Reader: A downtown grocery store would help this food desert bloom

here's how Carly greeted the news:

If Denver was set up to have a city block (or has one currently) where you could get meat, cheese, produce, sundries, etc on one block that would be great. If Denver had the climate for a year-round farmers market, that would also be great.

Unfortunately, the Northeast Denver neighborhoods (including Five Points, Cole, Whittier, and Clayton) are severly underserved, having only the blight that is the Downing Super or that weird Safeway on 20th and Washington. This causes those of us that are out of reach of an actual grocery store to rely upon an automobile that much more.

I'm hoping for a Whole Foods, TJs, or Tony's type market. Not a catch all, but a reprieve from driving all the way to Highlands or Cherry Creek for decent groceries.

Throw in the proposed streetcar that will connect 30th and Downing to 38th and Blake and I'll be set.

The developers, who've owned the land at 20th and Chestnut streets where the store will go, have owned the land for four years; they plan to break ground later this year, with a target opening in 2013. No word yet on what kind of grocery store downtown will get, though.

In the wake of this news, Joel Warner compiled a list of the top ten grocery stores we'd love to see come to Denver.

And surprise! Trader Joe's isn't one of them. Look at the list here.