Fresh Thyme draws Sur la Table to Grand Rapids |
Posted: June 20, 2018 |
Fresh Thyme draws Sur la Table to Grand RapidsGRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Signing Fresh Thyme Farmers Market to a Grand Rapids location two years ago set the stage for developer Scott Wierda to woo Sur La Table to the retailer's first West Michigan storefront. The foodie favorite will set up shop later this year in front of the soon-to-open organic grocer in Breton South Village. "Securing an organic grocer was very high on my list to try to convince Sur La Table to create a presence in Grand Rapids and Breton Village in particular," Wierda said. The CWD Real Estate managing director co-owns Breton Village and the newly launched Breton South Village. The latter is slated to eventually grow to 85,000 square feet of retail housing. Wierda courted the Seattle-based retailer for more than a year. Eventually the retailer arranged a visit to Grand Rapids. Wierda took them on a tour through the city's downtown and other retail quarters - first fanning their enthusiasm for the community, before convincing the decision-makers his development was the best fit. Sur La Table is known for its on-site cooking classes, which are often led by a classically-trained resident chef.
With a long-term lease on hand, he began construction on the 8,800-square-foot building in front of Fresh Thyme that will be completed this month. The interior build out of Sur La Table's 5,800 square-foot interior will start this spring, although the retailer hasn't yet announced an opening date for the store. Launched in Seattle's Pike Place Market in 1972, the retailer sells an array of high-end and exclusive kitchen, bar and dining room products, from cookware to cutlery. The French moniker - which means "on the table" - is pronounced "sir la tawb." Sur La Table - whose tag line is "The Art and Soul of Cooking" - has garnered much of its foodie fandom with its onsite cooking classes, often led by a classically-trained resident chef. "They are very passionate about their particular business," said Wierda of Sur La Table, his voice full of excitement he rarely shows. "This is who we need to attract. It's a fabulous co-tenancy." Despite his unbridled enthusiasm for this deal, Sur La Table isn't his biggest first-to-market catch. In his CWD role, Wierda reeled higher profile and more elusive retailers Cabela's and Trader Joe's to the West Michigan market. At Breton Village, the longtime developer has strategically picked his shops like a chess player, using one deal to leverage another. That patience turned what was once an odd gaggle of stores into a fashion and specialty retail district that has drawn national and local merchants who have bypassed Grand Rapids' big malls to sign with Wierda. Those tenants include Anthropologie, lululemon, Evereve, Orvis and West Elm. Wierda acknowledges he can afford to take a long view on his leases because he owns the development. He thinks Sur La Table will not only attract West Michigan shoppers but pull from as far away as Traverse City and Kalamazoo. Sur La Table has only 120 locations, including three Michigan stores in Ann Arbor, Troy and Novi.
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