The old Osco Drug site near the corner of Broadway and Providence has been vacant for seven years. On Thursday, we asked you how you thought the space should be used.
— Missourian staff members Melanie Gibson, Pavan Vangipuram, Allison Seibel and Kaikang Wang contributed to this report.
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I missed my chance, I would of wanted an indoor gokart track, something along the lines of Sadlers Indoor Racing Dot Com
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've been told the Kroenkes own the property. Apparently they bought out Osco so there were fewer grocery stores to compete with Wal-Mart, which they have an invested interest in. (Ann Walton Kroenke is the daughter of Wal-Mart cofounder Bud Walton.) As such, the likelihood of them leasing it to any business that sells food, such as Trader Joe's, is very slim.
My understanding is the Kroenke's always owned the property, and refused to renew Osco's lease. Osco was a drug store similar to Walgreeen's, so I doubt food sales were an issue with them.
DK
Osco sold a lot of food and many people -- including myself -- used it as a grocery store. They were much larger and had a much more diverse selection than Walgreens.
I can assure you conspiracy theorists that Kroenke is not going to restrict the property to only non food places to protect wal-mart. Wal-Mart does not need protection from niche retailers. Also, Wal-Mart sells pretty much everything, so I guess if he was going to protect wal-mart the only thing they could lease to would be a porn shop...
There was a Schnucks right next door in what is now the Office Depot. They left because it was not a profitable location.
When this article first appeared I made a snarky joke (or attempted...)because it was counterintuitive of me to suggest what someone else should do with their property.
I like the skating rink though...
Danielle and Mark,
Here's a link that commenter Jimmy Bearfield left on "WHAT DO YOU THINK: What should go in the Osco Drug site downtown?" This link is to an article the Columbia Daily Tribune did on Sept. 22, 2004 in regards to the closing of Osco Drugstore. http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2004/...
The article from seven years ago says that Osco Drugstore's lease was up in October of 2004 and that Osco was unable to negotiate a new lease on the property after Stan Kroenke bought the property in April of 2004. Kroenke and his partners in TKG Stadium LLC also bought the small strip mall in April 04, and had owned the vacant plot next to Osco since 1997.
Amanda Harrison
Columbia Missourian, community outreach team