By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
A report from an outside marketing company could shed light on where a potential grocery store could locate in Whitewater.
The report is one in a series of steps city officials are awaiting for as a contingent of the community holds out hope a new grocer — either in the form of a traditional retailer or through a cooperative business model — will re-emerge in Whitewater.
The city has been without a full-fledged grocer for six months. In November, businessman Terry Daniels shuttered his Sentry store at 1260 W. Main St.
In the months since, several grassroots groups have popped up and explored new opportunities for grocers so residents do not need to travel to Janesville, Fort Atkinson and other locales to tend to their full-service needs. Walmart, which has a store adjacent to the former Sentry building, does sell a selection of groceries in Whitewater.
Members of the Community Development Authority discussed the marketing study at a meeting April 28. The appointed body early this year issued a contract to Northfield, Minn.-based Perkins Marketing.
“He has been to town, and he is looking at different sites,” Patrick Cannon, CDA executive director, said of Chuck Perkins, who heads the company.
Specifics will be fleshed out in the next month, Cannon said, but Perkins has been looking at possible sites, ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 square feet in size, on the city’s east, west and south sides.
CDA Chair Jeff Knight implored his appointed colleagues and staffers to leave all of the investigative work to Perkins.
“We are not directing the properties — we are just telling him areas to look at,” Knight said. “I would ask that nobody, from the CDA or staff, do that. We want it so it’s wide open and different properties can compete.”
