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TRACK-1: Zeytuna is a typical gourmet market in Downtown. It offers prepared foods, imported cheeses and delicacies such as octopus salad - $3.99 for a four-ounce container. A hand-painted sign hangs over the neatly arranged fruits and vegetables section. Zeytuna has three different types of cabbage, the lowest at 89 cents a pound. A few blocks away at Associated, the budget supermarket chain, cabbage is on sale - a pound for 39 cents.
AMB-1: sounds from grocery store, then stays under
TRACK-2: Associated offers weekly specials, a 10 percent senior discount on Wednesdays, and generally low prices. The location is convenient -- right next door to a subsidized co-op for thousands of people. But this compact store does not compare to a full-service supermarket. So 35-year resident Una Perkins drives a mile away from her neighborhood instead of shopping at Associated or another gourmet market, Jubilee.
AX-1: "Down here we're so limited in food markets. I wish we had more. Like where I live we have Jubilee and everything's so bloomin' expensive. It's like a specialty, gourmet, if you will."
TRACK-3: The Downtown core's six gourmet markets are really catering to the newest residents - white-collar, luxury loft dwellers, whose average household income is 152-thousand dollars. Downtown living rates high, except for one thing. Half of area residents surveyed last year said it does not have enough places to shop.
AX-2: "I think we're doing fairly good in terms of keeping up with the growing residential population."
TRACK-4: Felicia Tunnah is director of business assistance at the Downtown Alliance. Her organization makes retailers and residential developers aware of the tax credits and other incentives available for doing business in Lower Manhattan. Taking advantage of these deals recently are BMW, Sephora and men's clothing store Hickey Freeman. All are upscale, just like the gourmet markets.
AX-3: "I would actually say that the pace of grocery stores is probably better than some of the other service type retailers."
TRACK-5: But the Lower Manhattan community board wants more than just new gourmet shops. They want grocery stores that are more affordable and full-service. The community board has already convinced Whole Foods to move into the south end of TriBeCa next year.
AMB-2: community board meeting discussion
TRACK-6: At this meeting, they're listening to a presentation about developing the Battery Maritime Building on the Hudson. Plans for the recently renovated building include a large food market, similar to Seattle's Pike Place Market and the Ferry Building in San Francisco. What those markets did for waterfront development in the West is the vision not only for more grocery choices but for a revitalized Lower Manhattan. Mary-Rose Abraham, Columbia Radio News.