I received some solid information from an anonymous source that the Homeland on Classen and about NW 17th is finally realizing it is downtown's grocery store (at least for the time being). They also realize they also serve the nearby upper income Mesta Park and Heritage Hills neighborhoods. They are meeting with some reps from Chamber of Commerce and exploratory committees to see what they can do to improve the store, including it's look.

I'll post more info when I hear more.......Stay Tuned!

Cool. That's really a close enough location. If there were a market where you can pick up quick things like milk or dinner fixings closer in, that Homeland is certainly close enough for staple buying trips.

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Betts, agreed it will do for now until we get one downtown. Sage Market will be a quick fix for milk, eggs, bread and Homeland (if revitalized) can be the once a week stop. Hopefully we'll get a trolley stop there soon.

I like that store quite a bit actually. They carry different thigns than Walmart.

Living only 5 blocks away (it is at 18th & Classen, btw), it is the main place my wife I have shopped for many years. My main complaint about store is that it tends to have fewer choices (of the same product) than larger stores ... it's pretty good size but not huge. It has a small deli but nothing special ... but I rarely want anything from the deli, so that's not important to me. The Wal-Mart Neighborhood store west of Penn on NW 23rd has better choices and lower prices, but we keep going to the Homeland store to support the neighborhood store.

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I was in that store last night and was actually quite impressed. It is small but is very clean and not bad looking. We are looking at moving closer to downtown and would not mind shopping there at all.

I think a facelift of some sort would go a long ways. But if they could make it more upscale like the one at May & Britton, that would go a long ways towards changing their image. They could also pick up some organic and specialty items.

They do have quite a bit of organic and specialty items, but they could/should add more. I agree, it needs to be upscale like May and Britton. I like that one as they have items similar to Whole Foods, olive bar, grain bar, etc.

That has been my preferred store for some years now due to location. I wish that it were larger with more choices and I wish that it carried more meat selections, specifically lamb cuts and flank steak.

More solid and anonymous sources....

their JENO's Pizzas are $1.25... which is absurd! however, if neighborhood market or wal-mart is out of them... i'll pay the extra 25 cents.

btw, i think the place is kinda gross.

Anyone have any photos of this store?

I drive 10 blocks to visit Homeland on 18th to avoid the Walmart a few away. Less choices but I would rather have smaller lines and less evil walmart any day. I was upset when walmart ran our local IGA out of Business. The city really messed up on letting walmart ruin the area and run out lots of local businesses.

There's a lovely Homeland at 12th and Alameda in Norman. I heard it used to be an Albertson's- the interior is really nice: very clean, cool decor, little coffee shop in the middle. Something like that would work well as a downtown aesthetic I think.

no, it would never work downtown.

it would only work if everything in the store cost *at least* 3 times the amount it does anywhere else in the city and if there was an enforced dresscode of only outfits that cost at least $500, nothing off-the-rack.

otherwise it would clash with everything else being built and opened downtown.

Why do so many resent anything nice going in downtown and want everything on the cheap? There is a place for both, but we need to aspire for OKC downtown to be other than cheep city. Attracting people who spend money and let people make a profit attracts more businesses and gives more people an opportunity to make a good living.

What are you trying to say?

Less choice??? Funny, I shop at Homeland because I think they have a better selection. Especially if you cook and need something special.

I'm with you platemaker. They might not have the sheer volume of selection, but their brands are better, in my mind.

They actually do have a reasonable selection of things. There was only one thing at the store the other day that I wanted which they were currently out of. They have a reasonable selection of organic goods that wal-mart doesn't carry, and they also don't carry the screaming children, annoying employees, and people who take up entire aisles like wal-mart does!

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Another update, again from an anonymous source I've heard Homeland might even shut down this store completely and reopen a more modern store downtown that would cater to a more urban crowd. I suppose time will tell where this story leads........

the homeland store on 18th, near classen, is pretty cool. the downside, I always get the itchies from my bullet proof vest while shopping, on a positive note, I always have plenty of takers for my spare change while walking through the parking lot.

That would be very cool. I keep thinking surely one of the local chains has the vision to do this.

I go there all the time... it is NOT that bad. Just not really pretty on the outside.

My conclusion, then, is that you might just be a bit paranoid and/or maybe a bit sheltered in your exposure to a wide range of income groups (no disrespect intended). I shop there probably 3 times a week, sometimes more, sometimes less, for short or long trips and have been doing so for about 20 years. Of course, I live in the general neighborhood, about 4-5 blocks east, so maybe it's just that I'm used to the perils which concern you. I've lived in my present home on NW 19th for about 12 years now and I have never had any "crime" problems (other than the white guy living diagonally across the street who seems hell bent to get into trouble), even though the Mesta Park area is definitely a mix of high, medium, and low income people -- quite a melting pot, really. I'm in the medium group. While I've never considered the Homeland store to be "cool" (it's just an ordinary and nothing special grocery store), it's my neighborhood store and I tend to favor it for convenience and to support it staying there. Prices are somewhat higher than other places for the same things (my wife seems to think that her darn cat has to eat a small can of some kind of canned cat food 2x daily ... the same cans are 20 cents less per can at the Walmart grocery on NW 23rd, west of Penn); but, generally, I'm happy with it -- its produce is quite good and its meats are at least average if not a little better. But, ain't no way that it's ever going to measure up to, for example, an H-E-B in Texas. Not gonna happen (nor is any other Homeland in Okc, for that matter).

But ... concern for safety issues? That has never even entered my mind. And it's pretty rare that I'm encountered by a homeless person looking for a handout there ... it has happened, and when it does I sometimes I give a little, but that sort of thing doesn't happen nearly as frequently as I experience it downtown. I don't recall a person asking for a handout in the last 6-10 months at the Homeland.

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