I’ll probably never shop at Harmons new store at Traverse Mountain in Lehi. I live near downtown SLC and I prefer to shop at small, locally-owned businesses, so I spend a lot of our so-called food budget at Caputo’s, at Salt & Smoke, at Liberty Heights, etc. But I also shop often at City Creek Harmons.
Yes, it’s a mainstream grocery stores. But it’s convenient and convenience has traditionally been the main reason American shoppers are loyal to a grocery store. Well, convenience and price. Fortunately things are changing and driving across town because bananas are four cents cheaper no longer makes sense.
Smart American grocers are now banking more on quality and less on price wars—in the Utah market, Harmons has led this trend.
The new store in Lehi, like other new Harmons, is more than a grocery store—it houses a cooking school, a 9,000 square foot mezzanine, outdoor balcony seating and conference rooms. Like other Harmons, this one is a Certified Organic provider, Has an onsite artisan bakery, employs certified cheese mongers to help customers with a large selection of cheeses, several chefs to oversee freshly prepared deli foods, has a coffee shop serving brews by local coffee roaster Caffe Ibis.
The point is that the local, sustainable, organic food movement is now mainstream which is good news not just for eaters everywhere but also for the planet.
That’s how I can get excited about a new grocery store. Even though I may never shop there.
