THE TKC SUNDAY SPECIAL: KANSAS CITY PRICE CHECK REVEALS DOWNTOWN COSENTINO'S ISN'T REALLY A NEIGHBORHOOD GROCERY STORE!!!



Buying groceries on Sunday is a tradition for many Kansas City families but a recent price check from longtime neighborhood advocates and other concerned insiders reveals that Cosentino's Downtown Market isn't a likely destination to stock up.

Accordingly . . .

KANSAS CITY INSIDERS CLAIM THAT COSENTINO'S P&L DISTRICT MARKET DOESN'T REALLY FULFILL THE NEED FOR A REAL GROCERY STORE NEAR DOWNTOWN KANSAS CITY!!!

There's always a lot of talk which claims "Downtown Kansas City is the fastest growing neighborhood" in the metro but those claims are mostly touted by toy train advocates and condo speculators. The reality is that IF Downtown is enjoying more residents THEN Cosentino's doesn't really support the need for grocery store accessibility . . . Especially for those on tight budgets.



Here's the word:

"Just look at prices for everyday items. There's at least a 30-40% markup on prices that you'd find at any other grocery store, even at any of the other Cosentino's locations. It's a cafe charging convenience store prices for people staying at hotels. That's not where a family looking to save money would want to shop."

Another downtown resident reveals a practical hint about life in the loop.

TKC asked: Do you do your weekly grocery shopping at Cosentino's???

The answer:

"Not if I want to make rent that month. No, Cosentino's is really like a cafe where you can pick up a few things if you absolutely need them. They also have a nice wine and liquor selection that's somewhat expensive but convenient. Like everybody else in Downtown, I have to drive out to the burbs if I really want to find a bargain."

A neighborhood advocate noted this about Cosentino's . . .

"For working families, every penny counts and the Downtown market isn't a real option I'd suggest for nearby residents living on fixed incomes or the MANY families who must stretch their food budget with limited options THROUGHOUT the urban core in KCMO."

TKC did a quick price check and to put things in perspective I can report that the prices and options really don't vary that much from any of the nearby gas stations. And I have yet to try the sushi bar.

In fairness to Cosentino's, the convenience is nice for the upwardly mobile condo dwellers but this isn't a place where somebody would really look to buy food for a family and that FACT OF LIFE reveals that KCMO is willing to waste money on stadiums, entertainment options and a toy train while a food desert remains within the loop for the working poor.

Comments

  1. If you live downtown, you still have to have a car. Somebody needs to tell staubio that.

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  2. I like the grocery store. If someone else wants to open another grocery store downtown, bring it on, the competition would be good. Its expensive to occupy space downtown and that will be reflected in the prices. The other option is no grocery store at all and that is not an option.

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  3. Got to like Kansas City's hipster store.

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  4. Oh shit, quit yer fucking bitchin! It's a grocery store and it's downtown. Whatta ya want, egg in yur beer???

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  5. This price hike bitch session brought to you by the thievin bastards who gerry-mandered the Street Car vote. Also brought to you by the higher taxes in the downtown entertainment district.

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  6. Saubio has a car. I think he keeps it hidden in a garage somewhere so the ignorant twitter classes believe he's one of those bearded car less hipsters creaming his own donuts at the corner hipster shop.

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  7. Staubio sorry bout the typo.

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  8. Cosintinos is a rip off

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  9. That is not a store but a downtown quicktrip

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  10. We are paying out tax dollars to be ripped off. They got millions of dollar tax credits

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  11. Is this where spoiled, transient, attention-seeking Midwest mall rats-turned-artists overnight, the kidult Calebs and Morgans do their grocery shopping?

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  12. Downtown CK needs some great street art to attract people to live and visit there. This is the kind top rated talent the toy train will no doubt draw.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoLkRUzwNZY

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  13. Theres a Save-a-Lot at Truman and Cleveland. Has security. Go there.

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  14. That's no store it's a salad bar

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  15. I moved Downtown from North of the river, and it's quite a bit cheaper to shop there than at the grocery store where I lived before.

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  16. You work so very hard to find anything to complain about.

    I guess if the highlight of my day was getting an anonymous post by a bear, I would look for things to complain about as well.

    Of course, I got a degree so I would not have that life.

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  17. You must have shopped at 7/11 for it to be any cheaper just compare any item it's at least 40 percent higher and we are giving them tax credits

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  18. You pay for your hipster wannabe' thrills. Go join Jones pool and you'll and have a cuppla' evenin' cocktails at the Power and White District and you'll feel better and more at home.

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  19. Prices are the same at all the stores. And the Sushi is not bad for rolls, etc.
    The hipsters want moms kitchen, welcome to the big time. I'm so cool..

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  20. Downtown is a sham. This is just a silly little ripoff grocery store. KCMO is just one big lie.

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  21. Get on the street car and go shop at the grocery store at 24 st. or 32 or.... hipsters don't think much

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  22. It's Johnson who doesn't have a car. I'm glad he has to pay 40% more for his groceries since he can't take the streetcar anywhere else to shop-serves him right. from now on, let's just call things like this the hipster surcharge.

    This would include the sales tax rate of 12.35% at P&L, downtown, and Crossroads restaurants and bars.

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  23. I thought "hipsters" had all the answers. Jump on that fucking Toy Train and go get you some cheap grub at the Aldi on Troost. Hopefully a niggers will steal your grub on the trip back....fucking hipster cocksuckers.

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  24. The store in Liberty rocks! Fuck downtown!
    The stores in Kearney and Smithville are just fine and going to get better. Stay away hipster smelly rats!

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  25. Here’s a hipster from Australia – a place that’s been heavily infested with hipsters over the past several years. She claims to be a “performer/craftivist” who knits out of her vagina. Aussies seem to be doing a better job attracting the "talent" Sly and the City Kouncil want. Without budget destroying toy trains.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6RZZf6HMzo

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  26. Once again....leave it to TKC to highlight a glaring inconsistency in the "vibrant downtown" talking points from civic boosters.
    It's expensive and inconvenient in many ways for people to live downtown.
    Most residents in the metro area are strongly accustomed to free parking everywhere and have multiple options for grocery shopping in which Price Chopper/Hyvee/etc. compete against each other every week with specials.
    I would only consider living downtown if I worked downtown, was young, and didn't have a family. Otherwise, I'd want my wife and kids in a safer, quieter environment with better schools and better amenities.

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  27. No shit 5:58. Deep man...

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  28. @5:58 pm
    And as soon as the hipster fad moves on and the millenials age out, they'll all be looking for exactly what you just described.
    And the adult taxpayers in KCMO will be paying $10-15 million a year for the three to five year fad for many decades. And the "vertical neighborhoods" that used to be office buildings and became apartments will once again have occupancy rates of less than 50%.
    But the urban futurists will have come up with some new really nifty buzz words and phrases that KCMO and other communities all across the country will desperately have to get excited and spend lots of money about if "they don't want to be left behind".
    In KCMO you may not be able to fool all the people all of the time, but you can sure find a narrow majority in a low turnout election and ride the train to bankruptcy.

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  29. There a TOTAL of just 10,000 downtown residents, far lower than most grocery stores have as a customer base.
    But as long as this one stocks organic arugula and kale they'll fit right into the exciting downtown vibe.
    Just another part of the fake storefronts and make-believe commercial operations in a part of town that would die overnight without massive public subsidies.
    A taxpayer-funded movie set and amusement park for 20-somethings and completely unsustainable.

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  30. Back in Nebraskohiossipi: Aunt Mildred passes the plate to her bearded turkey baster-shaped hipster nephew visiting from KCMO. She asks “how is your urban farming doing? He says “like yah, it’s going sooooo well Aunt Mildred. The soil along the river is like, amazing; my urban organic radishes are the size of footballs.” Aunt Mildred says “maybe it’s because I’ve read the soil is toxic from being industrial for so many years?” He says “like, yah… but like, no…that’s just a myth; the ‘nabe’ of River Market has been home to artists and farmers like myself for over a century according to my buddy Quinn who rents bikes at the market. He’s been in Kansas City since 2007 so he knows”.

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  31. 6:21 nailed it with the false-front movie set analogy.

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  32. Cosentinos took a chance, and the store is working. The whiners are way off base. It's not Aldis, but Aldis isn't in downtown either.

    Be happy and grateful that it's a nice store. Also, the prices aren't that bad.

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  33. 6:30 lol.....nice one

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  34. Fact, when it was announced Cordish assured restaurants that it was going to be just a grocery market. When it opened it killed the restaurant's lunch business.

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  35. I used to live downtown, and when I did I and all my neighbors drove over to the Price Chopper on Roe. Cosintino's is hard to get to, inconvenient, and a total rip-off. Everyone who lives downtown knows that. It's where you go if you want a snack, or to hit the salad bar. But that's it.

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  36. Cosentinos is expensive? This is news? I guess hipsters have gotten so used to subsidized rent and transportation they now want subsidized groceries, too.

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  37. Yes. This place is super expensive. I had to stop shopping there. $5.00 for some things is just too much. #ripoff

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  38. Sly strikes again he is the worst mayor in the Midwest his lawyer friend made a lot of money on cosentinos

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  39. Oh seriously 4:22......no one cares about your stupid degree. 4:22 is jealous he didn't start a stupid blog with that psych/communications/English/journalism/pre-law/secondary education/other dumb subject degree.....

    Also, newsflash 4:22....college is dirt cheap in the Midwest so it isn't that big of a deal. Maybe college was hard for you and that is why you are so proud of it. That is okay, I understand higher learning isn't for everybody. I see so many national merit scholars coming out of the KC school district it is amazing. It cranks out widgets in an idiot factory/welfare crotch nugget checks/barely reading species on an everyday basis.

    6:17 is too funny. This whole post is funny.

    I don't know if 4:22 is lying, but he feels the need to be jealous of TKC which says enough.

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  40. Two bearded, thick eyeglass framed, Converse-clad hipster transplants were sitting down for a break in their soon-to-be new hand-crafted, artisanal pickle and DIY burger store in downtown KC. As of yet, the store wasn’t ready, with only a few shelves and display racks set up.

    One said to the other, “I’ll bet that any minute now some native that’s still lingering in OUR ‘NABE‘ is going to walk by, put his face to the window, and ask what we’re selling.”

    Sure enough, just a moment later, a curious real Kansas City gentleman walked up to the window, looked around intensely and tapped on the glass. Then in a loud voice asked, “What are you sellin’ here?”

    One of the celery-legged gentrifiers nasally replied sarcastically, “We’re selling assholes.”

    Without skipping a beat, the Kansas Citian said, “You must be doing well. Only two left.”

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  41. We need to attract bearded, estrogenized lumberjacks and wanna-be artists; vapid urban exploring liberal arts degree holders; or parentally funded foodies fusing together Swedish meatballs with Pad Thai and locally sourced cruelty-free wild KC roof top salmon and selling it out of a Scooby-doo van just for kicks to be competitive!

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  42. Bryce Poonsworth, local "good guy"4/27/14, 8:34 PM

    I hereby decree that anyone caught not wearing a KC Chiefs, KState/KU/Mizzou item will heretofore be referred to as a "hipster."

    Just who do these folks think they are, caring about things other than the games played by strangers?

    Signed, Cornfed and Braindead in the Heartland

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  43. Your beard and your nasty ass,in skinny jeans are putrid.
    One day soon you'll get it. Just like I got wearing spandex and mascara in the eighties was soooo, soooo fuckin wrong.it comes with age and life experience.

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  44. Bryce Poonsworth, local "good guy"4/27/14, 9:08 PM

    Life experience? What the fuck is that, like traveling or creating something?
    Fuck that, don't need that shit.
    Cargo shorts and a Chiefs t-shirt will do in any scene.
    Got plenty of games to watch and love repeating what I hear on sports talk radio in the office.
    Yep, that's the life for me.

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  45. Dear Mom and Dad,

    What can I say? I love KC. The first 11 months here have been super duper; I’ve even begun looking for a job! Everyday is a new adventure. One day I find myself long boarding past Boulevard Brewery - it's a great backdrop when I hold my i-Phone out and video myself swooshing by. Downtown KC is known for its progressive and post-modern art scene. (Although I think these hispanic type people are trying to move into the nabe lately, I keep seeing them) Other days I’ll go sample craft ale, wine, chocolate and cheese. Other than that I sometimes hang out front of Cosentino's sewing in public, go look at the streetcar rails, or home working on art and music or on the streets soaking up the gritty, urban, communal vibe. I’m dating an Asian girl named Suzie. My friend Quinn who runs a sustainable Dim Sum food truck hired her for authenticity. She also happens to play the xylophone really well and guess what?!?!? We are on tour! Yes! ON – TOUR! This man with a lot of gold chains and rings who said he is from a local Talent Agency said he is granting us permission to tour the Plaza-Westport area – all we have to do is give him 33% of our earnings collected in my fedora hat every week. I even found a video of us on You Tube during a live performance. The horse mask from my 12th birthday party you sent me in my last care package is really ironic now that I’m 27 and really helps draw a crowd. One last thing. Since I like it here so much can you and Dad call my landlord and arrange for another year to stay here? Thanks. So I guess I’ll see you on Thanksgiving.

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  46. Bryce Poonsworth, local "good guy"4/27/14, 9:38 PM

    Haha, alright alright... that's actually pretty damn funny.
    I hate those fucking horse masks and skinny jeans as much as the next guy.
    "go look at the streetcar rails" lolz.

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  47. Tony, I see your point but I can't think of any city where the downtown grocery store(s) are able to be price competitive. Convenience and decor cost money. As for me, five minutes east on Admiral and Passeo there is an Aldi that sells half and half for 1.69/qt. I can slum it got that kind of savings.

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  48. Again... too long. He just doens't understand this medium!

    Get to the point. ONE cute girl picture is enough.

    More stories, less tedious length. Less repetition. Say it once and move on.

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  49. 6:17 Good Stuff!!
    Now, could I interest you in some stainless steel appliances, granite counters, and walk-in steam shower?

    9:26 You really should be writing professionally!!!!

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  50. Hahahahahaha!!!!! Kansas
    City...STILL a shithole cowtown!!!!! Told you so.

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  51. 7:48 out fucking standing....the

    Bear just sprayed the cat with

    coffee. He looks like he just got

    trapped in a car wash.

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  52. lol. Good times.

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  53. Dear Son or Daughter as the case may currently be,

    Your mother and I will be happy to negotiate with your landlord and pay another year's rent for you. We find it is an excellent investment for our peace, well-being, and sanity to keep you in Kansas City. We have put the house up for sale and will be moving to a smaller home shortly, so please don't plan to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas with us this year as we really want to enjoy the holidays we have left. We feel entitled (a word you're familiar with no doubt) to have our opinions and live our lifestyle without enduring your implicit and exp;licit criticism. After all, our lifestyle is enabling your lifestyle. We will keep the same email address for at least a while longer, so feel free to email us. We will be changing phone carriers soon, so, as your potential employers have been saying, "Don't call us--we'll call you."

    Love and kisses,

    Mom and Dad

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  54. I love the irony in 7:08's post ... the downtown "hipsters" drive to a grocery store in (gasp)JoCo, the place they can't badmouth enough. But it's ok; we appreciate your tax dollars. Silly wannabe hipsters.

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  55. Is We In De Food Desert?4/28/14, 2:10 PM

    There's a Sav-A-Lot on Truman Road and an Aldi's on Paseo. Why aren't Downtown people smart enough to get to those places?

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  56. Fun Facts -- Downtown is inconvenient and expensive. The suburbs have all kinds of super markets that aren't subsidized by young tax dollars and have nice convenient parking lots.

    P.S. Places like Overland Park, Leawood, Lee's Summit, etc. don't having earnings taxes, and they aren't paying for the toy streetcar.

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