of the Looms at the same store I get my fruit :)